
Book ~XX 



(kpiglrtN __RM 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The price of this book is $2.00 and the cost of 
getting it to you — postage, twenty-four cents. 

If you have one you ought to be getting credit 
for the use you make of it. If you take also the Bible 
School Teacher ($1.25 per year), you will be a 
Correspondence Student of the American Bible Uni- 
versity, and will be allowed an examination on any 
book of the Bible whenever you are ready for it, 
and you will receive a certificate for the book and 
a diploma for the entire Bible when you finish it. 
You may go fast or slow^ as you please, if you have 
this book, as well as the weekly paper; for in that 
case you will not have to wait for any weekly install- 
ments of the lesson. As many members of the 
family may be enrolled as there are copies of the 
Bible School Teacher taken. 

The American Bible University has correspond- 
ence students all round the world. 



American Bible University. 

(INCORPORATED.) 

SYSTEMATIC BIBLE STUDY AT HOME. 



FOR CHILDREN. 

Take the first few pages of this book, beginning with the tree. Teach 
them carefully to the children. Then teach them the summaries, leading on 
gently to the higher work. Your school will be credited with all this work 
they report done. 

FOR ADULTS. 

Not only ought they to learn these first pages mentioned and the sum- 
maries, but they ought to take up the analysis of each book and study what 
the Bible says on each theme. A few miuutes devoted by the whole school 
to this work under a teacher selected for this purpose will bring rich returns, 
•and each student may receive credit from headquarters for what he learns. 

AT HEADQUARTERS. 

Pupils who come to headquarters may gel in a two or three years' course, 
not only the English Bible thoroughly but the Hebrew and Greek, so as to 
study the Bible in the original ; also the archaeology, history, manners and cus- 
toms, geography, etc., of the Bible. In addition to these things, every other 
study will be taught necessary to make a duly qualified Bible teacher compe- 
tent to take a salaried position under the movement. 

CORRESPONDENCE BIBLE STUDY. 

Thousands have been taking this course of English Bible study by corre- 
spondence. You pay one dollar and twenty-five cents per year for five years. 
Each student gets a twelve-page weekly magazine, The Bible School Teacher, 
having a week's lesson in each issue, without further cost; also, privilege of 
examination on every book he goes over and a certificate for such book; and 
when the entire Bible is so completed, a Correspondence Diploma. He may 
at any time ask questions and have them answered in the query department 
of the "Teacher." The examination questions are printed in the magazine 
when a book is completed. He writes the answers at his home and sends 
them in by mail. 

HOME COURSE FOR DEGREES. 



Correspondence Course for the Degree of Bachelor of Biblical, 

Literature. 
first year. 



EuglishBible — Genesis to Esther. 
Theory of Preaching. {Phelps.) 
-Butler's Analogy of Religion. 
Bible Geography. ( Whitney.) 

SECOND YEAR 



Philosophy of Religion. (Bascom.) 
Oriental Religions and Christianity. 
(Ellinwood.) 



English Bible— Job to Romans. 
Greek New Testament. [Optional.) 
Bible Manners and Customs. 

{Freeman.) 



Theism. (Prof, Flint.) 
Ethics, Vol. 1. {Wvttke.) 
History of Philosophy. Vol 1. 

( Ueberweg.) 



THIRD YEAR. 



English Bible— I Cor. to Rev. 
Bible Geography. {Barnes.) 
History of Philosophy, Vol. 2. 

{ Ueberweg.) 



Ethics, Vol. 2. ( Wuttke.) 
Archaeology. (Bennett.) 
Thesis— At least two thousand words. 
Select theme from your studies. 



On completing the foregoing, the following may be taken for 
Doctor of Biblical Literature. 

FIRST YEAR. 



The Conflict of Christianity with 

Heathenism. ( Uhlhorn.) 
Hurst's History of Rationalism. 



The Ancient Empires of the East. 

(Sayce.) 
The Races of Man. ( Eesehel. ) 



SECOND YEAR. 



Foster on Creation. 

Metaphysics. (Bowne.) 

Thesis — At least five thousand words. 



The World the Subject of Redemp 

tion. {Freemantle.) 
Problems of Religious Progress. 

{Dorchester.) 

Course for Bachelor of Philosophy 

For those who have already taken the equivalent to a college course, with no 
less than three years Latin and two years Greek or German. 



English Bible. 
Prologomena. {Foster.) 
Philosophy of Theism. {Foster.) 
History of Philosophy. {Seeley.) 
In addition to the above the 



Theory of Morals. {Janet.) 
Critique of Pure Reason. {Kant.) 
Thesis— At least two thousand words. 



Course for Bachelor of Arts. 



Ancient Literature. 
Political Science. ( Woolsey.) 
English Literature. {Painter.) 



Socialism and Christianity. 

'{Behrends.) 
Thesis — At least two thousand words. 



EXPENSE. 

The school year is divided into three terms — five dollars matriculation 
fee, and five dollars per term, payable in advance, making a total of twenty 
dollars for the first year, ten dollars of which is payable on entering. There- 
after five dollars at the beginning of each term. The books, of course, will be 
purchased by the student. At the close of the course five dollars will be 
charged to cover cost of diploma. 

ADVANTAGE OF THIS COURSE. 

The system of Bible Study in this course cannot be obtained elsewhere in 
the world. It is the product of the President of the American Bible Univer- 
sity, the basis on which that University is incorporated, and is conceded to be 
the best extant, being used by the great Summer Assemblies of .the United 
States. Graduates of this school, otherwise acceptable, will in future be se- 
lected as the authorized teachers of the University Extension classes, on sala- 
ries varying according to their qualifications. The Bible course of this curri- 
culum is alone worth more than the whole cost, and is indispensable to a 
preacher or teacher of the Word. 

HOW TO PROCEED. 

Every student must have a co-examiner, before whom he must appear to 
pass his examination, selected by the consent of the President. The Bible 
work will continue throughout the whole course. Other studies may be 
taken up, one book at a time, together with the Bible, and when any book is 
reported completed, fifty questions will be sent with which he will review 
the book, on which the examiner at headquarters will mark fifteen of the 
questions, and send them to the co-examiner, before whom the student will 
go and pass a written examination. The co-examiner will then send the 
papers to headquarters. 

Address all inquiries and communications to 

Rev. J. E. TURNER, President, 

Fountain Park, Ohio. 





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BIBLE 



THE 



Bible School Book 



Giving an Easy Plan of Studying 



THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 



FOR 



Old and Young. 



[REVISED AND ENLARGED.] 



By REV. J. E. TURNER, 

President American Bible University, 

Editor Bible School Teacher, 

Lecturer and Assembly Bible Instructor. 



Published by the Author, Fountain Park. Ohio, 1901. 



The library of 
congress, 

Two Copies Received 

NOV, 22 1901 

Copyright entry 

AW ■ *) - I f 6 1 
CLASS «yXXa No. 

cop^ a 






Copyrighted 1901, by J. E. TURNER. 



PREFACE. 



Greeting: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord 

Jesus Christ. 



Our Principle: People should know the Bible as they know their 
school books. To learn it so they must study and recite the whole book, 
as other books. 

Kule : Let us have first a clear idea of the general aim of each book or 
part, and then a close study of the details. Thus we shall see the tendency 
of each step in our progress, and also see the symmetry and unity of the 
whole. 

Eesult : We shall know where to find what we need for any particular 
occasion, also how to apply intelligently and effectively the Word to the 
various conditions of men. 

The American Bible Universitv is organized to work out the above. 



HOW TO STUDY BY THIS PLAN. 

Take your Bible and this book. Learn the summary of a book of the 
Bible. Then read the first theme in the analysis, noting what verses are 
concerned. Now turn to your Bible and read carefully those verses until 
you can put into your own language the substance of what the Bible says 
on that point. Do not try to commit the language of the Bible. Put the 
thought into your own language, and where you do not understand, ask 
questions. 



BIBLE MARKINGS. 

This plan of Bible study provides an invaluable system of Bible 
marking. There is no better on earth. Mark your Bible this way, and 
it will be worth infinitely more to you. 

Bible themes in the analyses I have divided into the following classes : 

1. Topics. (The mo in co-ordinate themes into which a book is divided. 
Separate them by lines reaching through the page or column.) 

2. Sub-topics. (The consecutive subdivisions of a topic. Separate 
them from each other by lines half as long as the above.) 



4 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

3. Minors. (Consecutive subdivisions of a sub-topic. Separate them 
from each other by quarter lines.) 

4. Sub-minors. ( Consecutive subdivisions of a minor. Separate them 
from each other by eighth lines.) 

5. Minutes. (Consecutive subdivisions of a sub-minor. Separate them 
from each other by sixteenth lines.) 

6. Sub-minutes. (Consecutive subdivisions of a minute. Separate 
them from each other by dots.) 

Some books of the Bible have topics only. In other books, some of the 
topics are divided into sub-topics, etc. Your reference will always show 
when any theme is subdivided. 

Write each theme on the page of your Bible, opposite the verses con- 
cerned. 

When more than one theme must be written opposite the same verse, 
write the greater theme outside and the lesser theme inside. 



COMPOUND REFERENCE. 

When a reference reaches from a point in one chapter to some point in 
another, it is called a compound reference. Thus in Ex. 3 we have the 
excuses of Moses. The reference is 11-4-12, which means from the 11th 
verse of ch. 3 to the 12th verse of ch. 4, the middle figure standing for the 
chapter. 



INTRODUCTION 



This book makes Bible study easy and delightful. So far as the writer 
has been able to discover, it contains the first and only close analysis that 
has ever been made of the entire Bible, following the logical order of each 
sacred writer. The work is the product of sixteen years of special Bible 
teaching on the part of its author, beginning with an infant class. The 
aim has been to make the contents of each book of the Bible as familiar to 
the student as any other text book. Xo attempt is made to take up 
questions of higher criticism, nor to discuss extendedly questions of 
authorship or chronological order of the books. We take them as they 
are, and insist that first of all each student should know familiarly the 
contents and arrangement of each book. Thus in the analytical parallel 
of the four Gospel writings the order of each writer is preserved intact. 
Tf anyone proposes an order of arrangement differing from that of the 
Bible, he can point out the change and present his arguments after the 
student has familiarized himself with the Bible order, so necessary for 
easy reference. We will not tear the Bible to pieces, but familiarize the 
pupil with each book in its entirety as they stand. 

The first few pages are devoted to facts one ought to know about the 
Bible to enable him to readily find any part of the Bible to which he 
would turn. Then, to furnish the student with the general drift of the 
matter of each book, the summaries are put first. This is the first step in 
Bible study. As a second step, each book is minutely and completely 
analyzed, every verse being kept in the Bible order. Following this as a 
third step are the lesson notes, in preparation of which many authorities 
have been consulted in order to make plain the meaning of what the Bible 
says on each theme. It will be noticed that the student is obliged to 
have in his hand the Bible itself, no Scripture being printed in this book. 
This will secure against chasing the Bible out of the hands of the pupils 
by lesson helps. 

Xo one who observes and thinks will question the statement that the 
people of all the churches ought to know the Bible better — all of us, we 
preachers as well as the rest of the people. If we are to know the Bible 
as we know other books, w T e must study it as we study other books. That 
means that the student of the Bible must summarize and analvze the 
Bible matter so as to get first the general aim of a book in order that in 
his study of its details he may comprehend the nature of each step in his 



6 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

progress and see symmetry and unity in the whole. Such work on a book 
of the Bible implies time, disposition, student qualities, access to libraries 
and the like, which the average man cannot devote to it. This ground 
therefore must be worked over and formulated so that the busy man can 
take it up and in spare moments do what otherwise would take days and 
weeks of his time, while at the same time by following these lines he gets 
his work as consecutively and understands the Bible as fully as if he had 
devoted the greater time and energy without this help. Such a help to 
the study of the Bible is now presented to the church for the first time, 
in the Eevised Bible School Book. 

This system of Bible study is interdenominational. It was originated 
by this author sixteen years ago, and is now incorporated as the American 
Bible University. It has correspondence students in all churches, and all 
around the world, some of whom have received a correspondence diploma, 
having completed the entire Bible in that way. In addition to the vast 
company of correspondence students who do their work at home for one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per year, the corporation will conduct a 
training school at headquarters in which students will be qualified for 
salaried Bible teaching under this direction in the various fields which 
will later be occupied. 

When possible, authorities quoted in the Lesson Xotes are named at 
the end of the quotation. ["J. F. B." referring to the Jamieson, Fausset 
and Brown commentary.] Occasionally quotations are given without 
the name of the authority quoted, and again quotations are made which 
are so limited in their nature as to make it unfair to credit them to 
anyone but the compiler. ; 



BOOKS OF THE BIBLE IN RHYME. 



God speaks through Moses unto us, 

In GENESIS and EXODUS. 

LEVITICUS and NUMBERS He 

Confirms with DEUTERONOMY. 

JOSHUA then the tribes command, 

And JUDGES must defend the land 

Till RUTH was, by her own accord, 

Made ancestress of Christ, our Lord. 

SAMUEL anoints a race of KINGS, 

Whose CHRONICLES are startling things. 

EZRA and NEHEMTAH bring 

Captives from Persia, where the king, 

By choosing ESTHER for his wife, 

Helped her to save her people's life. 

JOB sighs : the PSALMS swell into song. 

The PROVERBS teach how God hates wrong. 

ECCLESIASTES trains the son 

To sing the SONG OF SOLOMON. 

ISAIAH writes of Christ aloof, 

And JEREMIAH pours reproof 

And LAMENTATIONS on his kin,— 

Telling how it might have been. 

EZEKIEL and DANIEL see 

Strange visions in captivity. 

HOSEA, JOEL. AMOS try 

To save their people, OBADIAII 

F.doni warns of what shall be, 

And JONAH stirs up Nineveh. 

MICAH paints dire calamity 

To Jews; ar.d to their enemy, 

NAHUM and HABAKKUK, also 

ZEPHANIAH paint coming woe. 

HAGGAI chides the lethargy 

Of temple builders, and you see 

That ZECHARIAH'S visions nine 

Of things to come are but a sign. 

And MALACHI, with warnings sent, 

Ends the Divine Old Testament. 



The Gospel then from God the Son, 

By MATTHEW, MARK and LUKE and JOHN, 

Hear all ; and ACTS resultant see, 

Followed by ROMANS, quickly he, 

The authorof CORINTHIANS, 

GALATIANS and EPHESIANS, 

PHILIPPIANS and COLOSSIANS sent, 

And THESSALONIANS, and wen: 

To TIMOTHY those letters dear, 

And TITUS and PHILEMON seer. 

HEBREWS, by some is thought to be 

The eloquent Apollos' plea. 

Then JAMES' and PETER'S stirring word, 

And JOHN, the favorite of our Lord, 

And JUDE— all these of general view, 

And REVELATION ends the New. 



DIAGRAMS. 



The Bible has 66 Books 


3 times 9 equals 27 




Written by 36 Authors 


Suggests 
39 books in the Old Testament 




Through 1 6 Centuries 


and 




From Moses to John. 


27 books in the New. 




g Pentateuch j 2 Books of History 


E Books of Poetry c Major Prophets 1 Minor Prophets 




4 Gospel | Acts 




|4 Letters of Paul J General Letters j Revelation 


(5) 


Ge. Ex. Le. Nu. De. 


(12) 


Jo. Ju. Ru. I & II Sa. I & II Ki. I & II Chro. Ez. Ne. Es. 


(5) 


Job Psa. Pro. Ecc. Song of Sol„ 


(5) 


Isa. Jere. Lam. Eze. Dan. 


< 


' Ho. Jo. Am. Ob. 


(12) 


Jo. Mi. Na. Ha. 




Ze. Ha. Ze. Ma. 


(4) 


Matt. Mark Lu. Jo. 


(1) 


Acts. 


(14) 


Ro. I and II Cor. Gal. Eph. Phil. Colos. I and II Thess. I and 




II Tim. Tit. Phile. Heb. 


(7) 


Jas. I and II Pet. I, II and III John. Jude. 


(1) 


Rev. 



This page and the Books of the Bible in rhyme are printed on one sheet for the benefit 
of the children's classes. On the back of the same sheet is printed the TURNER BIBLE TREE. 
Sabbath Schools should order large supplies for their little scholars. Address the author. 

Price, ..-----10 each 
" ------ 750 per 100 

$3.00 for 500 

" $5.00 for 1,000 

" $40.00 for 10,000 



THE BOOKS SUMMARIZED. 



Genesis: 50 Chapters. 
The Creation. The Fall. The First Covenant. The First Murder. 
The Flood. The Second Covenant. Repeopling of the Earth. Confusion 
of Tongues. Call and History of Abraham and His Sons to Joseph. 
Period covered, 2369 years. 

Exodus: J+O Chapters. 
Early Life of Moses, and his Call to be Prophet of Israel. The Ten 
Plagues and the Passover. The Exodus. Passage of the Red Sea. Food 
and Drink by Miracle. Victory over Enemies by means of Prayer. G-iving 
of the Moral Law. Instruction for making the Tabernacle and Vessels. 
Consecration of Aaron and his Sons to the Priesthood. Punishment for 
making the Golden Calf. 

Period covered, 80 years. 

Leviticus: 21 Chapters. 

Laws and Ceremonies of the Sanctuary Service. Death of Nadab and 
Abihu. 

Period covered, 1 month. 

Numbers: 86 Chapters. 
Numbering of the People. Breaking up of the Encampment at Sinai ; 
Arrangement of the Army ; Service of the Priestly Tribe. March upon 
Canaan — repulse, rebellions, condemnation of the people to death in the 
Wilderness. Events of the forty years' wandering. Second Numbering 
of the People. 

Period covered, 40 years. 

Deuteronomy: Sk Chapters. 
First Address of Moses ; reminding of the Deliverance from Bondage, 
God's guidance and protection during their Wanderings, and the People's 
frequent TJnthankfulness. Second Address; repeating the Law to those 
who were Born in the Wilderness. Third Address; the Covenant Re- 
newed, Blessings for Duty, and Curses for Neglect. Closing scenes of 
Moses' Life. 

Period covered, 10 days. 



10 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

Joshua : 24 Chapters. 

Entrance into Canaan. Conquest of Canaan in the Seven-year War. 

Destruction of its Thirty-one Kings. Distribution of the Country by lot. 

Settlement of the Tabernacle at Shiloh. Last Words and Death of Joshua. 

Period covered, 25 years. 

Judges: 21 Chapters. 
Decline of Israel, after Joshua's death, into political disorder and 
religious apostasy. The Judges of Israel described. 
Period covered, 300 years. 

Euth : 4 Chapters. 
Story of the Moabitish woman. Her adoption into the Church of God, 
and acceptance as a Mother in Israel. 

Period covered, 10 years. 

I Samuel: 31 Chapters. 

Birth and Life of Samuel. Anointing of a king over Israel. Events 
of Saul's reign. His rejection for disobedience. David anointed king. 
Saul's jealousy against David. The last events of Saul's life. 
Period covered, 115 years. 

II Samuel : 24 Chapters. 

The Tribes accept David as King. His victory over the House of Saul. 
Events of David's reign. His Conquests. Rebellion and Death of Absa- 
lom. The Plague. 

Period covered, 40 years. 

I Kings : 22 Chapters. 

Last Words and Death of David. Solomon's Reign. His Wisdom and 
Riches. Building and Dedication of the Temple. Solomon's Wives. His 
Death. Rehoboam King. Revolt of the Ten Tribes. Rulers and events 
of the two Kingdoms. Events of the Life and Prophecy of Elijah. 
Period covered, 119 years. 

II Kings : 25 Chapters. 

Elijah's Translation, and Coming of His Spirit upon Elisha. Events 
of Elisha's Prophetic Life. Story of the two Kingdoms. Their Decline 
from God, and Final Captivity. 

Period covered, 308 years. 



THE BOOKB SUMMARIZED. 11 

I Chronicles : 29 Chapters. 
Table of Jewish Descent from Adam to Solomon. Events of Saul's 
and David's reigns. 

Period covered, 2989 years. 

II Chronicles : 36 Chapters. 
Table of Jewish Descent from Solomon to the time of the Captivity. 
Events of Solomon's Reign. History of all the Kings of Judah and Israel. 
Period covered, 42? years. 

Ezra : 10 Chapters. 
Return of the Captive Jews to Jerusalem by Consent of Cyrus. Re- 
building of the Temple. Return of other Captives with Ezra. Ezra's 
Reformation. Collection of the Books of the Old Testament. 
Period covered, 79 years. 

Nehemiah : 13 Chapters. 
Rebuilding of the Walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah. Civil and 
Religious condition of the Jews Reformed. Temple Services Restored. 
Mosaic Covenant Re-enacted. 

Period covered, 36 years. 

Esther : 10 Chapters. 
Story of Queen Esther and Mordecai. Haman Hanged. 
Period covered, 25 years. 

Job : 4-2 Chapters. 
Cause and Extent of Job's Sufferings. His Patience. Talk between 
Job and his Comforters on the Cause of Human Suffering. Address of 
the Almighty. Job's Confession and Penitence. The Peaceful and Pros- 
perous Close of Job's Life. 

Period covered, unknown. 

Psalter : 150 Psalms. 
Hebrew Selections from various Authors, arranged to be sung in the 
Public Services of the Jews. They contain Instruction, Prophecy, His- 
tory. They express Devotion, Praise, Thanksgiving. 
Period covered, 1000 years. 



12 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Proverbs : 31 Chapters. 
Value of Wisdom. Proverbs of Solomon. The study of Wisdom. A 
Second Volume of Proverbs, collected by those who restored the Temple 
Worship under Hezekiah. Teaching of Agur to his Pupils. Teaching of 
Lemuel's Mother to her Son. 

Ecclesiastes : 12 Chapters. 
Vanity of human things. How to avoid it. Eemarks on God's Prov- 
idence. Remarks on W T isdom and Folly. Directions about Charity. 
Advice to Youth. 

Song of Solomon : 8 Chapters. 
The Church's Love for Christ. Her Victory. Christ's Love for Her. 
A Description of Christ by His Graces. The Church's Graces. Strength 
of Love. 

Isaiah : 66 Chapters. 
Captivities and Restoration of the Jews. Ruin and Desolation of their 
Enemies. Conquests and conduct of Cyrus. His dealing with the Jews. 
Prophecies about the Messiah. His Forerunner, Birth, Family, Name 
and Kingdom. His Rejection by the Jews. His Acceptance by the 
Gentiles. His Miracles. 

Period covered, 62 years. 

Jeremiah : 52 Chapters. 
Warnings to the Jews to Repent of their Sins. Their Captivity Fore- 
told. Fate of the Surrounding Nations Foretold. Return of the Jews 
from Captivity Prophesied. A Spiritual Worship to be Begun. Call of 
the Gentiles. Final acceptance of the Jews. 

Period covered, 40 years. 

Lamentations : 5 Chapters. 
Jeremiah's Grief over the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Miseries of 
Slavery and Famine. His Complaint. 

Ezekiel : 48 Chapters. 
Ezekiel's Call. Carrying out of the Charge. Rejection of the People 
because of Idolatry. Sins of the Age Rebuked in Detail. Nature of the 
Punishment and its Cause. God's Judgment on the Seven Heathen 
Nations. Prophecies after the Destruction of Jerusalem, concerning the 
future of Israel. Their Glorious Fulfillment. 

Period covered, 21 years. 



THE BOOKS SUMMARIZED. 13 

Daniel : 12 Chapters. 
Daniel and His Companions taken Captive. The King's Dream of an 
Image. Daniel Explains the Dream. Trial of the Fiery Furnace. Daniel 
Explains the Dream of the Great Tree. The Handwriting on the Wall. 
Daniel's Advancement. The Lion's Den. Other Visions and Prophecies. 
Final Glory of Christ's Kingdom. 

Period covered, 73 years. 

Hosea : lJ/. Chapters. 
A Symbolical Narrative. Foretelling of God's Judgment against 
Israel's Priests and People for their Sins. Call to Repentance with 
Promise of Pardon. Picture of Israel's Distress, with Invitation to 
Return to God, and Promise of Pardon. 

Period covered, 60 years. 

Joel : 3 Chapters. 
God's Judgment on Judah for Sin. Call to Repentance, with Promise 
of Great Spiritual Blessings. Judgment on the Enemies of God's People, 
and Blessings on His Church. 

Period covered, 15 years. 

Amos : 9 Chapters. 
Divine Judgment upon the Nations around Palestine, and also against 
Judah and Israel. Sins of Israel Rebuked in Detail, and Punishment 
Foretold. Coming of the Messiah, and Final Restoration of the Chosen 
People. 

Period covered, 25 years. 

Obadiah: 1 Chapter. 
Destruction of the Edomites. Return of the Jews from Captivity. 
Their Possession of the Country of their Enemies. The Reign of their 
Messiah. 

Period covered, 5 years. 

Jonah: U Chapters. 
Jonah's Refusal to go to Nineveh at God's Command. Story of the 
Fish. Jonah's Prayer and Deliverance. His Preaching to the Ninevites. 
Its Effect. Jonah's Complaint. God Reproves Him. 
Period covered, 56 years. 



14 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Micah: 7 Chapters. 
God's Judgment on Judah and Israel for their Sins. Glory of the 
Church in the Eeign of Christ. Justice of the Divine Demands. 
Period covered, 59 years. 

Nahum : 3 Chapters. 
Attributes and Works of God. Judgment on His Enemies. Ruin of 
Nineveh. 

Period covered, 22 years. 

Habakkuk : 3 Chapters. 
Destruction of Judah by the Chaldeans. Judgment on the Chaldeans. 
Habakkuk's Prayer and Faith. 

Period covered, 14 years. 

Zephaniah : 3 Chapters. 
Vengeance against Judah for Idolatry. Judgments to Gome on the 
Surrounding Nations. Eebuke of Jerusalem. Promise of the Restoration, 
and Happiness of God's People. 

Period covered, 31 years. 

Haggai : 2 Chapters. 

Reproof of the people for Neglect to Rebuild the Temple. Haggai 

Encourages the People by Showing the Glory of the New Temple. He 

Rebukes their Sloth, Promises Divine Favor, and Foretells the Safety 

of God's People, and the Ruin of Earthly Kingdoms. 

Period covered, 2 years. 

Zechariah : lJf Chapters. 
The Nine Visions. Conversation between the Prophet and Captives, 
about Fasts. The Future of the Jewish Church and People. 
Period covered, 23 years. 

Malachi : Jf Chapters. 
God's Love for the Jews. Their Ingratitude. Reproof of the Priests 
and People for Sins with Threat of Punishment and Rejection. Coming 
of Christ to the Temple. His Mission. His Forerunner. 
Period covered, 23 years. 

Matthew : 28 Chapters. 
The Lineage of Jesus. His Birth and Infancy. His Baptism and 
Temptation. Call of His Twelve Disciples. His Public Ministry, Be- 
trayal, Arrest, Trial, Crucifixion, Burial, Resurrection and Ascension. 



THE BOOKS SUMMARIZED. 15 

Mark: 16 Chapters. 
The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus. Selection of the Twelve. 
Public Ministry of Jesus. His Betrayal, Trial, Crucifixion, Burial, Res- 
urrection and Ascension. 

Luke : 2k Chapters. 
The Angel's Prophecy concerning John the Baptist and Jesus. The 
Office of Each. Circumstances of the Birth of Each. Preaching of John. 
Baptism of Jesus. His Temptation. His Ministry, Arrest, Trial, Cru- 
cifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. 

John: 21 Chapters. 
The Word made Flesh. Office of John the Baptist. Jesus Calls His 
Twelve Apostles. His Ministry, Arrest, Trial, Crucifixion, Burial, 
Eesurrection, Appearance to His Disciples, Ascension. 

Acts : 28 Chapters. 
Choice of an Apostle in place of Judas. The Pentecost. Foundation 
and Progress of the Church in Jerusalem and Judaea. Story of the First 
Christian Martyr. First Persecution of the Church, and Its Extension to 
Samaria. Conversion of Saul. Of Cornelius. Second Persecution, and 
Foundation of the Church at Antioch. Paul's First Apostolic Journey. 
Council at Jerusalem. Paul's Second and Third Apostolic Journeys. 
His Imprisonment at Caesarea and Voyage to Rome. 

Komans: 16 Chapters. 
Sinfulness of the Heathen. Sinfulness of the Jews. Jews and Gentiles 
Compared. Theory of the Plan of Salvation. Illustration of It. Its 
Results [Union with Christ. Servants of Christ. Defects of the Law 
Supplied]. Christian Duty and Privilege. Cause for Rejecting a part 
of Abraham's Descendants. Equality of Jew and Gentile. Christian 
Principles Discussed. Personal References. 

I Corinthians: 16 Chapters. 
Reproof of Factions. Fleshly Sins and Law Suits Condemned. Dis- 
course on Marriage. Heathen Feasts; or Self-denial for Another's Sake. 
Discourse on Public Worship. Resurrection from the Dead. Conclusion. 

II Corinthians : IS Chapters. 
Paul's Reasons for Delay in Visiting Corinth, iidvice concerning a 
Case of Discipline. The Source, Difficulties, and Motive of Paul's Apos- 
tolic Mission. Intercourse with Heathen. Collection for Fellow Chris- 
tians. Self-Vindication. 



16 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Galatians : 6 Chapters. 
The Apostle's Conversion and Conflict with Judaism. Argument 
showing how the Law was Preparatory to the Gospel. Exhortation to 
Use the Liberty of the Gospel for the Cultivation of True Holiness. 

Epi-iesians : 6 Chapters. 
Thanksgiving for the Call of the Ephesians. Christian Privileges. 
Revelation of a Mystery. Paul's Prayer. He Exhorts them to Suit their 
Lives to their Professions by Casting Out Feelings of Strife, Imitating 
Christ's Purity, and Bearing with One Another in every Relation of Life. 
He tells how to Fight Evil. 

Philippians : Jf. Chapters. 
Paul's Prayer for the Advancement of the Philippians in Grace. 
Effects of His Imprisonment. His Future Prospects. Exhortation to 
follow Christ's Example. Personal Matters. Warning against Judaizers. 
Personal Appeals. Final Exhortation and Commendation. 

Colossians : 4 Chapters. 
Thanksgiving for the Graces of the Colossians. Prayer for their 
Spiritual Progress. The Supremacy and Eternal Pre-eminence of Christ. 
His Reconciliation of Humanity to the Father. Paul's Example to them 
to Advance ^in the Knowledge of Christ. Moral and Spiritual Effect of 
their Interest in Christ's Resurrection. Address to the Whole Church, 
Salutations and Individual Messages. 

I Thessalonians : 5 Chapters. 

Paul's Gratitude for their Eager Acceptance of the Gospel and Fidelity 
in Maintaining It. Exhortations against Besetting Sins. Encourage- 
ment to Cultivate Christian Virtues. Bereaved Friends Consoled by 
Showing the Glories of the Resurrection, and of a Transformed Body. 

II Thessalonians : 3 Chapters. 
Commendations and Exhortations to Perseverance. Correction of 

False Notions about the Second advent. Appeal for their Prayers. 
Practical Precepts for their Guidance. 

I Timothy : 6 Chapters. 
Paul's Personal Message to Timothy. The Truth Contrasted with the 
False Teaching of Judaizers. Instructions regarding Public Worship. 
Qualifications of Ministers and Behavior of their Families. Special 
Advice to Timothy. Dfreetions concerning Widows, Elders and Servants. 
Special Charge to Timothy concerning the Manner of His Life. 



THE BOOKS SUMMARIZED. 17 

II Timothy : 1+ Chapters. 

Expression of Love. Encouragement. Warning. Solemn Charge. 
Personal Matters. 

Titus : S Chapters. 

Qualification of Elders. Suppression of False Teachers. The Christian 
Character of Aged Men and Women, Young of Both Sexes, and Servants. 
Paul's Personal Advice to Titus. 

Philemon : 1 Chapter. 

A Letter of Reconciliation to Philemon urging the Pardon of a Fugi- 
tive Slave, who, under Paul, had been Converted and Sent Back. 
Hebrews : IS Chapters. 

Superiority of the Christian to the Jewish Dispensation, because its 
Author is Superior to Angels, to Moses, and to the Aaronic High Priest 
[in His Office, Nature and Vocation], and because the Old Covenant was 
not able to make its Members Perfect. Typical and Real Sacrifice of the 
Atonement compared and illustrated by comparing the Sanctuary Service 
with the Christian Service. Warning against Relapse into Judaism. 
Encouragement to Peace and Holiness. Practical Duties. Conclusion. 

James : 5 Chapters. 

Treatise on Sincerity and Patience, Talk against Hypocrisy and 
Self-Deceit, against Flattery of the Rich and Contempt of the Poor, 
against False Love and Fictitious Faith. The Duty of Ruling the Tongue 
and Cultivating Peace. Warning against the Corruption of this World, 
and the attempt to serve both God and Mammon. Talk against Covetous- 
ness, Impatience and Oaths. Encouragement to Mutual Confession of 
Faults, Intercession and Holiness. 

I Peter : 5 Chapters. 

Necessity, Use and Brevity of Earthly Trials. Exhortation to Walk 
worthy of the Christian Calling, and follow the Example of Christ. 
Advice as to Duty in various Relations of Life. Exhortation to Harmony, 
Peace and Sanctification. Warning of the Second Advent, with Refer- 
ence to God's Judgment on those who neglected Noah's Preaching, 
pjxhortation to Pastors on their Duty. 

II Peter : 3 Chapters. 

Exhortation to Persevere in Faith and Good Works. The certainty of 
Punishment to the Wicked. Warning against False Teachers. Certainty 
of the Second Advent, and its Warning, both to the Godly and to the 
Wicked. 



18 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

I John : 5 Chapters. 
The Nature of Fellowship with God. ' The Blessings and Duties of 
Sonship. Love the Bond of Fellowship. 

IT John : 1 Chapter. 
Exhortation to Persevere in Love, Faith and Godliness, and to beware 
of False Teachers. 

Ill John : 1 Chapter. 
A Personal Letter to Gams, commending His Hospitality and Piety, 
and Warning Him against Diotrephes, and commending to Him Demetrius. 

Jude: 1 Chapter. 
Exhortation to the Saints -to Hold Fast their Faith. Tradition of a 
Dispute between Michael and Satan about the Body of Moses. False 
Teachers Denounced. 

Bevelation: 22 Chapters. 
John's Vision concerning the Seven Churches in Asia. Messages to 
the Seven Churches. The Prophetic Vision. 



INTRODUCTION TO PENTATEUCH. 



Moses is believed to have written the first five books of the Old Testa- 
ment. They are called the Pentateuch (meaning five books). The word 
Genesis means beginning, and the book is so called because it gives account 
of the beginning of things. Exodus means "going out," and the book is 
so named because its principal theme is the going out of Abraham's 
enslaved descendants from Egypt, where they had been more than two 
hundred years. Exodus takes up the history where Genesis leaves off, and 
continues the story up to nearly the time when the people were ready to 
leave Mt. Sinai. Leviticus means Levite Book, or Law Book, so called 
from its contents. [See its summary.] Numbers means "counting," and 
gets its name from the numbering of the people which is recorded at the 
beginning and. end of the book. Deuteronomy means Second Law, so 
named because it contains the law as rehearsed by Moses to the people 
before they went into Canaan. 

It is altogether likely that in writing Genesis Moses made use of earlier 
writings, and simply used his discretion in selecting such facts as would 
best convey the consecutive idea of God's creative power, and fatherly care 
for the world. He wanted to impress his people with that idea as a fitting 
preliminary to the Moral Law soon to be given which was to be the source 
from which all enlightened Civil Law should spring, in all nations. When 
he wrote this is uncertain, but it is likely that Genesis was written at Mt. 
Sinai, and then he followed it with the accounts of Exodus and Leviticus 
as they transpired, and after leaving there he would chronicle through 
the forty years' wanderings the events of Numbers and Deuteronomy. 



GENESIS. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1 Creation. 

2-5 Coming of light. 

6-8 Separation of the waters. 
9, 10 Gathering waters into seas. 
11-13 Growth of vegetation. 
14-19 Appearance of sun, moon, stars. 
20-23 Living creatures in water and air. 
24, 25 Animal creation. 
26-28 Man. 
29-31 Food appointed. 

Chapter 2. 
1-3 Rest day. 
4-25 Second account. 

4-7 Earth made ready and man formed. 
8-18 Eden. 
19, 20 Living creatures named. 
21-25 Woman formed for man. 

Chapter 3. 

1-5 The woman deceived. 
6,7 The fall. 

8 Adam and wife hide from God. 
9-13 God asks the reason, their excuse. 
14, 15 Curse upon the serpent. 
16 Curse upon the woman. 
17-19 Curse upon the man. 

20 Woman named. 

21 God clothes Adam and Eve. 
22-24 Man driven from Eden's garden. 



GENESIS. 

Chapter 4. 

1, 2 Birth of Cain and Abel. 
3, 4 Offering of Cain and Abel. 

5 Anger of Cain. 
6, 7 God reasons with Cain. 

8 Cain kills Abel. 
9-15 God's curse upon Cain. 
16-24 History of Cain and his descendants. 
25, 26 Seth born, and his son. 

Chapter 5. 



1-5 Adam 


130 


800 


6-8 Seth 


105 


807 


9-11 Enos 


90 


815 


12-14 Canaan 


70 


840 


15-17 Mahalaleel 


65 


830 


18-20 Jared 


162 


800 


21-24 Enoch 


65 


300 


25-27 Methuselah 


187 


782 


28-31 Lamech 


182 


595 


32 Noah 


500 





Shem, Ham, Japheth. 



Chapter 6. 

1-2 Wickedness of men. 

3 Warning. 
4, 5 Character of the men. 
6, 7 -God's change of purpose. 
8-10 Character of Noah. 
11-13 Universality of sin. 
14-16 An ark ordered. 

14 Material. 

15 Size. 

16 Plan. 

17 A flood threatened. 
18-21 What the ark was to carry. 
22 Noah's obedience. 



22 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 7. 

1-6 How much the ark was to carry. 
7-16 Noah goes into the ark. 
17-20 The rain. 
21-23 Death of all flesh. 

24 Duration of the flood. 
Chapter 8. 

1-3 The wind sent. 

4 The ark stops floating. 

5 Land seen. 

6-12 Raven and dove sent out. 

13 The water removed. 

14 The ground dried. 
15-19 Noah goes out of the ark. 

20 Noah's sacrifice. 
21-22 God's promise to Noah. 
Chapter 9. 

1-7 God's blessing on Noah's family. 
8-17 The second covenant. 
18-27 Drunkenness of Noah. 
28, 29 Death of Noah. 
Chapter 10. 

1-32 A catalogue of Noah's descendants. 
Chapter 11. 

1 One language. 
2-4 Tower proposed in Shinar. 
5-9 Confusion of tongues. 



10,11 Shorn 


100 


500 


12, 13 Arphaxad 


35 


403 


14,15 Salah 


30 


403 


16,17 Eber 


34 


430 


18,19 Peleg 


30 


209 


20,21 Ecu 


32 


207 


22,23 Serug 


30 


200 


24,25 Nahor 


29 


119 


26 Terah 


70 


135 



27,28 Abram, Nahor, Haran [died in Ur]. 
29,30 Sarai; Milcah; Lot. 

31 Terah starts to Canaan. 

32 Terah's death in Haran. 



GENESIS. 

Chapter 12. 

1-3 God calls Abram. 
4, 5 Abram goes to Canaan. 
6, 7 The land promised to Abram's children. 
8 The altar between Bethel and Hai. 
9, 10 The famine— Abram goes to Egypt. 
11-13 Abram's story about Sarai. 
14-16 Pharaoh takes Sarai. 

17 God sends plagues on Pharaoh. 
18-20 Abram and Sarai sent away. 

Chapter 13. 

1-4 Abram returns to Bethel. 

5-7 Strife between Abram's and Lot's herdsmen. 

8-9 Abram's advice to Lot. 
10-13 Lot's choice — character of Sodom. 
14-17 God's promise to Abram. 

18 Abram goes to Hebron. 

Chapter 14. 

1-10 Battle of four kings against five. 
11, 12 Lot taken captive. 

13-16 Abram rescues Lot. 

17-20 Melchizedek blesses Abram. 

21-24 Abram refuses pay. 

Chapter 15. 

1-5 God promises Abram a son. 

6 Abram's faith. 

7 Third promise to Abram of Canaan. 

8 Abram asks for evidence. 
9-11 God directs a sacrifice. 

12-21 Abram's vision. 

12 The deep sleep. 
13-16 God foretells the future. 
17-21 The evidence sent to Abram. 

Chapter 16. 

1-3 Sarai gives Hagar to Abram. 

4-6 Persecution of Hagar. 
7-14 Hagar rescued by an angel. 
15-16 Ishmael born. 



24 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 17. 

1-8 Abram named Abraham. 
9-14 Circumcision instituted. 
15-22 Abraham's unbelief. 

15-19 Sarai named Sarah and a son promised. 
20-22 Ishmael blessed — Isaac promised. 
23-27 Abraham circumcises his household. 

Chapter 18. 

1-8 Abraham entertains three angels. 
9-15 A son promised Sarah; her unbelief. 
16-22 Abraham is told of Sodom's fate. 
23-33 Abraham pleads for Sodom. 

Chapter 19. 

1-3 Lot entertains two angels. 
4-11 Picture of Sodom's wickedness. 
12-14 Lot sent to warn his relatives. 
15-17 Lot and his family sent out of Sodom. 
18-23 Lot's prayer. 
24, 25 Sodom destroyed. 

26 Fate of Lot's wife. 
27, 28 Picture of the fire. 

29 Influence of Abraham. 

30 Lot flees from Zoar. 

31-38 Lot lives in a cave with his daughters. 
Chapter 20. 

1, 2 Abraham denies Sarah again. 
3-7 God warns Abimelech in a dream. 
8-10 Abimelech reproves Abraham. 
11-13 Abraham's excuse. 
14-1 6 Abimelech's gift to Abraham. 
17, 18 Abraham's prayer for Abimelech. 
Chapter 21. 

1-5 Isaac born. 

6-8 Sarah's joy. 

9, 10 Her jealousy. 

11-14 Abraham sends away Hagar and Ishmael. 
15-21 Hagar in the wilderness. 

22-32 Agreement between Abraham and Abimelech at Beersheba. 
33, 34 Abraham's stay at Beersheba. 



GENESIS. 

Chapter 22. 

1-14 Trial of Abraham's faith. 
15-19 The promise which followed. 
20-24 Nahor's children. 

Chapter 23. 

1,2 Death of Sarah. 
3-20 Abraham buys Machpelah for a sepulcher. 

Chapter 24. 

1-9 Abraham instructs his servant about a wife for Isaac. 
10, 11 The servant's journey. 
12-14 His prayer. 
15-28 Eebekah appears. 
29-31 Laban brings in the servant. 
32-49 The servant tells his errand. 
50-54 Answer of Laban and his father. 
55-60 Rebekah's answer. 
61-65 Rebekah goes to Canaan. 
66, 67 Isaac takes her. 

Chapter 25. 

1-4 Abraham marries again. 

5-6 Isaac made his heir. 
7-10 Death of Abraham. 

11 Isaac's prosperity. 
12-16 Ishmael's sons. 
17, 18 Ishmael's death. 
19-28 Esau and Jacob born. 
29-34 Esau sells his birthright. 

Chapter 26. 

1-5 Isaac in Gerar. God's promise to him. 
6-11 Isaac denies his wife. 
12-16 Isaac's prosperity. 
17-22 The trouble about wells. 
23-25 Isaac at- Beersheba. 

26-33 Abimelech's covenant with Isaac at Beersheba. 
34-35 Esau's marriage. 



26 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 27. 

1-5 Isaac sends Esau for venison. 

6-17 Rebekah plots to have Jacob get Isaac's blessing. 

18-29 The plot carried out. 

30-40 Esau's return. His grief. 

41 Esau hates Jacob. 

42-46 Rebekah's advice to Jacob. 

Chapter 28. 

1-5 Jacob sent to Laban at Haran. 

6-9 Esau takes another wife. 
10-15 Jacob's vision. 
16-22 Jacob's vow. 

Chapter 29. 

1-8 Jacob finds Rachel at a well in Haran. 
9-12 Jacob waters Rachel's sheep. 
13, 14 Jacob brought to La ban's home. 
15-20 He works seven years for Rachel. 
21-27 Laban deceives him. 
28-30 Jacob works seven years more for Rachel. 
31-35 Leah's children. 

Chapter 30. 

1, 2 Rachel's grief. 
3-8 Bilhah's children. 
9-13 Zilpah's children. 
14-21 Fifth and sixth sons of Leah. 
22-24 Rachel's son. 
25-43 Terms of Jacob's continuance with Laban. 

Chapter 31. 

1-3 Laban's dislike. 
4-16 Jacob counsels with his wives. 
17-22 Jacob starts to Canaan. 
23, 24 Laban pursues. God warns Laban. 
25-35 Laban's speech to Jacob ; he asks for his stolen gods. 
36-42 Jacob's speech of indignation. 
43-55 Covenant between Jacob and Laban. 



GENESIS. 2a 

Chapter 32. 

1, 2 Jacob and the angels. 

3-5 Jacob's messenger to Esau. 

6-8 Jacob's fear of Esau. 

9-12 His prayer. 

13-23 Jacob's present to Esau. 

24-32 Jacob wrestles with an angel. 

Chapter 33. 

1-17 Meeting of Jacob and Esau. 
18-20 Jacob dwells at Shalem. 

Chapter 34. 

1-5 Shechem ill treats Jacob's daughter. 

6, 7 Anger of her brothers. 

8-12 Hamor asks for Dinah for Shechem. 
13-19 A deceitful answer. 
20-24 Circumcision of the Shechemites. 
25-31 The Shechemites slain. 

Chapter 35. 

1-5 Jacob hides the idols. 
6-8 Jacob at Bethel. 
9-15 Jacob's talk with God. 
16-20 Rachel's death at Bethlehem. 
21-26 The twelve sons of Jacob. 
27-29 Death of Isaac. 

Chapter 36. 
1-43 The children of Esau. 

Chapter 37. 

1-4 Jacob's love for Joseph. 
5-11 Joseph's two dreams. 

12-17 Joseph sent to his brothers in Shechem and Dothan. 
18-20 A plot to kill him. 
21, 22 Reuben saves him. 
23-28 Joseph sold into Egypt. 
29-36 Jacob's grief for Joseph. 



28 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK, 

Chapter 38. 

1, 2 Judah's wife. 

3-11 His children. Their evil deeds. 
12-26 Judah's sin. His acknowledgment. 
27-30 His two sons. 

Chapter 39. 

1 Joseph sold to Potiphar. 
2-6 Prosperity of Joseph. 
7-13 Joseph's temptation. 
14-18 Joseph falsely accused. 
19-23 Joseph put in prison. 

Chapter 40. 

1-4 Pharaoh's butler and baker in prison. 
5-8 Their dreams. 
9-15 Joseph explains the butler's dream. 
16-19 Joseph explains the baker's dream. 
20-23 Joseph's words come true. 

Chapter 41. 

1-8 Pharaoh's dream. 
9-13 Joseph commended to Pharaoh. 
14-24 Joseph brought before the king. 
25-32 Joseph explains Pharaoh's dream. 
33-36 Joseph's suggestion. 
37-45 Joseph made ruler of Egypt. 
46-52 Joseph's wife and children. 
53-57 The famine. 

Chapter 42. 

1-7 Joseph's brothers sent to Egypt for corn. 
8-16 Joseph tries them. 
17-20 Their imprisonment. 
21-24 Their remorse. 
25-38 Their money given back and their return to Canaan. 

Chapter 43. 

1-14 Jacob's sons sent again to Egypt. 
15-25 Jacob's sons brought into Joseph's house. 
26-34 Joseph makes a feast for them. 



GENESIS. 29 

Chapter 44. 

1-5 Joseph's silver cnp put in Benjamin's sack. 
6-13 Jacob's sons followed and accused. 
14-17 Their sorrow and humility. 
18-34 Judah's humble appeal to Joseph. 

Chapter 45. 

1-15 Joseph makes himself known to his brothers. 
16-29 Joseph sends his brothers to bring Jacob and his family to Egypt. 

Chapter 46. 

1-7 Israel goes to Egypt. 
8-27 Names of his family. 
28-34 Joseph goes to meet them. 

Chapter 47. 

1-10 Joseph makes known his brothers and father to Pharaoh. 
11, 12 Israel put in the land of Goshen. 
13-22 The famine. 

13-15 Money spent. 

16, 17 Cattle sold. 

18-22 Land pawned. 
23-26 Joseph's tax law. 
27-31 Joseph's promise to Jacob. 

Chapter 48. 

1-7 Joseph visits his sick father. 
8-20 Jacob blesses Joseph's two sons. 
21, 22 Jacob's prophecy. 

Chapter 49. 

1-27 Jacob's blessing on his twelve sons. 
28-32 Jacob's charge about his burial. 
33 Jacob's death. 

Chapter 50. 

1-6 Jacob embalmed. 
7-13 Burial of Jacob. 
14,15 Fear of Joseph's brothers. 
1 6-18 Their message to Joseph. 
19-21 Joseph's reply. 
22-26 Death of Joseph. 



30 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

LESSOX NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1. — The Bible nowhere attempts to prove the existence of God. 
It assumes it. Distinguish between creation and formation. The sweep 
of time covered by the first verse is probably incomputable. The expres- 
sion heaven means the starry worlds in the sky. 

2-5. — Yerse 2 covers another exceeding great space of time. The earth 
matter heated to the point of vaporization would take a great time to cool 
to the point of liquefaction and solidification. During all this time the 
sea would be a thick cloud about the earth, shutting out all exterrial light. 
The wind which would arise in the cooling process would liquefy the 
vapor and precipitate it onto the earth, making it a universal ocean, and 
letting in gleams of light through the decreasing clouds. In process of 
time enough light would be able to penetrate the clouds to make a dis- 
cernable difference when any part of the earth was turned toward the sun, 
or when it was turned away. The Hebrew expression here translated 
evening and morning means "obscurity and dawning/' and the word 
rendered day means simply "period of time." Hence the thought is, 
that the above condition continued through a long space of time (probably 
ages), until that era went out in obscurity and another era dawned. So 
in each of the six days mentioned. 

6-8. — The permanent separation of the waters would constitute a 
separate era. It was only after ages that the earth would become cool 
enough to admit of water lying on it in liquid form. So the expanse or 
space between the earth and the clouds would divide these two forms of 
water — liquid and gaseous. !No doubt throughout this era the deluge of 
storm and water would be past all human comprehension. 

9, 10. — The further cooling and wrinkling of the earth crust into folds 
or mountains would gather the waters into seas and leave bare some of the 
land. 

11-13. — Here also is a statement of the expressed will of God, or God's 
habit, which we call laws of nature. Every seed was to propagate its 
own kind. 

14-19. — As the atmosphere further cleared of the clouds the sun and 
moon would be set to their functions, though probably were not visible 
until after the flood. The grammatical object of let be is lights to 
divide. And that of made in verse 16 is, lights to rule. The fact of this 
writer calling by name stars, and referring to sun and moon only a? 
greater and lesser lights, is probably accounted for by the fact that { e 
writer from whom. Moses took this account had seen stars, but not sun 
or moon. The aqueous ring about the earth at the equator would shut 



GENESIS. 31 

out the sight of sun and moon, but leave the stars visible toward either 
pole. 

20-23. — The air and the water would now be filled with huge living 
creatures, swimming and flying. 

24, 25. — Land animals follow as soon as the air is sufficiently cleared 
of carbon gas to permit air breathing animals so near the ground. 

26-28. — Finally comes man. The "us" in verse 26 does not mean plu- 
rality, but is the Hebrew "plural of excellence." Man with his mind 
and soul (God-likeness) was born for dominion. In his purity God 
blessed him and gave him the earth for his heritage. 

29-31. — It is suggestive that in the period of man's innocence he was 
given only a vegetable diet. Had not sin come, and had not sacrifices 
been instituted, the human family would probably never have had a 
flesh diet. 

Ch. 2 :l-3. — The seventh period then began, and is probably still 
continuing. Of that period our Sabbath day is a type. 

[The foregoing is a complete account of six periods embracing creation 
and transformation of earth matter and organic life. That the writer 
may reach directly to the theme in view — sin and salvation — he selects 
that phase of the foregoing account which relates to God's special 
preparation of the earth for his image creature — man.] 

4-7. — In this second account the writer goes back to the beginning, 
making note of the creative process, and the barrenness of the earth 
before vegetation grew. The expression, "For the Lord God had not 
caused it to rain upon the earth," is put there to introduce the two clauses 
which follow. The idea is that he had not continued to deluge the earth 
as he had done through the ages of the past, and so the ground became 
tillable. From that time on, the rain came only in fertilizing showers. 
A few details are here added regarding man, the compound of earth and 
heaven ; made of the ground, filled with the breath of God. 

8-1 8.7— The land was named Eden, or blessedness. Eastward from the 
sea God planted a special garden for man. Its exact location is mere 
conjecture. As the human family increased doubtless He intended to 
transform the entire habitable earth into such a garden. Here were 
trees of beauty and trees bearing fruit good for food. Here was the tree 
whose fruit prevented decay; and the tree of knowledge, whose fruit 
brought a conscious experience of evil. The river parting in four heads 
may have meant what was then called the universal river (the ocean), 
from which four prominent streams extended inland, such as Indus, Nile, 
Tigris and Euphrates. The ancients counted backward from mouth to 



32 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

source, instead of from source to mouth, as we do. Or possibly and more 
probably, the verse refers to four branches of the river flowing into the 
Persian Gulf. Every tree was allowed for the use of man except the tree 
of knowledge, which was forbidden as something that would bring death. 

19, 20. — The Lord brought the living creatures to Adam that he 
might give each a name. We have no evidence that God had named them 
before, and that Adam guessed the proper name of each. 

21-25.— It is likely that Adam knew how God intended to make for 
him a companion. Verse 18 indicates that. Possibly God had told him 
just how he purposed to proceed in this matter. Adam immediately 
recognized her right relation to him. Verse 24 is probably the comment 
of the writer on the preceding verse. So marriage was an institution 
ordained in the period of man's innocence. 

Ch. 3 :l-5. — One of the lower creatures was used by the enemy of God 
to deceive the woman into disobedience to God. Whether this meant 
the eating of an apple or some other act of disobedience matters nothing. 
The point is that the woman was deceived into disobeying God. There 
was just enough of truth in verse 5 to make the lie it contained very 
dangerous. 

6, 7.- — Here is introduced the great theme with which the Bible chiefly 
concerns itself. The woman disobeyed and involved her husband in the 
disobedience. There is no doubt that she was first to blame. And there 
is no doubt that he also was to blame. As to what per cent of his motive 
in eating the forbidden fruit was due to his desire for it, and what per cent 
was due to his desire to be in harmony with his wife, we are left to 
conjecture. The matter of principal importance is that he sinned, and 
forever since the whole human family has been clothing to cover its 
nakedness. 

8.— Their guilt led them to hide away from God. In verse 8 it was 
doubtless Adam and Eve who were walking in the cool of the day. The 
instinct of sin is to try to cover its guilt. 

9-13. — Whether the call which Adam heard was conscience's voice or a 
literal voice matters not. He was self-accused. God's question as to 
why he felt so led him to accuse the woman, and indirectly accuse God. 
The woman, when questioned, accused the serpent. 

14, 15. — So God put upon the serpent a curse, compelling it to crawl 
and lick the dust, with the further assurance that the seed of the woman 
should crush the serpent's head (break his power) — the first covenant 
from God to man. 



GENESIS. 33 

16. — Upon woman God pronounced the woes of sorrowful conception, 
and made her subject to her husband. 

17-19. — Upon Adam was pronounced the curse of a ground filled with 
thorns and thistles, with which he must battle for his daily bread — 
sorrowful battle, crowned at last with physical death. 

20. — Adam named his wife Eve, which means life, because she was the 
mother of the other members of the human family. This name, though 
mentioned at this stage, I think was not given until after children were 
born to them. 

21. — The pair had clothed themselves in fig leaves, but God gave them 
now a more substantial clothing made of skins. This was likely done in 
connection with the animal sacrifice instituted as a picture of the Re- 
deemer which God now purposed to send. 

22-24. — And now, lest man should continue to eat of the tree of life, 
and so continue to live, even in his sinful condition, God sent him from 
the garden, guarding the entrance with a flaming sword. 

Ch, 4?3, 2. — Two sons were born, whose occupations differ, a farmer 
and a shepherd. 

3, 4. — It is evident that the will of God about offerings had been made 
plain. Blood was to be shed. It was typical of a Redeemer to come, and 
it was necessary to hide man's nakedness. These typical sacrifices were 
part burned (given to God) and part eaten by the worshiper, thus making 
their worship a part of their daily round of duties ; and the skin was used 
for clothing and other useful purposes. Cain rebelled against this wise 
regulation. Just why we cannot tell. 

5. — God manifested pleasure in Abel's worship, but not in Cain's. How 
this manifestation was made we are not told. Possibly it was in the 
prosperity of Abel beyond Cain. Cain becomes angry, and cultivates an 
ugly mood and a like face. 

6, 7. — As a wise parent, God reasons with his rebellious child, showing 
him that -his trouble was the result of his disobedience, and pointing out 
the high position he should occupy if he would act rightly. 

8. — The probability is that Cain at every opportunity railed at Abel, 
and that when by chance he found Abel alone he killed him by stealth. 

9-15. — Cain's first error was indifference to God's rules. The second 
grew out of the first — neglect. The third was a natural result — diso- 
bedience. Hatred followed against those who were righteous. Murder 
was hatred put into execution, and falsehood followed to cover the wrong 
which was now so apparent even to Cain. The "voice of Abel's blood" 
may have been Abel's descendants which "cursed" Cain and sought to 



34 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

slay hini. Cain sees now the desperation of his case, and talks despair- 
ingly of being driven from society, from the public worship of God, and 
having to neglect his daily work, and skulk in flight as a condemned 
criminal, hourly in danger of his life. When he repented God mercifully 
put upon him some mark to protect him against the avengers who sought 
his life. 

16-24. — Cain now moved eastward, he and his, from the rest of the 
human family, to a place afterward called Nod. Here he builded a city. 
His great-great-great grandson, Lamech, was the first bigamist. Lamech 
was also a homicide. But, he said, "I slew a man for wounding me, and 
a man for hurting me. If then Cain was protected, I shall surely be 
much more, seeing that my act was more justifiable." 

25, 26. — Another son was born to Adam and Eve — Seth, and to Seth 
a son — Enos. By this time there began to be a clear division between 
worshipers and non-worshipers, the former being called "Sons of God." 

Ch. 5:1-32. — Adam saw Methuselah, and Methuselah saw Noah and 
Shem. 

Ch. 6:1, 2. — The expression "Sons of God" is a designation of God 
worshipers. "Daughters of men" refers to the people at large. The 
thought is that the worshipers of God made the fatal mistake of marrying 
non-worshipers. 

3. — God warned men of their course, seeking to turn their thoughts 
toward Him. The latter part of verse 3 does not, I think, refer to the 
years that should elapse before sending judgment upon them, but refers 
to the average number of years that a man should live. 

4, 5. — It is entirely probable that the man of that day was exceedingly 
larger than the man of this day. The climatic condition previous to the 
flood would tend to physical greatness and longevity. And the purposes 
and desires of those great and long-lived people were bent to the 
perfecting of evil plans. There is a hint in verses 4 and 5 that the 
combination of the godlike intelligence with the tremendous physical 
development of the day produced in the race thus tainted with sin 
frightful developments of evil accomplishments. When a man determines 
to develop an evil character his longevity is a calamity to the race. 

6, 7. — When it became evident that warning was in vain, God deter- 
mined to destroy the human family by flood. The expression, "It repented 
the Lord," conveys the thought that God changed his attitude toward his 
incorrigible children. Doubtless the most merciful thing God could do 
with the human family was to utterly destroy it, which sad end was of 



GENESIS. 35 

course far from the original intention of God concerning his image 
creature. 

8-10. — 2\oah, however, was a noble exception to the rule. He was just. 
He walked with God. So ought all men. That is our sole business in 
this life. 

11-13. — The leaven of wickedness had spread until sin had corrupted 
the entire human family, and made it so hopelessly bad that it was fit 
only for destruction. 

14-16. — God orders Noah to make an ark of such a size and fashion 
as to preserve in it enough to propagate the different species of creatures 
after all should be destroyed, besides saving Noah and his family from 
the universal wickedness by destroying all flesh. 

17. — The mode of destruction was to be a flood. This was probably 
brought about by the precipitation of aqueous rings about the earth at the 
equator, thus clearing the atmosphere entirely of clouds, and by the direct 
rays of the sun making visible the bow of promise, and reducing the 
stature and life period of man. 

18-21. — God now specifies to Noah just what the ark is to carry. 

22. — Noah obediently does just what the Lord commands him. 

Ch. 7:1-6. — He is instructed now to take many pairs (probably seven) 
of clean beasts and fowls, and few (probably two) pairs of unclean beasts 
with him into the ark. 

7-16. — The entering of Noah and all his company into the ark was the 
crowning evidence of his faith, and yet he was probably derided for it at 
ihe time. Noah was 599 years, 1 month and 16 days old when the down- 
pour began. He and his company went into the ark, and for forty days 
the rain continued. 

17-20. — As the rain continued to fall, and it became evident that 
Noah's preaching was true, doubtless many rafts were improvised. The 
ark was lifted and floated above the earth. The hills and the mountains 
disappeared from sight, and the inhabited earth became a wild waste of 
v/aters. 

21-23. — No sadder history has ever been written than that, because of 
sin and incorrigibleness "all flesh died;" only Noah and his family 
remained. 

24. — For five months the ark floated. This would give sufficient time 
to properly dispose of the dead carcasses of men and beasts so that the air 
would not be polluted by their decay. 

Ch. 8:1-3. — For righteous Noah's sake God caused the waters to be 



36 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

restrained by winds so the desolated earth would once more become fit for 
the habitation of man. 

4. — Exactly five months after the rain began to fall the Ark grounded 
on Mt. Ararat. 

5. — Three months later, lacking seven days, the waters had fallen 
until the tops of the mountains were seen. 

6-12. — Forty days later Noah sent out a raven and a dove. They 
returned. Seven days later he again sent the dove, and she did not return 
any more. 

13. — Twenty-seven days later (the first day of next year) the waters 
had disappeared. 

14. — Fifty-seven days later the ground was sufficiently dry to live on. 

15-19. — Noah is now commanded to go out of the ark, where he had 
been one year and ten days. 

20. — His first act was to build an altar and sacrifice to the Lord some 
of each of the clean beasts and fowls. 

21, 22. — God now promised perpetual succession of seed time and 
harvest. Tn this theme there is a hint of the second covenant, which will 
be noticed shortly. Verse 22 is a beautiful expression of God's habit, 
what we call natural law. 

Ch. 9 :l-7. — In the blessing which followed God renewed the injunction 
to man to people the earth, and renewed the promise to give man 
dominion over the earth. He was forbidden, however, to eat blood, the- 
life of the beast. 

8-17. — The second covenant is now made, namely, that God would no 
more destroy the earth by a flood. As' a token of this covenant God 
directed the attention of Noah to the rainbow, which was to be visible in 
every cloud. Probably the bow had never before been seen by humanity 
on account of the absence of the direct sunshine already explained. 

18-27. — Now quickly follows the story of Noah's shame, as he drank 
the intoxicating wine and was helplessly drunken. His son Canaan 
dishonors his father by shamefully exposing him in his unconsciousness, 
and receives a curse. 

28, 29. — Noah lives for 350 years after the flood, and saw Abram. 

Ch. 10 is merely a table for reference. 

Ch. 11 :1. — The one language was probably that of the Chaldee. It 
would de difficult even for dialects to progress among a people of such 
longevity, much less different languages. 

2-4. — Shinar is likely the land where Babylon stood, which city would 
then doubtless be on or near the site of Babel, making it the most ancient 



GENESIS. 37 

that can be identified. The composition of these thoroughly burned 
brick would correspond to our sewer pipe material, and these together 
with the bitumen they used for mortar would make a wall practically 
indestructible by the weather. The city and its tower reaching unto the 
clouds was to be the great headquarters for the world, and would have 
been the breeding place of all iniquity. 

5-9. — There was but one remedy. The mind of the people must be 
turned from centralization to that of colonization. God had faith in the 
country, but not in the great city. The expression, "Lord came down," 
indicates an interest on the Lord's part which led him to manifest 
himself. As to the means by which God confused their language, we are 
left to guess. It is- altogether likely that the confounding of their 
language here mentioned meant disagreement among themselves, such 
a lack of harmony as produced permanent estrangement and separation. 

10-32.— Shem's eldest son was born two years after the flood. Shem's 
life also reached on far past the birth of Abram. Lot was Ab ram's 
nephew, and Sarai was Abram's half-sister. It ought to be noticed that 
it was Terah who took his son and his grandson and started to Canaan. 
There is no warrant for the assumption that Terah was an idolater. 
Doubtless he was a true worshiper of the true God, and so taught his son 
Abram, and so well did he teach him that after he died Abram went on 
to carry out his father's plans. 

Ch. 12:1-3. — It is unnecessary to assume that Terah was an idolater, 
livery indication would point to the conclusion that he was a man of faith 
in God, and had so trained his son Abram. He started to take Abram 
to Canaan, and died on the way. A son trained as Abram would thus be 
would be just the man whom God would select to carry out His plans. 

4, 5. — Further, he would be susceptible to the influence of truth, and 
would be likely to readily respond to the impressions which God should 
make upon him. Lot, Terah's grandson, came to Canaan with Abram 
and his wife. 

6, 7. — Shechem is near Mt. Gerizim, about thirty miles north of 
Jerusalem. The location of Ur of the Chaldees, from which Abram came, 
is uncertain. It is thought by some to be the land southeast of Babylon ; 
by others to be the land northwest of Nineveh ; in either case between the 
rivers Tigris and Euphrates. God promises to give Canaan to the 
descendants of Abram. 

8. — From Shechem he goes about twenty miles further south and 
builds an altar to God between Bethel and Hai. 



38 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

9, 10. — Finding a famine in the land of promise, Abram journeys on 
to Egypt. 

11-13. — Here occurs a test of his faith. He feared the Egyptians 
would kill him to get possession of his beautiful wife. So he and Sarai 
agreed to say she was his sister. The statement was true, but not the 
whole truth. 

14-16. — As was expected, the king took the woman. How Abram could 
so willingly give her up does not appear. But in worldly things he was 
rewarded, and was growing rich. 

17. — The plagues of the Lord brought the king to a realization of the 
true state of circumstances. God's judgments are always blessings, even 
though they be in disguise. . 

18-20. — When the king came to understand the facts, he sent away 
Abram and his wife. It is always the part of wisdom to put a temptation 
as far from you as possible. The king seems to have dealt honorably, and 
to have borne no ill-will toward Abram, though he does seem to have 
chided him, and rightly, for suppressing the main facts. 

Ch. 13 :l-4. — Egypt is southwest from Canaan. When Abram returned 
from that land, he went back to Bethel, where he had built an altar 
before he went to Egypt. We cannot tell how long he might have staid 
in Egypt; possibly he might have been beguiled by prosperity into 
forgetfulness of the promise and the promised land, but for the rebuke 
of the king of Egypt. 

5-7. — Lot's relation to Abram would bring him also into prominence, 
and the king's favor toward Abram would be extended toward Lot. And 
so Lot would also be likely to grow rich. Riches in that day meant a 
great deal of live stock. That would bring difficulty in selecting a 
location for both companies. 

8, 9. — Abram's advice to Lot showed his royal character, even though 
he had faults. Further, he was wise enough to strike at the root of all 
trouble, and avoid all future difficulty by suggesting a peaceful separation 
— a hint to relatives who incline to chafe. Abram was generous. He 
gave Lot his choice of the land. 

10-13. — Lot was not so generous. His manner showed selfishness. 
And it will be seen yet that that selfish choice finally cost him all that he 
had, even part of his family. Sin spoils the enjoyment both of time and 
eternity. To shun sin and its evils, one must not choose sinners as daily 
associates. 

14-17. — Lot had taken the choice given to him, and from a worldly 
standpoint he had left Abram (to whom he owed all) the poorest of the 



GENESIS. 39 

land. He is now gone, and the Lord says to Abram, I will give all this 
land which you see to you and your descendants. The blessed merciful 
are the ones who finally obtain mercy. 

18. — Abram's next move is to Hebron, about twenty-eight miles 
south, or eighteen miles south of where Jerusalem now stands. Here he 
builds another altar. A really devout spirit makes worship the first duty. 
The worship of those days consisted partly of animal sacrifice, and so the 
altar was indispensable, much the same as our houses of worship in these 
days. 

Ch. 14:1-10. — An eastern prince, the king of Elam, had for twelve 
years made tributaries of the king of Sodom and adjoining cities. Finally 
they rebelled. The king of Elam called to his assistance three neigh- 
boring kings, and made a victorious sweep of war against the inhabitants 
of Mt. Seir, south of the Dead Sea ; against the Amalekites and Amorites, 
southwest of the Dead Sea, and finally against Sodom, Gomorrah, and 
three other adjoining cities (where the southern part of the Dead Sea 
now is). The slime (bitumen) pits mentioned may have been the pits 
which supplied the mortar for the tower of Babel and other great build- 
ings. The five kings of that country were defeated by the four eastern 



11, 12. — Lot was taken captive by those conquerors. For gain he had 
left his kind and pious relative, and by that very spirit put himself out 
from God's protection. 

13-16. — Hebron is northwest from Sodom. When word came to Abram 
he armed three hundred and eighteen of his servants, traveled nearly 
one hundred miles north, and overtook the four kings near Dan. He 
severely defeated and chased them fifty miles further toward Damascus. 
Tne king of that age was generally the ruler of a little colony gatherd for 
protection inside an inclosure called a fenced city. These four kings 
probably had a force somewhat larger than Abram, but the time and 
method of his attack (by night and from two different directions) would 
leave a doubt in the mind of the allied forces as to the strength of their 
enemies, and cause a panic among them. 

17-20. — This victory gave Abram great prestige in Canaan. The king 
of Sodom showed him honor. The king of Salem (Jerusalem), who 
worshiped the same God whom Abram served, blessed Abram in the name 
of God. This case illustrates how the true worship of the true God was 
kept in the world from the beginning, looming up here, there, and yonder, 
like oases in a great desert. Abram recognized in this godly prince a 
worthy representative of the true religion, and publicly honored and 



40 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

substantially encouraged him by making him a gift of one-tenth of his 
means. Here was a public proclamation that the special system of 
worship of which Abram was the spiritual father, embodied and exem- 
plified in the Levitical priesthood, was a mere fragment of the true 
worship of God (exemplified by the worship of Melchizedek) as it has 
existed from the garden of Eden to the present time, all of which worship 
is centered in and dependent upon the promised Christ. 

21-24. — Abram's refusal to take the offered and customary pay for his 
work showed again his true character. He accepted the board of his men 
while on the campaign, and let the three princes who went with him as 
allies take their portion of the spoils, but for himself he positively 
declined. 

Ch. 15:1t5. — It is suggested that after the military enterprise was 
over, Abram became a prey to despondency and terror at the probable 
revenge that might be meditated against him, for he had stripped the 
four kings of all their spoil and brought back Lot and his family. God 
cheered him with a promise of protection, and promised him a son of his 
own, for Sarai was childless. 

6. — Though every human probability seemed against the fulfillment, 
yet Abram had faith in that promise, and by just such faith as that 
Abram was, and all men are, justified. 

7. — At this point God makes Abram the third promise of Canaan. 

8. — Abram asks this time for evidence that he shall inherit the land. 

9-11. — God gives him directions about a sacrifice. 

12-21. — When all was ready Abram fell into a deep sleep, and had a 
vision. In that vision God appeared to Abram, foretold the future to 
him, and showed precisely the same rites that all eastern people use when 
making an agreement, and so pledged himself to Abram to carry out his 
promise. 

Ch. 16:1-3. — Sarai, despairing of having a child of her own, adopted 
the eastern custom of giving her servant girl to be her husband's wife, and 
calling the child she should bear her own. 

4-6. — The principle is radically wrong. Note the result. The servant 
girl became proud even to the point of despising her mistress, and Sarai's 
charge against Abram was to the effect that Abram had practically given 
Hagar Sarai's place in his love. Sarai persecuted her until she fled. 
Under such treatment we should expect to find that Hagar would bring 
forth a child whose "hand would be against every man." All humanity 
is constitutionally monogamous. 



GENESIS. 41 

7-14. — An angel speaks to her in the wilderness, foretells the future 
of her son, and sends her back to Sarai. 

15, 16. — Hagar's son, Ishmael, was born when Abram was eighty-six 
years old. 

Ch. 17 :l-8. — Thirteen years after Ishmael's birth God makes another 
manifestation of himself to Abram. He promises that Abram shall 
have much prosperity, and changes his name from Abram (lofty father) 
to Abraham ( lather of a multitude), and promises him a fourth time that 
all the land of Canaan sliaH'become the inheritance of his descendants, 
and also that God would be their God everlastingly. 

9-14. — Abraham and his posterity on their part were to observe the 
rite of circumcision. It was the sign of this covenant. Every male of 
his family and posterity, and every slave of theirs, must be circumcised. 
Failure to do this would cut off the one concerned from the rights of this 
covenant. On God's part he was to give them Canaan, to be their ever- 
lasting God, and make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations. 

15-22. — At this point Sarai's name was changed to Sarah, and God 
promised that a son should be born of her. This called forth from 
xibraham hearty laughter ; he fell on his face and laughed, probably from 
incredulity. A blessing was promised also to Ishmael, about whom 
Abraham seemed solicitous, probably because he thought him his only 
hope of posterity. 

23-27. — Abraham carried out the rite of circumcision in his family as 
directed, himself being ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. 

Ch. 18 :l-8. — Three strangers appear one evening. Abraham entertains 
them, spreading a feast according to the eastern custom. Little does he 
know whom he is feeding. 

9-15. — An inquiry about the wife, not customary in strangers, brought 
out another promise of a son to be born of her. Sarah heard it, and 
laughed incredulously. When the visitor accused her of doubting God's 
power she denied laughing, because she was afraid. 

16-22. — The Lord now sees fit to tell Abraham of the doom of Sodom. 
Here is an illustration of how God takes good men into his plans for the 
government of his creatures. 

23-33. — Abraham makes a pathetic and remarkable plea. He rightly 
infers that the doom of sinners is delayed for the sake of the righteous 
dwelling among them. Before he finished pleading the Lord promised to 
spare the city if ten righteous men could be found in it. 

Ch. 19 :l-3. — Two strangers came to Sodom at evening, probably two 
of the very ones who had been with Abraham. Who can say but that 



42 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

God chose to incarnate angels that they might personally appear in 
Sodom and thus give from personal experience testimony of its depravity. 
Verse 21 gives color to this idea. They meant to stay out in the street, 
but at Lot's pressing invitation they lodge in his house, where he spreads 
them a feast. 

4-11. — The picture given of Sodom's wickedness shows the midnight 
blackness of their character and depth of their depravity. Oriental ideas 
of hospitality to strangers would sacrifice members of one's own family 
rather than suffer indignity to a guest. 

12-14. — After rescuing Lot from the Sodomites, the guests sent him to 
warn his children by blood and by marriage to come out of the doomed 
city. There is, however, no proof that Lot had any sons or son-in-law. 
The verb married is a participle, and may be translated, who "were to 
marry" his daughters. 

15-17. — Next morning the strangers took Lot and his wife and two 
daughters and hurried them out of the doomed city, charging them to 
make haste to the mountains. 

18-23. — Lot pleaded that he might be allowed to dwell in Zoar, a near 
village. The request was granted. 

24, 25. — Sodom and Gomorrah were now engulfed in a storm of 
sulphur and fire. 

26. — Lot's wife, who was probably a Sodomite, tarried, hoping to get 
back to her city after the storm abated, and was smothered and petrified 
in the plain. 

27, 28. — Abraham from the high ground on the northwest looked 
toward Sodom and saw the smoke rising as from a great furnace. He 
knew now that even ten righteous men could not be found in the city. 
Perhaps he trembled and wondered how Lot fared. 

29. — But God had remembered Abraham, and for his sake sent Lot 
out of danger. May be now Lot thinks of the time when he chose for 
himself the best of the land, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. That 
selfish choice has at last cost him all he has. He remembers that he would 
even have been a captive slave now but for his generous uncle. 

30. — The terror of that scene is more than Lot can stand, and he flies 
from the village which had been spared for his sake. 

31-38. — The incestuous life of Lot in the cave was a proof of the 
teaching those girls had received in Sodom from their associates — may be 
from their mother. Their children, Moab and Ammon, became the 
progenitors of wicked tribes, which eventually had to be destroyed from 



GENESIS. 43 

the earth. How much better had he taken his daughters and gone 
humbly back to the uncle he had so selfishly left years before. 

Ch. 20:1, 2. — Abraham journeys now from Hebron to the southwest 
border of Canaan, near fifty miles toward Egypt from Hebron or sixty- 
eight miles southwest from Jerusalem. Here again he passes off Sarah 
as his sister — a veritable falsehood, though having the semblance of truth. 

3-7. — God again interfered, and by a dream warned the king. 

8-10. — Abimelech reproved Abraham for his deceit. A sorry picture is 
that of a heathen king reproving a man of God for lying. 

11-13. — Abraham excused himself by telling his fears and explaining 
that she was his half-sister, but his guilt and lack of faith bontinued to 
witness against him. 

14-1 G. — Abimelech now heaps coals of fire on Abraham's head by 
making him many presents of slaves, herds, money, and offering him his 
choice of his land in which to dwell. 

17, 18. — The prayer of Abraham for Abimelech indicates that may be 
if God had not showed something of severity toward the king, he might 
not so readily have willed to do right in this matter. 

Ch. 21 :l-5. — Sarah brings forth a son now, and he is caled Isaac, as 
God had directed when Sarai's name was changed to Sarah. The word 
"Isaac" means laughter. There may be in that name a gentle reminder 
of Abraham's and Sarah's incredulity. At eigth days of age Isaac was 
circumcised, as the Lord directed. 

6-8. — Sarah was now a joyful woman. When Isaac was weaned they 
made a feast to celebrate the event. 

9, 10. — Sarah caught Ishmael taunting Isaac. She demanded that 
Hagar and her child be sent away. 

11-14. — Abraham was very sdrry, but God said, "Do as Sarah suggests," 
promising that for Abraham's sake he would make of Ishmael a great 
nation. The matter suggests that had Ishmael remained, Abraham 
might have been tempted to give him greater place in his family and 
future than Ishmael's character would warrant. So Hagar was sent with 
her child into the wilderness of Beersheba. Most likely Abraham provided 
for their necessities. 

15-21. — Hagar's weeping in the wilderness at the fear of Ishmael 
perishing of thirst was stopped by an angel showing her a fountain of 
water, and making her a promise for the future. The language leaves 
room for inference that Ishmael had been trained to prayer. 

22-32. — Abimelech and Abraham made a covenant together in the 
land, in which Abraham promised to deal justly with the people of 



44 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Abimelech. Special mention was made of a well digged by Abraham, 
and it was called Beersheba, i. e., the well of the oath. 

33, 34. — Abraham lived here perhaps many years. 

Ch. 22:1-14. — Instead of "tempt," read prove, which conveys the force 
of the original word. The idea is, God developed Abraham's faith by 
testing it, of course all for Abraham's sake. We know our strength only 
by testing it, and no other order God could have given would have so 
tested Abraham's fealty to God. His only, loved son, Isaac, the dear 
child of promise, to be offered as a burnt offering, something like the 
abominable heathen worship. "Must it not be that this is a temptation 
of the devil, and not a test from God?" thinks Abraham. But the 
impression could not be doubted, and the prompt obedience shows the 
measure of faith. The place of the offering was to be a mount of Moriah, 
where Jerusalem now stands, perhaps where Jesus was afterward offered. 
Isaac bore the wood on which he was to be offered. It is suggested that 
Isaac was now a young man, and so must have willingly submitted to be 
bound. Abraham doubtless had faith to believe that God would raise up 
Isaac from the dead, and the New Testament declares that when God 
stopped Abraham, he actually had offered his son Isaac, and received him 
from the dead again figuratively, i. e., seeing his hand was raised with the 
determination to strike, he had gone to the limit of his power to obey. 

15-19 — The beautiful promise which followed is literally true, seeing 
Abraham is called of God the father of such as have like faith, that faith 
by which all men are justified. 

20-24. — Verses 20-24 are put here, perhaps, that we may keep trace of 
the descent of Isaac's future wife, Eebekah. 

Ch. 23 :1, 2. — Isaac was about thirty years of age when his mother 
died. She is the only woman in Scripture whose age, death and burial 
are mentioned. It would seem as if Abraham has moved from Beersheba 
back to Hebron, eighteen miles south of Jerusalem, for Sarah is men- 
tioned as having died there. 

3-20. — Though God had repeatedly promised Abraham all the land of 
Canaan, yet he bears himself before the inhabitants of the land as a 
stranger, and honors their claims by buying enough ground for a family 
sepulcher. Abraham was wise enough to rule out all possibility of future 
trouble by refusing to take the spot of ground as a gift, but politely yet 
firmly insisted on paying for it. The cave was called Machpelah. 

Ch. 24:1-9. — The selection of wives and husbands was made by the 
parents of the children, sometimes in the childhood of the parties to be 
married, a custom yet prevalent in the east. Abraham, being too feeble 






GENESIS. 45 

at this time, must leave the carrying out of this important matter with 
his trusty oldest servant. The oath he took showed Abraham's conception 
of the importance of a right marriage. A wife from Canaan would likely 
draw Tsaac into entangling alliance with the inhabitants and their 
religion (idolatry), and for Isaac to go back to the old home of Abraham 
would incur the greatest liability of his being detained there. A right 
marriage under right conditions was the only safeguard, and it is no less 
true today. One of God's tallest angels stands before every marriage 
altar, and a right selection of a life companion is an even more legitimate 
subject of pra}'er than "Give us this day our daily bread." 

10, 11. — The location of Mesopotamia is somewhat uncertain. The 
servant would take along with him costly presents to give to the woman 
and her relatives, according to the Oriental customs. 

12-14. — The prayer which the servant makes to God — his master 
Abraham's God and his own God — is beautifully childlike in its sim- 
plicity, and full of faith, as the result proves. 

15-28. — The servant's eyes were turned in wondering admiration upon 
this maiden as she proceeded to do the very things he had suggested in 
his prayer. It was good home training that led to this politeness which 
the prayer called for, and such training was one of the very elements of 
character for which the servant was looking. Little did she think what 
was to be the result of her obliging and cheerful behavior. She got an 
immediate reward, and a little later a greater reward. 

29-31. — Her brother Laban's words to the servant indicate that 
Rebekah's father's house must have been a household of faith. It is 
suggested by some that the sight of the presents increased Laban's naste 
and the intensity of his invitation. 

32-49. — "This pious and faithful servant declined all attention to his 
own comfort until he had discharged all his duty to his master." Would 
that we might serve God with such fidelity. 

50-54. — The answer of Laban and Bethuel indicate that they were 
worshipers of the true God. 

55-60. — The suggestion of Laban and his mother was an index of the 
danger of detention to which Isaac would have been exposed had he been 
present in person. It would of course have been easier to have detained 
him than the servant. Their parting blessing indicated the ideal hope of 
the Oriental maiden, viz., to have a great and noble posterity, and there 
can be no higher ideal. 

61-65. — As soon as Rebekah came in sight of Isaac, she covered herself 



46 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

with a veil, another Oriental custom, about equivalent to a declaration 
of her willingness to marry him. 

66, 67. — "Isaac loved her," sums up one of the most romantic stories 
of "match-making" ever written. She blessed and comforted him, as a 
good woman always will, and filled his mother's place. 

Ch. 25:1-4. — It is suggested and argued from I Chron. 1:32, that 
Keturah had been a concubine of Abraham's before Sarah's death, and 
that the marriage is here related out of its chronological order to properly 
wind up Abraham's history. However, it is unnecessary to so conclude. 
After Sarah's death, Abraham may have been overcome and confined by 
sickness to his bed, which would account for his hastening the matter of 
his son's marriage. From this sickness he recovered, and seeing Isaac 
happily married would be no small circumstance in raising his spirits 
and improving his condition. 

5, 6. — Isaac was made Abraham's sole heir. To the six sons of Keturah 
Abraham gave the customary gifts and sent them to dwelling places in 
the east, where they would not be likely to cause Isaac any trouble in the 
future. 

7-10. — Thirty-eight years after Sarah died, Abraham died, aged one 
hundred and seventy-five years. Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the 
cave of Machpelah. 

11. — Lahairoi, where Isaac lived after Abraham's death, cannot be 
located, but is somewhere in the regions of Beersheba. 

12-1 G. — Verses 12-16 give the names of the twelve sons of Ishmael, 
probably to show how the promise was confirmed which God made to 
Abraham concerning him. (Ch. 17 :20.) They seemed to dwell between 
Egypt and Canaan. 

17, 18. — Ishmael died at one hundred and thirty-seven years of age. 

19-28. — Isaac was married at the age of forty. His trial was similar to 
that of his father. But he took the right course. He talked to the Lord 
about it, and with such effect that twins were born, who became the 
progenitors of two independent nations, the younger of which became 
the more powerful and subdued the other. 

29-34. — It is likely that the question of the birthright had been much 
discussed by these boys, being, as they were, twins, although Esau was first 
born. The boyish banter of Jacob that Esau sell him his birthright for a 
dinner was an indication of the way it had been discussed, but there is 
no evidence that even the boys considered that as any legal transaction; 
certainly the parents did not consider it so, even if they knew of it. It 



GENESIS. 47 

showed, however, how little saeredness Esau attached to his birthright 
to talk and act so lightly about it, even in jest. 

Ch. 26:1-5. — Isaac moves westward to Gerar when the famine came. 
God told him not to go to Egypt, and renewed to Isaac the blessing 
promised Abraham. 

6-11. — Here Isaac denied his wife, as his father had done before him. 
Abimelech, king of the Philistines, reproved him. 

12-16. — The Philistines envied the prosperity of Isaac because he 
succeeded in his work more than they. It was no doubt on account of this 
that they stopped the wells which Abraham had digged so that Isaac 
might not have the use of them. 

17-22. — At the king's request Isaac departed from Gerar and dwelt in 
the valley near. Here he reopened the wells his father had digged, and 
which the Philistines afterward had filled with earth. Twice the herds- 
men of the country took away the wells by force. The third well they let 
Isaac's herdsmen hold in peace. 

23-25. — Isaac returned now to Beersheba, where the Lord again 
renewed the covenant to him. 

26-33. — Abimelech came here to make a covenant with Isaac, because 
he saw that he was a great prince, and feared that in the event of trouble 
Isaac might do him evil. The three hundred and eighteen servants which 
his father Abraham had had probably increased to a great company. 

34, 35. — Esau married two Canaanitish women (Hittites), which 
greatly grieved his parents. They were probably idolaters. 

Ch. 2? :l-5. — Here is proof that Isaac at least intended to formally 
confer upon Esau, by the patriarchal blessing, the rights belonging to the 
first born, thus making him to be the recognized head of the family, 
inheriting his father's station and leadership. 

6-17. — Jacob was evidently his mother's favorite. She took his side 
of the contention about the birthright, probably was the instigator of 
Jacob's claim, and now plans for deceiving the blind father so as to get 
for Jacob the patriarchal blessing. 

18-29. — Three times Jacob lied in order to carry out the plan (as if 
God was not able to give him the place he sought in an honorable way). 
Probably he was more worthy than Esau, but his method of obtaining it 
was most abominable. The blessing given was an index of Isaac's faith 
concerning the future of the chosen family. The garment of che first 
born which was kept in a chest among fragrant herbs, would suggest 
the aromatic odors of the Syrian fields. It was put by Rebekah upon 
Jacob. This garment was transmitted from father to son. 



48 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

30-40. — Esau suddenly wakens to a consciousness of his loss. The 
prophecy which concludes the blessing pronounced upon Esau was ful- 
filled in II Kings 8 :20, when the Edomites, Esau's descendants, rebelled 
against the nation sprung from Jacob. 

41. — Esau's hate of Jacob was a natural sequel to the jealous bickerings 
of childhood, which had grown into such fatal proportions. His purpose 
to kill Jacob was not to be carried out until the death of Isaac. 

42-46. — Eebekah now counsels Jacob to go to Haran, to her brother 
Laban. Had Esau slain Jacob the nearest of kin would have been 
obliged to avenge his death by slaving Esau. To gain Isaac's consent she 
makes the effective excuse of concern about the proper marriage of their 
son, now the heir of the promise. 

Ch. 28 :l-5. — Isaac now blesses Jacob, knowingly and heartily, adding 
the prayer that God would give to Jacob's offspring the blessings and the 
land promised to Abraham, and sends Jacob to his mother's brother to 
take a wife from his daughters. 

6-9. — Esau, hearing that, and knowing that Canaanitish women did 
not please Isaac, thought to please Isaac by marrying a relative, a 
daughter of Ishmael. It seems that already he was a polygamist. 

10-15. — Isaac was dwelling at Beersheba. Jacob started from this 
point on his pilgrimage. Authorities disagree as to whether the ladder 
seen by Jacob in his dreams means a "flight of steps" or a precipitous 
mountain with indented rocky sides reaching into the clouds. In this 
vision the God of his father and grandfather appears to him, renewing 
and intensifying the promise made to Abraham, now to be verified in 
Jacob. (Commit verses 13-15.) 

16-22. — Jacob on awakening marks the spot with a stone for a pillar, 
the one on which he had made a pillow for his head, and makes a vow to 
the Lord. (Commit verses 20-22.) Abraham's second dwelling place 
in the land was by this place — Bethel, meaning "house of God." 

Ch. 29:1-8. — Jacob journeyed on to Mesopotamia (the land between 
the rivers), probably between the Tigris and the Euphrates. In the 
Orient a well is the most convenient place to get acquainted with the 
people, since all come there for water, a community having usually but 
one well. Here he heard of Laban from the herdsmen of that country. 

9-12. — While he was talking his cousin Rachel comes with her father's 
flock. Jacob waters her flock, and makes himself known to her. Here is 
a story of love, beautiful in its simplicity, remarkable in its intensity, and 
commendable in its freedom from affectation. 

13, 14. — Laban. when he heard of Jacob, took him cordially to his 



GENESIS. 49 

home, where he spent a month as a guest, a precious month doubtless to 
Jacob and Kachel alike. 

15-20. — An agreement was made by which Jacob was to receive her as 
a wife. No sublimer principle exists in the make-up of man than that 
voiced in verse 20. A thousand years pervaded by love are as a day, and 
a day filled with love pictures infinity. (II Peter 3 :8.) 

21-27. — Laban here is guilty of despicable fraud. No apology or 
explanation could atone for it. Rachel, the real wife, was kept concealed, 
while an older sister, hidden by the bridal veil, was given her place in the 
marriage festivities. No wonder Jacob was righteously indignant next 
day. 

28-30. — Still Jacob served seven years more for Rachel. We marvel 
that he should have at all accepted the principle of polygamy, that 
heathenish idea which Laban had adopted and forced upon Jacob. But 
then, as now, people will sacrifice principle for the sake of peace. 

31-35. — The idea of the word "hated" here is, that Leah loved less 
than Rachel, which was very natural. While God was in no way respon- 
sible for that polyganry, He made the best of it by making Leah first a 
mother, thus lifting her in estimation both of her husband and society, 
and preventing her total estrangement from his affections. 

Ch. 30 :1, 2. — The complaint of Rachel to Jacob must have been very 
bitter. He is maddened by it, and makes a stinging reply. "The intense 
anxiety of Hebrew women for children arose from the hope of giving 
birth to the promised Messiah." The general impression regarding child- 
lessness was dishonor. 

3-8. — Rachel follows nowthat eastern and heathen custom of giving 
her maid to her husband, and calling her servant's children her own. 

9-13. — Leah follows Rachel's example, and the mutual jealousy inten- 
sifies. Tf one wrong has been committed, another wrong can never make 
it right. 

14, 21-. — The story of the mandrakes calls up the question of how far 
God uses what we call natural remedies for human infirmities. Is a cure 
any the less divine because wrought through such instrumentality ? 

22-24. — The wonders which God has bound up in an herb are shown in 
the healing wrought upon both women. The faith of Rachel reached out 
far enough to include still another son. 

25-43. — Jacob has been accused of defrauding his uncle, and yet it 
would be difficult to prove more than he availed himself of the result of 
his skill and experience in breeding cattle. The principle which he 
employed, though a wonder to the uninitiated, is as well established and 



50 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

as operative as the law of gravity. All the speckled were removed from 
the flock, and Jacob was to get for his portion only such speckled as 
should appear at the next lambing time in the black flock of goats, and 
all the black sheep were removed and he was to have such black ones as 
appeared next lambing time in the white flock of sheep. 

Ch. 31:1-3. — Jacob's prosperity called out the envy of his uncle's 
house. Doutbless he sought relief in prayer, and God directed him to 
return to Canaan. 

4-16. — It is evident from the conversation between Jacob and his wives 
that there had been a divine suggestion to Jacob about those above 
mentioned means employed. As a wife should, they, forsaking their 
former affiliations, enter heartily into the husband's plans and interests. 

17-22. — Under the circumstances, it was probably most prudent to 
depart secretly, thus avoiding detention either by artifice or violence. 

23, 24. — Laban follows, full of wrath, and after seven days overtakes 
Jacob on the east border of Canaan. Doubtless he intended to show 
violence, but "now finds his hands tied by invisible power." God has 
spoken to him, and even the war of words takes a different course from 
that which Laban expected. 

25-35. — Laban reproaches him for leaving "without giving the satis- 
faction of the usual parting salutation. Hypocrisy, in view of Laban's 
past conduct." The second charge was serious. The "gods" mentioned 
were small images of human figures used not as idols, but as talismen 
for superstitious purposes. 

36-42. — Jacob, not knowing of Eachel's act, now overwhelms Laban 
with a speech of righteous and fiery indignation. 

43-55. — Laban could make no reply but to suggest a covenant, and 
Jacob's feelings, pent up by great and long continued provocations, were 
pacified in the agreement here established, Laban naming the God of 
their common ancestors, Jacob the God of the special covenant embodied 
in Isaac. 

Ch. 32 :1, 2. — We are left to infer by what means the angels manifested 
themselves to Jacob. But he was evidently following the path God had 
shown him. If he had not been in the way of duty, God's angels would 
never have appeared to him. 

3-5. — Now as Jacob appeared again in the land, he recalls his flight 
of twenty years before, and the wrath of Esau. He feels it necessary 
io have Esau's good will, thinking Esau might remember the old grudge 
and do great harm to Jacob and his interests. 

6-8. — When it is told Jacob that Esau is coming with four hundred men 



GENESIS. 51 

Jacob is thoroughly frightened. One is liable, in his terror, to forget all 
the promises which have ever been made, even by the living God. It was 
prudent precaution to take all possible human means to prevent disaster. 
It is only after we have done all that we are able that we may "stand still 
and see the salvation of the Lord/' but we ought not, meanwhile, to be 
subject to slavish fear of the final outcome. 

9-12. — As he ought, Jacob prays, reminding God of the promises made 
concerning Jacob. Here is the first recorded prayer in the Bible. Notice 
the humble confession, the earnest request, and the promise pleaded. 

13-23. — The present for Esau was so arranged that it would be a 
succession of surprises. It was a very valuable one. The camel milk 
was the principal article of food, and the beast was indispensable for 
other purposes. And so of the goats. In the night Jacob rises and sends 
his family across the brook to the south side, while he remains alone, 
probably to pray for the success of the means he had set in motion. 

24-32. — It is much discussed as to whether the wrestling with the angel 
mentioned was a real transaction, or a vision. Verses 25, 30, 32 would 
indicate that it was a real transaction. Peniel, which means the face of 
God, is in the land of Gad, east of the Jordan. Jacob held on until he 
gained the victory, and now he travels on with a heart lightened by faith. 
Here his name was changed from Jacob (a supplanter) to Israel (a 
prince of God). It is supposed by some that Jacob was always afterward 
lame. The sinew which shrank was the nerve that fastens the thigh bone 
in its socket. The angel refused to tell his own name, and probably 
lamed Jacob that he might not become haughty in view of his success in 
moving the arm of God in his behalf. 

Ch. 33 :1-17. — Still Jacob uses the precaution to put his beloved Rachel 
and her child where they might escape if the party should be attacked. 
We are left to infer what it was that changed Esau from an enemy to a 
friend. May be the sight of those fine presents had softened him. May 
be in his prosperity he had ceased to care for the birthright. Or both 
of these with the influence of God's spirit had kindled his love for his 
brother. The bowing was the eastern method of expressing reverence, 
seven times being considered a complete expression of reverence. He 
wisely refuses to accept the escort of Esau's soldiers, lest their continuous 
sight of Jacob's possessions might kindle their covetousness and occasion 
trouble at last. 

18-20. — Some authorities think that Shalem is not a proper name, 
but means "peace," i. e., Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, 



52 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

near Mt. Ebal and Gerizim. This land which Jacob bought is the first 
ground bought in Canaan as a dwelling place by any of the patriarchs. 

.Ch. 34:1-5. — It is probable that Dinah freely associated with the 
women of the village of Shechem, by which they dwelt, and that by this 
means the ruler's son ( Shechem ; perhaps the village was named for him) 
became attached to her. Josephus says she had been attending a festival. 
The notions of the day about what was proper as to respect for women 
and their rights were very crude. 

6, 7. — Dinah's brothers were justly angry. The custom of the times 
was that justice should be meted out by the full brothers of the wronged 
girl. Shechem desired his father, Hamor, to bargain with Jacob that 
he might have Dinah for a wife. 

8-12. — Hamor seems to have made the request in good faith. Yet they 
seem to be retaining the girl in their home, and making no apologies for 
their evil treatment of her. 

13-19. — The maddened brothers plan the destruction of all the men of 
the village. Had the proposition of proselyting the Shechemites been 
made in good faith there would have been nothing wrong about it. 

20-24. — The Shechemites evidently accepted the proposition in good 
faith, and agreed to conform to the religious ceremonies of Jacob's 
family. But there is nothing to show that Jacob's sons made any attempt 
to teach them of the true God or the proper course of their conduct. 

25-31. — The slaying of the defenseless Shechemites showed the hypoc- 
risy of the whole proceedings. Shechem's sin was grievous, but that of 
Jacob's sons was as bad. One wrong does not make another wrong right. 
They had plainly lied, even if they did not become guilty of an infamous 
diabolism in wreaking vengeance on innocent parties. 

Ch. 35 :l-5. — At God's command Jacob now goes to Bethel. He was at 
this time living where Abram first dwelt in the land, and Bethel, where 
he was going, was near Abram's second dwelling place. It was also the 
place where Jacob had seen his vision of the ladder as he fled from Esau 
to his uncle Laban's. Jacob calls upon all his company to put away from 
them all strange gods. These gods and the earrings of the people were 
hidden by Jacob, for he was going now to Bethel to make an altar to God, 
who had spoken to him in the day of his distress. The fear of God which 
was upon the villages round about may have been the terror inspired by 
the slaying of the Shechemites. 

6-8. — At Bethel the aged nurse of Bebekah, who seems to have been 
living in Jacob's family, died. Such as she was regarded with much 



GENESIS. 68 

reverence, and the name of the tree beneath which she was buried was 
called "the oak of weeping." 

9-15. — God talks with Jacob here, confirming the new name which the 
angel had given him at the ford of Jabbok. God gives a beautiful picture 
of Jacob's descendants, and renews with Jacob the promises made to 
Abraham and Isaac. Twenty years before, Jacob had set up a pillar 
there. Now he sets up another. 

16-20. — Journeying south from Bethel they came to Bethlehem, where 
Eachel died in giving birth to Benjamin, her second son. Here she was 
buried, and here, seventeen centuries later, the star rose announcing the 
birth of a greater Son in whom all might have life. Ephrath is the old 
name for Bethlehem, which last name means "The House of Bread." 

21-26. — As they journeyed south, Reuben, the oldest son, committed a 
crime, for which the birthright was taken from him and given to the sons 
of Joseph (I Chron. 5:1). The statement that the twelve sons were born 
in Padan-aram simply means that the most of them were born there 
(Benjamin was not). 

27-29. — Isaac dies, aged one hundred and eighty years, and his two 
sons, now reconciled, bury him. 

Ch. 36:1-43. — Ch. 36, like Ch. 10, is a catalogue for future references. 
It relates to the offspring of Esau. 

Ch. 37 :l-4. — Jacob was dwelling at Hebron. The character of Joseph 
was indicated by his opposition to the contemptible conduct of Jacob's 
older sons. Joseph was the first born of the only woman Jacob really 
loved. A coat of many colors would be a coat made of many pieces 
(usually of different colors), and so, a long coat reaching down to the 
hands and feet, then, as now, a symbol of dignity. Favoritism shown 
toward one of several children is very unwise. 

5-11. — The dream of the sheaves was understood by the brothers to 
signify -the exaltation of Joseph above them. The dream of the sun, 
moon and stars meant the same, and this repetition of the dream was a 
token of a certain fulfillment. The envy of the brothers prevented all 
their interest in the event, but the thoughtful father watches for the 
development in the case. 

12-17. — The brothers were feeding their flocks at the place where they 
had first lived in Canaan. Perhaps the father was unwise to send Joseph 
to them, seeing they hated him so, and yet possibly he was not aware of 
the extent of their hatred. Dothan was eight or nine miles northeast of 
Shechem. This Dothan was afterward Elisha's dwelling place. 



54 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

18-20. — The cold-blooded deviltry of those boys was shown by this 
plot. They proposed to kill and then lie to cover their crime. 

21, 22. — Reuben was the oldest of the twelve boys, Leah's son, and 
doubtless felt somewhat responsible for the acts of the other sons. He 
had lost his birthright for his crime as they journeyed toward Edar, but 
he is unwilling to become a party to this heinous crime. 

23-28. — In order to get Joseph effectually out of the way without the 
crime of killing him by violence or starvation, they now propose to sell 
him as a slave to be taken to Egypt. They afterward have cause to 
remember Joseph's anguish and acknowledge their own heartless villainy 
(Ch. 42:21). God will make even a slave, if that slave be righteous, 
stronger than all the agencies which may combine against him. 

29-3 G. — Reuben is grief stricken, and when the lying sons bring 
Joseph's garment to the old father even they themselves are terror 
stricken at the violence of his grief. "What a wonder that their cruel 
sneer, 'Thy son's coat,' and their forced efforts to comfort him, did not 
awaken suspicion." (J. F. B.) The word "grave" here means the place 
of departed spirits (sheol), corresponding to "hades" in Greek. Jacob 
expected to meet and recognize his son in the hereafter. 

Ch. 38:1, 2. — Judah was the fourth son of Leah. Simeon and Levi, 
who slew the Shechemites, were the second and third sons. 

3-11. — This chapter of the history of Judah and his children is given 
that we may have the continuity of the genealogy of the coming Christ. 
The wickedness which would call down such signal vengeance from God 
must have been beyond name or description. It was customary at the 
death of a husband that his unmarried brother marry the widow and 
raise a family for the deceased brother. 

12-26. — Hirah, the Adullamite, with whom Judah was staying when he. 
first met Shuah's daughter, lived somewhere northwest of Hebron. 
Timnath is north of AduHam, where Hirah lived. The time of shearing 
sheep was about March. Judah was cleverly caught by his daughter-in- 
law. Sins, however secretly practised, are sure to be read later in open 
day, and under the searching light of God's presence. The only safety 
lies in putting them "under the blood of Christ." The sentence of Judah 
upon his daughter-in-law was very severe. When it was shown, however, 
that he was involved in the case, he at once suspended judgment. The 
hypocrite ! Would the woman have been any more blamable had another 
beside himself figured in the case, and was not he himself more worthy of 
death than the woman? 

27-30. — From the elder of these two sons, Pharez, Christ descended. 



GENESIS. 65 

From 1 the lowest and commonest of the fallen race came the sinless 
Redeemer to wash and save humanity for God's kingdom. 

Ch. 39:1. — It was doubtless ordered of God that Potiphar should buy 
Joseph. That would open the way for what follows. 

2-6. — Joseph's prosperity was a legitimate result of his upright 
character. Such a one is bound to rise, circumstance him as you may. 
His master trusted him. The most unprincipled person always respects 
a consistent life. 

7-13. — Joseph's conduct under the temptation which befell him showed 
his real strength of character. (Compare the character with that of 
Reuben, Simeon and Levi, Judah and the others.) The safest course in 
some temptation lies in flight. Only be sure and run toward God. 

14-18. — The woman's infamous lie is told to revenge herself on one of 
whose character she is now jealous. Evil always desires to destroy that 
which is superior to itself. 

19-23 — A right character and life does not always exempt from suffer- 
ing, but it will always make suffering a stepping stone to greater station 
and higher blessings. Even in prison Joseph was growing into qualifica- 
tion for the place and position God was preparing for him. 

Ch. 40 :l-4. — It seems that the prison was in the house of the captain 
of the guard. Whether or not Potiphar was satisfied of Joseph's 
innocence, still he knew from experience that he was a trusty servant. 
So he put Joseph over the other prisoners. 

5-8. — The dreams of these two prisoners made them sadder than even 
their imprisonment. Joseph volunteers to help them in their sorrows, 
forgetting his own, and by so doing unconsciously paves the way for his 
own permanent relief. We help ourselves most when we help others, and 
in helping others Joseph did not forget to give the credit to God — the 
God of his sorrowing father Jacob (Israel). 

9-15. — The butler's dream was very pleasingly explained, and he was 
exhorted . to plead with the king for Joseph, which he immediately 
proceeded to forget to do. Doubtless Joseph was much discouraged, but 
the prolongation of his suffering was in itself a prophecy of the exceeding 
greatness of the station God was preparing for him. 

16-19. — The baker's dream is also interpreted, and now he is sadder 
than before. It is well that we cannot see the future. 

20-23. — The statement of Joseph that the interpretations belonged to 
God was proven true by the fact that the words of Joseph were verified 
in both cases. 

Ch. 41 :l-8. — When the king dreamed his dreams the wise men of his 



56 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

kingdom were called to interpret, but failed in this case to make their 
usual vague and two-faced answers meet the requirements. They were 
failures. 

9-13. — This circumstance brought the butler to his senses, and he told 
to the king his story of the dream he had in prison, and of Joseph's 
explanation. It is suggested, however, and may be true, that the confes- 
sion of his fault was not from any sense of the wrong he had done towards 
Joseph, but a selfish attempt to please his master, and thus ingratiate 
himself into the king's favor. Pharaoh was the name of the officer. The 
name of this particular king was Aphophis, and his capital was On, or 
Heliopolis. The official title Pharaoh comes from the Egyptian word 
phre, which means "sun." 

14-24. — The long looked for, hoped for, prayed for deliverance came at 
last. The king of Egypt is before the Hebrew slave for instruction. 

25-32.— Joseph again honors God in the matter. He predicts the years 
of plenty and the years of famine which are about to come. 

33-36. — And further, he suggests what the king should do to save the 
country from starvation. 

37-45. — The king sees at a glance the worth of this slave, and by a word 
lifts him from the dungeon to the throne. There is no greater man in 
Egypt now than Joseph, except the king, and he is greater only in name. 
Joseph, however, is no greater now in God's sight than he was when a 
captive in the dungeon. Joseph was called a revealer of secrets. He 
married the daughter of the priest of the city. 

46-52. — Xow what of Potiphar, and his wife, and the butler? Who 
has done the right, and who has been rewarded at last? Before the 
famine came, Joseph's two sons are born, Manasseh and Ephraim. The 
"corn" mentioned was wheat and similar grain. Indian corn was first 
found in America. 

53-57. — When the famine came the king sent the people to Joseph to 
buy grain. 

Ch. 42 :l-7. — The famine was in all the countries about Egypt. It is 
evident from verse 1 that Jacob and his family had suffered from the 
scarcity, and that the sons were becoming despondent. Jacob's direction 
to them suggests the thought that God helps only those who help them- 
selves. Joseph now has a rare opportunity to revenge himself on his 
brothers who had so outraged him. Mark how he uses it. 

8-16. — Joseph had not forgotten his brothers or their conduct. Their 
bowing before him would naturally call to remembrance his dream. The 
sequel shows that in a spirit of real love he disciplines them sufficiently 



GENESIS. 57 

to bring them to their senses and make them own their guilt. Their 
acknowledgment that one of their number was dead would call into their 
now troubled minds tides of anguish. Joseph sends for his beloved 
younger brother, Benjamin. 

17-20. — The three days' imprisonment would give them time to think 
over the past. He now proposes to make them verify their claims by 
bringing Benjamin, doubtless because he was anxious to see him, and 
knew the trouble he would be likely to experience in gaining the father's 
consent to Benjamin's going to Egypt. 

21-24. — Little dreaming that Joseph could understand their talk 
among themselves, they acknowledged to one another their heartless 
deviltry with Joseph. They are painfully conscious that they deserve this 
bondage in Egypt. They had not forgotten that their brother Joseph had 
probably been sold as a slave into this very country. Their own self- 
inflicted anguish now brings tears to Joseph's eyes. Their remorse was 
greater punishment than any Joseph could have inflicted. Simeon may 
have been the chief mover in the plot against Joseph. 

25-38. — The return of their money showed Joseph's true feeling toward 
them. But the brothers seem to have regarded this as another judgment, 
laying them liable to new perils at the hands of the governor. Joseph 
had succeeded in rousing their consciences to a full sense of their guilt. 
When on reaching home each one found his money returned, both they 
and their father were greatly worried. The fate of Simeon was an 
additional weight, and when they reported the man's treatment of them, 
and the demand he had made about Benjamin, the sorrowful father 
refused to let him go. Reuben's proposition would of course seem foolish 
in Jacob's eyes. It could mean nothing more than Reuben's greatest 
assurance of care on his part for Benjamin, but Jacob thought that 
circumstances might rise to make it impossible- to preserve Benjamin. 
And most likely he attributes to their ill-timed statements the respon- 
sibility of losing Simeon as well as the liability of losing Benjamin. 

Ch. 43:1-14. — Necessity, that all persuading force, overcame Jacob's 
opposition, and extorted from him the consent to let Benjamin go. The 
present was customary in approaching one of distinction, and the double 
money was a matter of honesty. 

15-25. — Joseph, when he saw Benjamin, ordered his servants to prepare 
a feast. When they were brought into Joseph's house they were startled 
yet the more. Every addition in kindness of Joseph added to the terror 
of these guilty brothers. 

26-34. — When Joseph came to his house at noon and greeted Benjamin^ 



58 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

he had to retire from sight and weep awhile. Still not one of the brothers 
recognized Joseph even when they ate and talked with him. 

Ch. 44:1-5. — Joseph now lays a plan to detain and keep his brother 
Benjamin with him. It is to be presumed that Joseph's steward knew 
that these men were Joseph's brothers. Ch. 43 :23 would indicate so. 

6-13. — Their conscious freedom from any guilt in stealing the silver 
cup made them rashly positive that they did not have it. When it was 
discovered with them, however, their pervious perplexity was all eclipsed 
by this last and greatest blow, and they returned to Egypt humbled and 
speechless, giving themselves up as slaves. 

14-17. — Again they fell prostrate before Joseph. How wonderfully is 
Joseph's dream being verified. Joseph refuses to accept them all as 
slaves, but asks only for Benjamin. 

18-34. — Judah, remembering his father's grief of mind and fears in 
letting Benjamin go to Egypt, and his own positive asssurance to Jacob 
of Benjamin's safe return, now makes a most humble plea for Benjamin, 
tells the story of that home scene, and offers himself a captive in Ben- 
jamin's stead for the sake of the gray haired father. The tender mention 
of the only two sons of Jacob's real wife and of the one whom Jacob 
thought was torn in pieces burst the dike which held the pent-up floods 
of Joseph's feelings, and he wept aloud. 

Ch. 45 :1-15. — Joseph now makes himself known to his brothers. For 
the first time since their cruel treatment of the lad Joseph at Dothan 
they now know what has become of him. Reuben had reminded them 
after their imprisonment that in Dothan they would not listen to his 
advice not to wrong the lad. Now he doubtless rejoices that Joseph after 
all lives. That scene of Joseph and Benjamin embracing each other, and 
Joseph giving to each of his offending brothers kisses in return for their 
cruel treatment, must have made a lasting impression. 

16-29. — The king and his people were well pleased when they heard 
that Joseph's brothers had come. He tells Joseph to send them for their 
father and the whole family. His experience with Joseph probably led 
him to wish to have more people like Joseph about him. The good news 
now to be carried to Jacob, and the good things, and the fact that the 
wickedness of the brothers in selling Joseph into Egypt was now to be 
told to their father, made the advice of verse 24 pertinent. 

Ch. 46:1-7. — On the way to Egypt, Jacob stops to offer sacrifice to 
God at Beersheba, the old home. This had been a favorite dwelling place 
both of Abraham and Isaac, and from this point Jacob had started when 
he ran from Esau, and went to his Uncle Laban's. God talks with Israel 



GENESIS. 59 

here, approving his trip to Egypt, and renewing the promise to make of 
him a great nation and bring him up again to Canaan (i. e., his descend- 
ants), and promising that Joseph should be with him to the day of his 
death. 

8-27. — Sixty-six descendants of Jacob went with him to Egypt. Him- 
self and Joseph and Joseph's two sons would make seventy. The 
statement of Acts 7 :14 includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh, born 
in Egypt. (I Chron. 7:14-20.) Rachel alone is called Jacob's wife. 

28-34. — Joseph met the family as they came to Egypt. The meeting 
of Joseph with his venerable father must have been a very affecting one. 
And the late experience of the brothers would tend to make them 
appreciate and enjoy it. 

Ch. 47:1-10. — Joseph would feel repaid now for all he had suffered. 
He has seen his brothers thoroughly repentant for their treatment of 
him, and the subsequent history would indicate that the experience has 
brought them to their senses and made them thoroughly religious. Now 
Joseph is like a father to them. They turn to him for protection and 
supplies and direction. Joseph introduces five of his brothers to Pharaoh, 
and the king instructs him to put the family in the best of the land. 
When the aged patriarch, Israel, is brought in, he blesses the king in 
the name of his God and the God of his fathers. The simple life and 
bracing climate of Canaan produced longer life than the low lying land 
and artificial habits of Egypt. 

11, 12. — Goshen was the best pasture land in Egypt, between parallels 
30 and 31, and between meridians 31 and 32 from Greenwich. It 
embraced part of the district of "On," Egypt's capital, and was a natural 
meadow. Joseph's brothers had given him blows. In return Joseph gives 
them bread. 

13-22. — The conduct of Joseph regarding supplies during the famine 
was very sagacious. Every man paid for the grain while he was able, in 
money; then he sold his stock, and finally his land. Probably the king 
had bought of the people what was stored in the years of plenty. Thus 
all the land became the property of the government, and when the famine 
was over the people became tenants of the government. The priests were 
supported by the government at all times. 

23-26. — When the famine ends Joseph supplies seed to sow the land, 
and assigns the people land to till, demanding that in return they shall 
give one-fifth of their increase to the king. Here is probably the origin 
of governmental tax. 

27-31. — For seventeen years Jacob (Israel) and his family lived in 



60 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Goshen, prospering. Xow when he feels that life is nearly done with him, 
he takes of Joseph a solemn promise that he will send his father's body to 
Canaan for burial. As Jacob had said to Pharaoh, he recognized that ae 
was only a pilgrim in this world, his faith looking to a better country, of 
which Canaan was a type. 

Ch. 48 :l-7. — It is presumable that Joseph had talked with his father 
about the birthright of Eeuben being given to the sons of Joseph, and so 
on hearing of the father's sickness he brings his two sons to receive ibe 
patriarchal blessing. Jacob refers to God's promise to him of Canaan, 
and charges Joseph that his two sons shall be reckoned the heads of tribes 
among the chosen people whom God will bring out of Egypt into Canaan. 

8-20. — The crossing of Jacob's hands when he blessed the sons of 
Joseph was significant. Joseph at first did not want it so, but he appears 
to have made no objection when he saw that his father did so knowingly. 

21, 22. — Verse 22 relates to the ground Jacob had bought at Shechem, 
which seems to have been seized by the Amorites in the absence of Jacob. 
This first dwelling place in Canaan owned by the chosen family was 
given to the first born of Jacob's beloved Rachel. 

Ch. 49 :l-27. — The last days refer to the days of the establishment of 
Christianity on the earth. * * * "No judge, prophet, or ruler 
sprang from Reuben." (J. F. B.) * * * It will be remembered 
that Simeon and Levi slew the Shechemites. (Ch. 34:25.) Levi's 
inheritance was cities scattered among the tribes. Simeon's inheritance 
was within the inheritance of Judah. * * * Judah was the one 
through whom came the Christ. Of him descended all the rulers of the 
kingdom of Judah. That tribe was the great head of the chosen people. 
* * * Zcbulun had his lot on the seacoast, and engaged largely in 
commerce. Issachar was settled in lower Gallilee, and devoted itself 
largely to agriculture. * * * The word serpent applied to Dan 
suggests subtlety, illustrated in Sampson, who was of that tribe. * * * 
Gad, on the borders of the land, was exposed to the hosts of hostile powers, 
but in such instances they were generally victorious at last. * * * 
Asher, on the seacoast between Tyre and Carmel, had the finest grain and 
oil of Palestine. * * * Verse 21. "The best rendering we know is 
this : Xaphtali is a deer roaming at liberty. He shooteth forth majestic 
antlers." (Taylor.) This tribe was located in a fertile, peaceful terri- 
tory. * * * In this prophecy concerning Joseph his past as well as 
his future is referred to. The increase of his tribe was extraordinary. 
Benjamin's inglorious warfare and violent and unjust contests with its 
brother tribes fully explains this verse. 



GENESIS. 61 

28-32. — Jacob here gives them a solemn charge to bury him where 
Abraham and Isaac are buried. 

33. — "It would seem that Jacob was supernaturally strengthened for 
this last momentous office of the patriarch, and that when the divine 
afflatus ceased, his exhausted powers gave way, and he yielded up the 
Ghost." ( J. F. B.) 

Ch. 50 :l-6. — Joseph had his father embalmed. Being now a mourner, 
he could not appear before the k^ng, but sends his request for leave of 
absence through others. 

7-13. — It is said that the distance from Egypt to the burial place of 
Jacob was three hundred miles. The? funeral train containing the 
nobility and military of Egypt would make an imposing appearance. 

14, 15. — Joseph's brothers now fear that Joseph may, after the father's 
death, requite them for the evil they had done him. 

16-18. — Tt is probable that the brothers had never formally asked the 
pardon of Joseph for their conduct. Now they do so by their father's 
dying request. The message affects Joseph to tears. 

19-21. — He gives them the strongest assurance of forgiveness and 
kindly feeling toward them. 

22-2G. — When Joseph died he had been the ruler of Egypt for eighty 
years. The Egyptians would naturally be averse to taking his body from 
Egypt. His funeral would be conducted in the highest style of Egyptian 
magnificence. He gave evidence of his faith by prophesying the Exodus, 
and commanding that his bones be taken at that time to Canaan. Tra- 
di!^on says his embalmed body was put in a stone coffin and sunk in the 
"sacred Nile" until the Exodus. 



EXODUS. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-7 Heads of the twelve tribes. 
8-14 Treatment of the Israelites by Egypt's new king. 
15-22 His order to the midwives. 

Chapter 2. 

1, 2 Moses born. 

3, 4 Moses put in the ark. 

5-10 Moses adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. 
11-14 Moses kills an Egyptian. 
15-22 Moses flees from Egypt. 
23-25 Israel's bondage. 

Chapter 3. 

1 Moses keeps sheep. 
2-6 The Lord appears to him on Mt. Horeb. 
7-10 Moses told to lead his people from Egypt. 
11-4-12 Excuses of Moses. God's answer. 
11, 12 First excuse. Its answer. 
13-22 Second excuse. Its answer. 

Chapter 4. 

1-9 Third excuse. Its answer. 
10-12 Fourth excuse. Its answer. 
13-17 Moses' unwillingness. God's anger. 
18-23 Moses' return to Egypt. 
24-26 Son of Moses circumcised. 
27-28 Aaron meets Moses. 
29-31 Conference of Moses and Aaron with the elders. 

Chapter 5. 

1-3 Moses and Aaron ask Pharaoh to let Israel go. 
4 Pharaoh's reply. 

5-9 Pharaoh's charge to the taskmasters. 
10-14 Israel's task increased. 
15-19 Therr appeal to Pharaoh. His reply. 
20-23 The people blame Moses. His complaint to God. 



EXODUS. 

Chapter 6. 

1-8 God's reply to Moses. 

9 The anguish of Israel. 

10-13 God's charge to Moses. 

14-30 A catalogue of Israel. 

Chapter 7. 

1-7 God's prophecy to Moses. His age. 

8, 9 God's instruction about a miracle. 
10-13 The miracle performed. Its counterfeit. 
14-18 God instructs Moses about the first plague. 
19-25 The miracle performed. 

Chapter 8. 

1-4 Frogs threatened. 

5-7 Frogs sent. The counterfeit. 

8-15 The frogs destroyed. 

16-19 The plague of lice. 

20-24 The plague of flies. 

25-32 Pharaoh breaks his word. 

Chapter 9. 

1-7 The plague of murrain. 

8-12 The plague of boils and blains. 

13-21 Hail threatened. 

22-26 Hail sent. 

27-35 Pharaoh's petition. His hard heart. 

Chapter 10. 

1-11 Locusts threatened. Pharaoh's conference with Moses. 

12-15 Locusts sent. 

16-20 Pharaoh repents, and hardens his heart. 

21-23 Darkness sent. 

24-29 Pharaoh's conference with Moses. 

Chapter 11. 

1-3 The Israelites told to ask jewels of the Egyptians. 
4-10 The death of the first born threatened. 



64 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 12. 

1-14 The Passover instituted. 
15-20 Instructions about keeping the feast in the future. 
21-28 Moses instructs the people. 
29-36 Death of the first born of the Egyptians. 
• 37-39 The Exodus. 
40-42 Length of the captivity. 
43-51 The law about who shall eat the Passover. 

Chapter 13. 

1-7 Exhortation to remember the Passover. 
8-10 Reason. 
11-13 Law of the first born. 
14-16 The instruction of the children. 
17, 18 Route of the Israelites from Egypt. 

19 The body of Joseph taken. 
20-22 God's guide to Israel. 

Chapter 14. 

1-4 God's direction as to the route of Israel. 

5-9 Pharaoh pursues Israel. 
10-12 Fear of the Israelites. 
13, 14 Moses assures them. 
15-18 God's order to Moses. 
19-22 Parting of the waters. 
23-25 Pursuit of the Egyptians. 
26-31 Their destruction. 

Chapter 15. 

1-21 Song of deliverance. 
22-26 Israel at Marah. 
27 Israel at Elim. 

Chapter 16. 

1-3 Israel's complaint at Sin. 
4-10 God promises them bread. Their address to the people. 
11-15 Bread sent. 

16-21 Instructions about gathering it. 
22-30 The Sabbath day observed. 

31 The bread named. 
32-34 Instructions about keeping a pot of manna. 
35, 36 Continuance of the fall of manna. 



EXODUS. 65 

Chapter 17. 

1-3 The people murmur for water at Rephidim. 
4-7 Moses' prayer. God's answer. The place named. 
8-13 Battle of Israel with Amalek. 
14 God's curse upon Amalek. 
15, 16 Moses builds an altar. 

Chapter 18. 

1-6 Jethro brings Moses his wife and sons. 
7-12 Jethro's visit with Moses. 
13-26 Jethro's advice to Moses. 
27 Jethro's return to his home. 

Chapter 19. 

1, 2 Israel comes to Mt. Sinai. 
3-6 God's message to the people. 
7-9 The people's reply. 
10-13 The people warned to make ready for God's presence. 
14, 15 The preparation. 
16-25 God's presence on the mount. 

Chapter 20. 

1-3 The first commandment. 
4-6 The second commandment. 
7 The third commandment. 
8-11 The fourth commandment. 

12 The fifth commandment. 

13 The sixth commandment. 

14 The seventh commandment. 

15 The eighth commandment. 

16 The ninth commandment. 

17 The tenth commandment. 
18-21 The fright of the people. 

22-26 God's charge to Moses about images and altars. 

Chapter 21. 

1-6 Law of men servants. 
7-11 Law of women servants. 
12-14 Law of manslaughter. 

15 Law of parent smiting. 

16 Law of man stealing. 

17 Law of parent cursing. 



66 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

18, 19 Law of fighting. 
20. 21 Law of servant smiting. 
22-25 Law of accidental hurt. 
2(5, 27 Law of servant maiming. 
28-32 Law of a savage brute. 
33, 34 Law of brute slaying. 
35, 36 Law of brute fighting. 

Chapter 22. 

1-4 Law of a thief. 

5, 6 Law of damage. 

7-13 Law of trust. 

14, 15 Law of borrowing. 

1G, 17 Law of fornication. 

18 Law of witchcraft. 

19 Law of bestiality. 

20 Law of idolatry. 

21 Law of strangers. 
22-24 Law of widows. 
25-27 Law of usury. 

28 Law of reverence. 
29, 30 Law of first fruits. 
31 Law of flesh food. 

Chapter 23. 

1 Law of false charges. 

2, 3 Law of just independence. 

4-6 Law of charitableness. 

7 Law of a just character. 

8 Law of gift taking. 

9 Law of dealing with strangers. 
10, 11 Law of land rest. 

12 Law of the Sabbath. 

13 Law of general behavior. 
14-19 Law of the feasts. 

15 Unleavened bread. 

16 Harvest. 

16 Ingathering. 
17-19 "Regulations of the feast. 
20-33 Exhortation to obedience with promise of prosperity. 



EXODUS. 67 

Chapter 24. 

1, 2 Moses, the priests and seventy elders ordered up the mount. 

3 Moses reports God's laws. Answer of the people. 
4-6 Moses writes the laws, builds an altar and sacrifices. 
7-8 Moses reads the laws and sprinkles the blood of the covenant. 
9-11 The seventy-four ascend the mount and see God. 
12-18 Moses with Joshua called into the mount for forty days. 

Chapter 25. 

1-9 What the people must offer to build a tabernacle. 
10-22 Directions for making an ark of the covenant. 
23-30 Directions for making a table for shew bread. 
31-40 Directions for making a candlestick and vessels. 

Chapter 26. 

1-6 Directions for making the ten tabernacle curtains. 
7-13 Directions for making the eleven goat hair coverings. 
14 Directions for making the ram skin covering. 
14 Directions for making badger skin covering. 
1 5-25 Directions for making the boards of the tabernacle. 
26-29 Directions for making the bars of the tabernacle. 
30-37 Directions for setting up the tabernacle. 
31-33 The tabernacle veil. 

34 Place of the ark. 

35 Place of the table and candlestick. 
36, 37 The door of the tabernacle. 

Chapter 27. 

1-8 Directions for making an altar for burnt offerings. 
9-19 Directions for making the court of the tabernacle. 
20, 21 Directions about the oil for the candlestick. 

Chapter 28. 

1 Order to set apart Aaron and his four sons as priests. 
2-5 The order about garments for the high priest. 
6-14 Specifications for the ephod. 
15-29 Specifications for the breast plate. 

30 The Urim and Thummim. 
31-35 Specifications for the ephod robe. 
36-38 Specifications for the mitre plate. 

39. Order concerning the coat mitre and girdle. 
40-43 Order about the garments for all the priests. 



BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 



Chapter 29. 



1-3? Ceremony of consecrating Aaron and his sons. 
38-44 The daily burnt offering for Israel. 
45, 46 Promise of God's presence. 

Chapter 30. 

1-10 Specifications of an altar of incense. 
11-16 The ransom of those who are numbered. 
17-21 Order of a brazen laver. 
22-33 Composition of the holy anointing oil. 
34-38 Composition of the perfume. 

Chapter 31. 

1-11 God sets apart Bezaleel and Aholiab as artificers. 
12-17 Order about the Sabbath. 

18 God gives Moses two tables of stone. 

Chapter 32. 

1-6 Story of the golden calf. 
7-10 God's anger with the people. 
11-14 Moses' entreaty to God for them. 
15-19 Breaking of the tables by Moses. 

20 Destruction of the golden calf. 
21-24 Excuse of Aaron. 
25-28 Punishment of the people. Three thousand slain. 

29 Order of Moses to the people. 
30-32 Moses' entreaty for the people. 
33-35 Answer of God. 



Chapter 33. 

1-3 God's refusal to go before the people. 

4-6 Mourning of the people. 

7, 8 Removal of the tabernacle from the camp of Israel. 
9-11 Talk of Moses with God in the tabernacle. 
12-18 Request of Moses for guidance and a sight of God's glory. 
19-23 Answer of God. 



EXODUS. 

Chapter 34. 

1-3 God's order to Moses about new tablets of stone. 

4-9 God manifests himself to Moses in the Mount. 

10 God's covenant toward Israel. 
11-17 The orders about the people of the promised land. 

18 Order of a feast of unleavened bread. 
19, 20 Law of the first born. 

21 Law of the Sabbath. 
22-24 The feast times. 

25 Direction about sacrifice. 

26 Law of the first fruits. 
27, 28 Moses writes the law. 

29-35 The radiance of Moses' face. 

Chapter 35. 

1-19 Address of Moses to the people. 

1-3 Charge concerning the Sabbath. 
4-19 Specifications of gifts needed for a tabernacle. 
20-29 The people bring the gifts. 
30-35 Moses names the two artificers. 

Chapter 36. 

1-4 The beginning of the work. 
5-7 Overabundance of the gifts. 
8-13 The cherubim curtains. 
14-18 The goat hair curtains. 

19 The tent coverings. 
20-30 The tabernacle boards. 
31-34 The tabernacle bars. 

35, 36 The tabernacle vail. 
37, 38 The tabernacle door. 

Chapter 37. 

1-5 The ark. 

6-9 The mercy seat. 
10-16 The table (for shewbread). 
17-24 The candlestick. 
25-28 The altar of incense. 

29 The anointing oil and incense. 



70 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 38. 

1-7 The altar of burnt offerings. 

8 The brazen laver. 

9-20 Construction of the. court. 

21-31 Cost of the tabernacle. 

Chapter 39. 

1 The cloths and Aaron's garments. 
2-7 The ephod. 
8-21 The breast plate. 
22-26 The ephod robe. 
27-29 The coats, mitre and girdle. 
30-31 The mitre plate. 
32-43 Collection of the work. 

Chapter 40. 
1-15 God orders the tabernacle set up and consecrated. 
16-33 Moses sets up the tabernacle and its service. . 
34-38 A cloud covers the tent. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-7. — An ancient author declares that in Egypt mothers pro- 
duced three and sometimes four at one birth. A modern writer declares 
that the females of Egypt, both human and animal, surpass all others in 
fruitfulness. 

8-14. — Their prosperity brings jealousy from the Egyptians. Goshen 
was between Egypt and the warlike tribes of Canaan, hence the though fc 
of verse 10. The new king was probably Amosis (Osburn). A ruinous 
rent may have been first demanded to involve them in difficulty, then they 
were reduced to serfs. The two cities mentioned were in Goshen. Wilkin- 
son says more bricks bearing the name of Thothmes III, supposed to have 
been the Pharaoh of the Exodus, have been found than of any other 
period. 

15-22. — The two midwives mentioned were either the heads of a large 
corporation (Laborde), or by tampering with these two the king desired 
to terrify the rest into secret compliance with his wishes (Calvin). 
Opinions were divided whether the stools were low seats on which the 
midwives sat, or stone troughs by the riverside in which the infants were 
washed. In the first case they would be strangled, and in the second 



EXODUS. 71 

drowned. The more correct rendering of verse 22 is, "Because the mid- 
wives feared God the Hebrews had a numerous progeny." 

Ch. 2:1, 2. — Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses, had two 
children, Miriam and Aaron, born some years before this edict. 

3, 4. — The slime mentioned was the mud of the Xilc, which, whea^ 
hardened, was very tenacious. Pitch was mineral tar. Bulrushes were 
thick, strong, tough reeds. Miriam would be perhaps ten or twelve years 
old. 

5-10. — Though this plan may have been owing to a divine suggestion, 
it took great faith to work it. Jochebed got back her baby to rear in her 
own way, and was paid for it besides. 

11-14. — It has been supposed that the Egyptian taskmaster killed the 
Hebrew, and that Moses was duty bound by the custom of the age to 
avenge the death of his fellow. This, however, lacks proof. 

15-22. — History tells us that Moses was trained in all the wisdom of 
the Egyptians, and became a great military commander, conducting 
several important campaigns for Pharaoh. But now that he has chosen 
the side of his wronged people, the king seeks to kill him, and he flies 
from Egypt. Midian is in the lower part of the Arabian peninsula. Here 
by his kindness to the daughters of Jethro Rcuel he came into favor with 
that prince, and married his daughter Zipporah. His oldest son was 
named Gcrshom. 

23-25. — "Verse 23 seems to imply that the Israelites had experienced a 
partial relaxation, probably through the influence of Moses' royal patron- 
ess; but in the reign of her father's successor the persecution was renewed 
with increasing severity." (Jamison, Fausset and Brown.) 

Ch. 3:1. — Moses seems now to be working as a member of Jethro's 
household. May be, like Jacob, he was paying for his wife. Horeb mav 
have been called the Mount of God either from its great height or from the 
memorable transactions which took place there. Sinai was a peak of the 
group called Horeb. 

2-6. — The bush was not consumed by the fire which burned it. Israel 
was not consumed by Egyptian oppression. The church is not consumed 
by the oppression of the world. In the East people put off their shoes or 
sandals as we do our hats. If Moses was convinced by what he saw, much 
more ought we to be convinced from what we see that God is in the midst 
of the church. 

7-10. — God's message should have been welcome news to Moses. But 
the result of his first hasty effort had discouraged him. Are we much 
better than he ? 



72 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

11-4-12. — Moses first urges his inability. God promises to be with him 
And evidence that he has sent Moses by bringing the freed Hebrews to 
serve God on that very mountain. * * * Moses' next objection was 
jack of something to say. God tells him particularly what to say, both to 
his people and Pharaoh. He warns him of the king's stubbornness and 
God's judgments upon him. Yerse 22 should be read not "borrow," but 
"ask;" it was customary for slaves when leaving their old masters to ask 
gifts of them. Neither the Jews nor Egyptians expected the gifts 
returned. * * * Ch. 4. — The third excuse related to the unbelief of 
the people. The rod serpent, the leprous hand and the water turned to 
blood were sent for answers. * * * The fourth excuse was lack of 
persuasive power. God reminds him who made his mouth. 

13-17.— When Moses, after all this, shows unwillingness, God is angry. 
So he is angry with the wicked, who being persuaded of their duty, still 
persist in sin. "The honor of priesthood was transferred to Aaron, who 
from this time was destined to be the head of the house of Levi. Moses 
honestly records these facts." (J. F. B.) 

18-23. — It was a proper thing for Moses to ask consent of Jethro about 
returning to Egypt. But he does not tell Jethro of the special object of 
his going. 

24-26. — Verse 24, "Moses was either overwhelmed with mental distress 
or overtaken by a sudden and dangerous malady. The narrative is 
obscure, but the meaning seems to be that, led during his illness to a strict 
self-examination, he was deeply pained and grieved at the thought of 
having, to please his wife, postponed or neglected the circumcision of one 
of his sons, probably the younger. To dishonor that sign and seal of the 
covenant was criminal in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined to be 
the leader and deliverer of the Hebrews; and he seems to have felt his 
sickness as a merited chastisement for his sinftil omission. Concerned 
for her husband's safety, Zipporah overcomes her maternal feelings of 
aversion to the painful rite, performs herself, by means of one of the? 
sharp flints with which part of the desert abounds, an operation which 
her husband, on whom the duty devolved, was unable to do, and having 
brought the bloody evidence, exclaimed in the painful excitement of her 
feelings that from love to him she had risked the ,life of her child." 
(Calvin, Bullinger, Bosenmuller.) 

27, 28. — It seems that after Moses and Aaron met, Zipporah and her 
sons went back to Midian. 

2&-31. — The affliction of the Israelites in Egypt made them now 
willing to accept joyfully a call to deliverance. The experience of Moses 



EXODUS. 73 

had taught him to lean on God rather than his own strength. Both were 
better for their affliction. 

Ch. 5 :l-3. — "Here is the first time the Lord is mentioned by the name 
of God of Israel. The king does not know the God of Israel. He 
estimates the character of that God by tfae condition of his slave wor- 
shipers. To demonstrate the supremacy of the true God over the gods of 
Egypt was the design of the plagues." (J. F. B.) They ask to do just 
what God had ordered. 

4. — Every leader in the ways of sin is saying to those who would set 
free sin's slaves just what this brutal king said, "Cease trying to free 
people, and go yourself into the bondage of sin." 

5-9. — Sin's slave drivers always increase the burdens on those who 
resist its tyranny. 

10-14. — He who could not see by faith would now say, "Your efforts are 
making things worse. By all means stop. Choose the lesser of the two 
evils." Almost daily we have such philosophy. 

15-19. — The officers who complained to the king seemed to be in no 
wise able to argue their case. His rough answer crushed out all hopes. 

20-23. — Xow the Israelites complain to Moses that he has done more 
harm than good. Crushed by their reproach, he returns complaining to 
God. And yet that blackest hour was just before dawn, though he did not 
know it. 

Ch. 6:1-8. — Now that they were sure that the proffered aid of man 
only made their cause worse, all was in readiness for God to show his 
power in their behalf, and thus, from the result, they would know it to be 
God's hand. It is sad that man is such that he must almost always be 
schooled in dire distress before he learns to acknowledge the guiding 
hand of God. 

9. — Verse 9 gives some insight into the bitterness of the slavery which 
the Israelites were enduring. 

10-13.— "Even the faith of Moses himself was failing, and he would 
have abandoned the enterprise in despair had he not received a positive 
command from God to revisit the people without delay and at the same 
time renew the demand on the king in a more decisive and peremptory 
tone." (J. F. B.) Moses was assuming a wondrous responsibility (from 
a human standpoint). 

14-30. — Verses 14-30 are valuable for reference concerning genealogy. 
Lineage was of much importance among Hebrews, and its value is 
evidenced here in authenticating the descent of these two men, Moses and 
Aaron, commissioned to such an important part in the events of Egypt, 



74 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the government of Israel and the church of God. The two oldest sons are 
noticed briefly, and then comes Levi, from whom these descended. Verse 
20. Some render the word "sister," "cousin." 

Ch. 7:1-7. — Moses is now sent to the king, not as a humble suppliant, 
but as God's embassador. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart was a 
natural result of Pharaoh's antagonism to God. God made the law that 
such antagonism should result in such heart hardening, but of course 
Pharaoh was responsible for the antagonism, and so for the heart harden- 
ing. The national calamity of Egypt was foretold. Moses was now 
eighty 3>ears old, just two-thirds of his life. 

8, 9. — Moses and Aaron were now commanded to display before the 
king the miracle shown to Moses in the wilderness. 

10-13. — When the mircale was performed, Pharaoh called his trick 
makers. His object in calling them was to ascertain w T hether this doing 
of Aaron's was really a work of Divine power or merely a feat of magical 
art. The magicians of Egypt in modern times have been long celebrated 
adepts in charming serpents, and particularly by pressing the nape of the 
neck they throw them into a kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff 
and immovable, thus seeming to change them, into a rod. They conceal 
the serpent about their persons, and by act of legerdemain produce it 
from their dress stiff and straight as a rod. Just the same trick was 
played off by their ancient predecessors, the most renowned of whom, 
Jannes and Jambres (II Timothy 3:8), were called in on this occasion. 

14-18. — Pharaoh may have gone to the river for worship. The Nile 
was a sacred stream, the national god, and it was to be the subject of the 
first of the ten plagues. The water was used largely for drinking. The 
fish were used largely for food. 

19-25. — The counterfeit of this miracle by the trick makers, on however 
small a scale, dyeing it with some coloring matter, would serve as a pretext 
to the king to disregard the request of Moses, and go unmoved to his 
house. Why such a judgment of such magnitude should not produce the 
desired effect is inconceivable. 

Ch. 8 :l-4. — The bake ovens of Egypt were holes in the ground plastered 
over the sides and bottom with mortar. The kneading troughs were bowls 
of wicker or rush work. 

5-7. — When the frogs came the trick makers counterfeited this miracle 
also, but they could not undo what Moses and Aaron had done. 

8-15. — When the king came supplicating Moses, Moses showed his 
humility by honoring Pharaoh and allowing him to give his order as to 
when Moses should pray for the removal of the frogs. Here is a fitting 



EXODUS.. 75 

picture of how God loves to honor them that honor Him. Moses was a 
man after God's own heart. 

16-19. — The Hebrew word here translated lice means fleas or mosqui- 
tos. The trick makers of Egypt could not counterfeit a mosquito. They 
owned that this was beyond them. 

20-24.— "The flies mentioned were dogfly, cockroach, Egyptian beetle. 
They are very destructive, some of them inflicting severe bites on animals, 
others destroying clothes, books, plants, everything. The worship of flies, 
particularly of the beetle, was a prominent part of the religion of the 
ancient Egyptians. The employment of these winged deities to chastise 
them must have been painful and humiliating to the Egyptians, while 
ft must at the same time have strengthened the faith of the Israelites in 
the God of their fathers as the only object of worship." (J. F. B.) From 
this time on, a distinction was made between Egypt and the land of 
Goshen, where Israel lived. 

25-32. — When the king finds there is no other way, he promises to let 
Israel go into the wilderness. But the condition of his heart and his 
feeling toward Israel and their God is made clear enough by the false- 
hood he tells. 

Ch. 9 :l-7. — The disease of murrain came not by the instrumentality of 
Aaron's rod, but direct from the Almighty, and at the time set by Moses. 
"The adaptation of this judgment consisted in the Egyptians venerating 
the more useful animals, such as the ox, the cow and the ram. In all 
parts of the country temples were reared and divine honors paid to these 
domesticated beasts, and thus while the pestilence caused a great loss in 
money, it struck a heavy blow at their superstition." As an indication of 
how rebellion against God hardens the heart, after Pharaoh had sent to 
see that none of the Israelites' cattle had been slain, he still refused to 
own his wrong. 

8-12. — The ashes which Moses took were from the brick kiln, that 
instrument of oppression to the Israelites, now to be made a means of 
chastisement to the Egyptians. 

13-21. — The Lord, before sending the next plague, gives Pharaoh and 
his people a chance to escape its ravages and save their lives and their 
flocks. 

22-26. — The fire mentioned was doubtless lightning, and thunder 
would peal in awful volumes, while the lightnings swept the ground like 
fire. (J. F. B.) Doubtless many Egyptians, not so sullen as Pharaoh, 
saved themselves and flocks from the calamity. 

27-35. — Pharaoh may have been for the time truly penitent. But 



76 BIBLK SCHOOL BOOK. 

behold the deceitfulness of sin. As soon as the pressure of calamity is 
lifted, man, whose heart is not in touch with God, falls again into his 
pernicious ways. 

Ch. 10:1-11. — Repeatedly the statement is made that Pharaoh made 
strong (stubborn) his heart (will). Before each plague Moses repeated, 
"Let my people go." When locusts are threatened, the king holds a 
conference with Moses and Aaron, and while the servants of Pharaoh 
are clamoring also that the king may relent, Pharaoh orders that the men 
only may go, leaving the flocks and little ones behind. He knew of course 
that in that case they would return. 

12-15. — Locusts are natives of the desert, and are brought into Egypt 
by an east wind. 

16-20. — Again the king repented, and at the prayer of Moses a west 
wind took the locusts out of Egypt. 

21-23. — Darkness so oppressive that it was to be observed by the sense 
of touch must have been indescribably appalling. After three days even 
the king could stand it no longer. 

24-29. — The terrified king makes another concession. But calm Moses 
insists on every point of his request. The desperate king orders him 
from his presence, and makes a threat that another conference will mean 
the death of Moses. And the old king saw the day when he would gladly 
have taken back that threat. 

Ch. 11 :l-3. — The word here rendered "borrow" is an outrageous trans- 
lation. It should be rendered "ask." It was customary when slave went 
free to receive gifts of their former masters. Neither Egyptians nor 
Israelites expected these gifts returned. 

4-10. — Moses does not go into the presence of the king now. You 
remember he was forbidden. But he talks to the Egyptians, who hear 
every word eagerly, for they stand in great awe of him. Of course, what 
he says is reported to Pharaoh; he is talking to Pharaoh now through 
mediators, probably at the palace, hence the last clause of verse 8. 

Ch. 12 :1-14. — The Jewish civil year began in September. It was now 
March, and so about the seventh month of the year. But their religious 
year was to begin now. The first month (Abib or Nisan) began with the 
moon after the spring equinox, and so covered parts,of March and April. 
The lamb was to be selected the tenth day, and to be kept four days before 
the sacrifice. It was roasted whole, probably as a type of Christ, not a 
bone of whom was broken. It was eaten with bitter herbs, reminding 
them of bondage. 

15-20. — In the instructions about the future commemoration of this 



EXODUS. 77 

event all leaven (yeast) was to be put out of their houses for a week, thus 
calling to remembrance their departure from Egypt, which was so 
hurried that their bread would not have time to leaven. 

21-28. — Moses instructs the elders. No Israelite was to go out of his 
house until morning. Some suppose that this was to prevent suspicion 
that the Israelites slew the Egyptians. In the future commemoration of 
this event the striking of the blood on the door posts would bring out 
questions from the children, answering which would make it easy to teach 
them the way of the Lord. 

29-36. — Xow falls the crowning stroke. "The wild shrieks of mourners 
were heard everywhere." The land was full of corpses, and all living 
Egypt was on its feet. "For eighty years the Egyptians had caused the 
male Israelites to be cast into the river. Now there falls a divine and 
terrible retribution." (J. F. B.) Now the old king would give half his 
wealth if he could take back the threat against Moses. He calls for Moses 
and Aaron in the night. Most likely they now refuse to go into his 
presence, thus making him feel the rashness of his threat. But he says 
to them go, you and yours, and bless me also. And the terrified Egyptians 
were so urgent that when the Israelites demanded of them a parting gift, 
they loaded them down, until Egypt was literally spoiled of its wealth. 

37-39. — Six hundred thousand warriors, besides women and children, 
went out of Egypt. It is supposed that the entire multitude, including 
camp followers, amounted to near three millions. Many awe inspired 
Egyptians would cast their lot with this people; it is computed about 
six hundred thousand. 

40-42. — The Exodus by the common chronology was four hundred and 
thirty years after the call of Abram, and two hundred and fifteen years 
after the going of Jacob and family to Egypt. 1491 B. C. 

43-51. — Only those willing to become one with the Irsaelites were 
allowed to' participate in those religious matters which signalized them as 
a distinct people. 

Ch. 13 :l-7. — To sanctify means to consecrate or set apart for a sacred 
use. The first born of man and beast were so consecrated, and in the case 
of a human child and some of the beasts of burden (such as the ass) the 
first born was to be redeemed by some animal which should be offered in 
its stead upon the altar. Thus were the Israelites to keep in memory the 
Passover and its consequent worship. 

8-10. — Faithful commemoration of the past mercies of God would 
make all the children of the ages to become familiar with the stories of 



78 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

those mercies, and by that familiarity incite the faith which reaches out 
to greater blessings. 

11-13. — This law of the first born, before referred to, was to be the 
perpetual law of the land to which God was now leading this people. 

14-16. — The necessity of instructing the children concerning these 
things could not be overestimated. It was the operation of this principle 
which gave the Hebrew nation its unity. We Christians are sadly 
deficient at this point. 

17, 18. — The shortest route from Egypt to Canaan would have led 
them through the land of the Philistines, the descendants of Ham. Here 
they would have been sure to encounter war. I Chron. 7 :21, 22, refers to 
the cause of a feud between them and the Israelites, which must have 
happened while the Israelites were in Egypt before their enslavement, 
though the Hebrew participle properly rendered either "because" or 
"when," leaves it uncertain which party made the thieving raid on the 
other. Such stealing was a common fault of all shepherd tribes of that 
day. Israel must be led by a route which would give them time to become 
disciplined and ready for war, and also by one which would put their 
retreat to Egypt out of the question. The word "harnessed" means *'in 
ranks of five." 

19. — Joseph's last and strict request was observed. 

20-22. — Etham, supposed to be modern Ajrud, is twelve miles north- 
west of Suez. God gave them a constant and visible token of his presence. 

Ch. 14:1-4. — They had been heading straight toward the isthmus of 
Suez, and another short march would have put them entirely out or 
Egypt, north of the Eed Sea. At God's command they turn southward 
and go straight away from the promised land, with the sea on their left, 
thus remaining on the Egypt side of the sea. Note carefully the language 
of verse 4. 

5-9. — The route which they took brought them to the sea, with an 
impassable mountain on their right hand. The Egyptians saw that by 
coming up behind them they could literally pen them up and cut off all 
escape. 

10-12. — The murmuring of the Israelites would severely test the 
patience of Moses. The mental tension of that time must have been 
fearful. But he sees the guiding pillar, remembers the past, and takes 
courage. The question might be raised, Why did not the people do 
likewise? Their moral sensibility was very dull. And who of us are 
better considering our light? 

13, 14. — Moses had faith to assure the Israelites, and yet he did not see 



EXODUS. 79 

how the Lord was about to deliver them. He cried mightily for light and 
help. 

15-18. — The command of verse 15 doubtless was given in the evening. 
The guiding cloud became a wall of darkness to the Egyptians, who would 
unquestionably go into the camp for the night, and simply throw out a 
picket line to guard against any possible escape of the frightened slaves. 

19-22. — It is certain that the sea at that point was very shallow. (No 
sea there now at all.) A strong east wind could there remove the waters 
until a passage would be afforded for the Israelites. Of course the waters 
on either side not being fordable would prevent anyone flanking their 
movement, thus serving as impassable walls. 

23-25. — As soon as Pharaoh's pickets discovered that something was 
going on, the king would send out his chariots to learn what it was, 
probably supposing Israel had found some hitherto unknown pass about 
the mountain. It was dark. If the king had ordinary military judgment 
he would hold his lines of foot soldiers intact, in readiness to hasten to 
the support of the cavalry and charioteers when he should learn the true 
state of affairs. Not until morning did the part who pursued Israel find 
out where they were. Then, panic stricken, they took off their chariot 
wheels, which only impeded their motion among the rocks, so as to "sled" 
out of their dangerous position. 

26-31. — But it was too late. The waters returned, and drowned all the 
hosts of Pharaoh which went into the sea after Israel. Pharaoh could 
see the condition when the light returned, and since his chariots and 
horses were in the sea and Israel safe on the other side, he could only 
tramp his army back to Egypt, a defeated, saddened, but wiser man. 

Ch. 15 :1-21. — The song of deliverance is considered by some the oldest 
poem in the world. It has splendid diction and poetical excellencies 
which have been the admiration of the best judges. The pronoun "them" 
in verse 21 is masculine, denoting that probably Moses led the men and 
Miriam the women. The custom of their dance was a slow, solemn 
gesture, accompanied by singing, and led by a principal female, the 
others imitating her and repeating her words. 

22-26. — Marah is supposed to be about thirty miles from where Israel 
crossed the sea. Following God's direction, the bitter waters are made 
sweet. 

27. — At Elim they find a fertile spot well supplied with water, where 
they rest and refresh themselves. The point is still a little further 
southeast of Marah. 

Ch. 16:1-3. — The encampment mentioned is further southeast toward 



80 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

• 

lit. Sinai. The people are traveling along the seacoast. They have now 
been one month on the road. The place was desert, and their store of 
food brought from Egypt was exhausted, and there 'seemed no means of 
procuring anything except wild olives and wild honey. It was scarcely to 
be wondered at that they should become despondent, since they had 
always been accustomed to worldly prosperity. 

4-10. — Smith observes that from certain passages of Scripture we learn 
that "the manna promised came every morning except the Sabbath in the 
form of a round seed resembling the hoar frost; that it must be gathered 
early, before the sun became so hot as to melt it; that it must be gathered 
every day except the Sabbath ; that the attempt to lay aside for the 
succeeding day, except the day immediately preceding the Sabbath, failed 
by the substance becoming wormy and offensive; that it was prepared for 
food by grinding and baking, that its taste was like fresh oil, and like 
wafers made with honey, equally agreeable to all palates; that the whole 
nation subsisted upon it for forty years; that it suddenly ceased when 
they first got the new corn of the land of Canaan, and that it was always 
regarded as a miraculous gift directly from God, and not as a product of 
nature. The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental 
regions which bear the name of manna have not the qualities ascribed to 
the manna of Scripture. The manna of Scripture we regard as wholly 
miraculous, and not in any respect a product of nature. The Hebrew 
word manna, by which the substance is always designated in the. Hebrew 
Scriptures, is the neuter interrogative pronoun (what?), and the name is 
derived from the inquiry (man hu, what is this?) which the Hebrews 
made when they first saw it upon the ground." How quickly God heard 
and provided for their wants. By giving them this daily portion God 
taught them dependence upon him day by day. Thus they were tosted.- 

11-15. — The quail migrates by night, many observers say. They flew 
near to the ground, and could be easily taken even by hand, especially in 
an exhausted condition after a long flight. 

16-21. — All they were allowed to gather was simply enough for the 
day's eating. x\ny of it kept over until the next morning spoiled, and so 
he that gathered simply enough had no lack, and he who attempted to 
heap up enough for future use had only a heap of corruption. 

22-30. — At this point the history shows that the Sabbath was being 
observed down through the ages since Eden, though the action of some of 
the Israelites shows that they were very lax in regarding it. 

31. — The name given (manna) is explained in a former note. 

32-34. — The keeping of a sample of this food would serve as a per- 



EXODUS. 81 

petual remembrance to Israel of the provision God made for them in the 
wilderness wanderings, and would also serve to show the distinction 
between that food which God miraculously provided and any similar 
natural production. This pot of manna was afterward put with the ark 
of the covenant. 

35, 36. — The wilderness wandering continued for forty years. When 
the Israelites came into the promised land the manna ceased to fall. 

Ch. IT :l-3. — They journey on to Eephedim. Even after the experience 
of the manna and quails these undisciplined minds break out into a blaze 
of discontent, which intensifies until Moses is in actual danger of his life. 
Small wonder that the force of many miracles was lost upon the heathen 
king Pharaoh when God's own peculiar people could so soon forget all 
which had been done in their behalf. 

4-7. — Very wisely Moses prays. That is the true path out of all evil. 
The ciders were called, and the rock smitten in their sight that they 
might learn on whom to depend. The place was about a day's march 
from Sinai, and, it is said, in a circuitous valley, very narrow, with no 
protection from the burning sun except the perpendicular cliffs. The 
name Meribah means "chiding." 

8-13.— The Amalekites were descendants of Esau. They lived just 
north of Sinai. "Their attack seems to have been a mean, insidious, 
dastardly one on their rear, probably to satisfy an old grudge and also 
their present jealousy." (J. F. B.) The miracles seem to have impressed 
the people that God was among them, and thus they were encouraged in 
their attack against their foes. They fought under the leadership of 
Joshua, the young warrior who was to act such a prominent part in their 
future history. 

14. — "The curse upon Amalek is explained by the deep and implacable 
vengeance which they meditated against Israel." (J. F. B.) 

15, 16. — The 16th verse is better read, "Because the hand of Amalek is 
against the throne of the Lord, therefore the Lord will have war with 
Amalek from generation to generation." 

Ch. 18 :1-G. — Jethro seems to have been a priest of the true God, and 
hearing the story of the Exodus comes to see Moses, bringing along his 
daughter, the wife of Moses, and her children to the husband and father. 

7-12. — The visit was doubtless an enjoyable and protracted one, and 
closed with a solemn and religious service. "Their conversation was that 
of two pious men rehearsing and listening to recitals of the wonderful 
work and providences of God, worthv of the imitation of Christian 
friends." (J. F. B.) 



82 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

13-26. — The suggestion of Jethro so kindly given was royally good. 
The wisdom of Moses could appreciate that, and would not esteem it any 
the less from God because it came through man. That bit of advice was 
acted upon, and became the foundation principle of all civil government. 

27. — When Jethro returned home both he and Moses were better men 
on account of that visit. 

Ch. 19 :1, 2. — Now they come to the wilderness of Sinai. "The moun- 
tain peak before which they camped was Horeb (doubtless), the very peak 
where Moses saw the burning bush, forty-five days after leaving Egypt." 
(J. F. B.) 

3-6. — Moses goes up the mount to that holy spot, and gets from God 
a beautiful message to that people whom Moses had been sent to bring 
from Egypt, and who arc now encamped at the foot of the mountain. 

7-9. — The people unanimously answered, We will do all that the Lord 
commands. 

10-13. — Now that God was to manifest Himself to His people and give 
a law for their guidance in all their future as a nation, very stringent 
rules were given for the conduct of the people. The value of reverence 
cannot be overestimated. 

14, 15. — Three days were spent in these preparations, making fifty 
days since leaving Egypt — one spent by Moses in the mount, one in 
reporting to the people God's message, and three days of preparation. 

16-25. — The thunder and lightnings on the mount announced God's 
presence. The people are led out of the camp to where they might see 
and stand in the presence of God. The mountain was quaking, trumpets 
blown by supernatural breath were sounding, and when Moses spoke, God 
answered him by a voice. Moses was called up the mount, but again sent 
down to make sure that no one should break through the set bounds. 
After that Moses and his brother Aaron were to come up. 

Ch. 20:1-17. — The Ten Commandments form the basis of all law, and 
underlie all true religion. The first four pertain to our duty to God. 
The remaining six, man's duty to man. Commit them to memory. 

18-21. — Such manifestations would fill the people with awe. They beg 
Moses to stand between them and God, as a mediator for them/ His 
answer clearly implies that if the people do well they need not fear to 
stand in God's presence. 

22-26. — The caution against images was pertinent, especially in view 
of the country from which the people came. Idolatry inevitably follows 
any attempt to represent God by images — and reasonably so. The caution 
against carving altars was for the same reason, while that against steps 



EXODUS. 83 

"was for the sake of decency in consequence of the loose, wide, flowing 
garments of the priest." (J. F. B.) 

Ch. 21 :l-6. — The "judgments" were rules to regulate the judges and 
magistrates in their decisions. These laws were only an expansion of the 
Ten Commandments already given. Most likely Moses was alone when 
these were given. An Israelite might become a slave by poverty, debt or 
crime, but was entitled to freedom at the end of six years. 

7-11. — Hebrew girls might be redeemed by parents or friends, but if 
not her owner could not sell her to a stranger. If she were betrothed to 
her owner or his son arid the marriage failed to be carried out, a main- 
tenance must be granted her suitable to her condition as the intended 
wife, or else her freedom must be instantly granted. 

12-14. — Death was the penalty for killing, unless it was unintentional, 
in which case the killer might flee to a place where the avengers could not 
come. 

15. — All manner of subordination is the outgrowth of proper respect 
for parents. Hence that must be maintained at any cost. 

16. — The monstrous crime of man stealing would demand the severest 
penalty for its supprcsion. 

17. — Cursing would demand penalty as severe to keep it from becoming 
a common habit of the passionate. 

18, 19. — The law about righting would be an effectual discouragement 
to that passionate outburst. 

20, 21. — Heartless cruelty to a servant was to be punished, but some- 
where a line must be drawn between cruelty and compulsion of obedience. 

22-25. — The law of accidental hurt demanded that the author of the 
accident stand good for all the resulting loss. "The principle was a civil 
one, given to help the public magistrate fix compensation in case of 
injury. It did not encourage private revenge. Later Jews mistook it for 
a moral principle, and were corrected by our Lord." (J. F. B.) 

26, 27. : — Here a distinction is formulated between legitimate punish- 
ment and wanton cruelty. Possibly even the accidental maiming would 
purchase the slave's freedom, as indeed it ought. 

28-32. — The law of a savage brute clearly holds the owner responsible 
for the mischief of his chattels, in so far as he is able to provide against it. 

33, 34. — In the case of a slain brute, the slayer simply buys the dead 
brute at its living worth. 

35, 36. — In brute fighting the same principle holds good, unless the 
owner could not prevent it, in which case they share equally both the live 
and dead ox. 



84 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 22 :l-4. — The law of the thief provides that one may, if possible, 
prevent the theft at the time of its taking place, but if not that, he shall 
not take life in vengeance. 

5, 6. — The law of damages makes the damager responsible for his 
mischief. 

7-13. — The law of trust holds the trustee responsible as far as it was 
in his power to prevent loss. 

14, 15. — The word here rendered borrow evidently carries the added 
idea of hiring. 

16, 17. — The crime of fornication was to be righted by marriage, unless 
the man be utterly repugnant, in which case he must furnish her a 
support. 

18. — The incorrigible and lying deception of witchcraft, imposing as 
it did on the credulity of the ignorant, was to be suppressed at any cost. 

19. — Bestiality, if not severely prohibited, would, by the law of nature, 
vitiate the entire human element which it touched. 

20. — Idolatry, if not utterly destroyed, would cause the chosen family 
to relapse into heathenism and nullify the plan of God in the call of 
Abram. 

21. — A remembrance of their own standing in Egypt would prevent 
their wronging strangers. 

22-24. — Nothing perhaps would so deter from the cowardly act of 
oppressing the widow and fatherless as the thought of their own family 
suffering like treatment at the hands of others. 

25-27. — Taking from anyone more than he be able to spare was strictly 
forbidden. Such oppression is never a means of gain. 

28. — The word rendered "gods" should be rendered "judges." 

29, 30. — The first fruit of all increase was to be given to God — man, 
beast and inanimate things. 

Ch. 23 :1. — The Hebrew word rendered raise means also to receive. 

2, 3. — A just independence is a necessity to a righteous character. 

4-6.— Charitableness formed the basis of all law. That principle 
carried far enough would make law a superfluity. 

7. — The just character would be a legitimate outgrowth of such a 
course of conduct. 

8. — The law against gift taking (meant especially for judges) is self- 
explanatory. It is just as true as a rule of life for all. 

9. — The repetition of the law concerning strangers shows how likely the 
people were to forget their former embarrassment under their new 
conditions. 



EXODUS. 85 

10, 11. — God owned the land, and the people were tenants. On the 
seventh year the land holder neither sowed nor harvested. The poor 
might gather what his land produced. 

12. — Special mention is made again of the Sabbath as a necessity to 
man and beast. 

13. — In all things there was enjoined a circumspect manner of life, in 
keeping with all these laws and their special relation to God. 

14-19. — The three feasts were "Unleavened Bread" (Passover), "Pen- 
tecost" (harvest feast, and when the first fruits were gathered), and the 
"Feast of Ingathering" (feast of tabernacles, a memorial of dwellings in 
booths in the wilderness). Egyptian idolaters had a superstitious rite 
at the end of the harvest of boiling a kid in its mother's milk and 
sprinkling the broth on the garden as a magical charm to render it 
productive the following season. 

20-33. — The reasonableness of the exhortation is very clear. The 
promise is very decisive and favorable. 

Ch. 24:1, 2. — Moses, the three priests and seventy elders are now 
ordered to ascend the mount for worship, Moses alone going near to where 
the presence of God was manifested. 

3. — The people, when Moses reports, gladly assent to do all the Lord 
commands. 

4-6. — Moses now commits these laws to writing, builds an altar, setting 
up a pillar for each tribe, and offers sacrifice (perhaps the first since 
leaving Egypt). 

7, 8. — Here he reads the law, probably to representative men, who in 
turn rehearsed it to the people (ideal preaching), after which he seals 
their promise to obey by sprinkling with the blood of the sacrificed beasts 
both the roll containing the law and also the people. In this also he 
must have been assisted by the elders. 

9-11. — In obedience to the command before given, the seventy-four 
now ascend the mount, where they see the indescribable vision of God. 

12-18. — Moses (with Joshua) is now called up into the mount for forty 
days, at the end of which time he was to receive two tables of stone 
containing the Ten Commandments. 

Ch. 25 :l-9. — Here come the directions to Moses as to what the people 
are to offer for the building of their house of worship. 

10-22. — The ark was a chest for preserving certain precious things, e. g., 
the law tables, Aaron's rod, etc. The lid of the chest formed the mercy 
seat. It was to be placed in the holy of holies. 

23-30. — The table for shrewbread was to sit within the holy place. 



86 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

31-40. — The candlestick was to sit in the holy place. 

Ch. 26:1-6. — The old English word "cunning" meant skillful. Each 
curtain was fifteen yards long and a little more than two in breadth. 
Five coupled together formed two grand divisions each eleven yards wide. 
The taches or clasps were in shape and use the same as hooks and eyes. 

7-13. — The goat hair curtains were to be one more in number than the 
others, so as to extend a yard lower on each side, thus protecting and 
concealing the richer curtains. 

14. — The ram skin dyed red was what is known as Turkey red leather. 

14. — Over the leather was the badger skin covering. 

15-25. — The boards and wooden framework were to give solidity to the 
tent. The boards probably extended across the rear and round either side 
about as far as the holy of holies extended, thus shutting in securely the 
inner sanctuary from any access except by way of the holy place. 

26-29. — The bars constituted the framework. 

30-37. — In setting up the tabernacle : 1. The veil divided the holy 
place from the holy of holies. This last named place was in the extreme 
rear of the tent, and was fifteen feet cube. 2. The holy place was in front 
of it, and was fifteen feet wide and high and thirty feet long. The ark of 
the covenant was put in the holy of holies. 3. The front of the tent faced 
the east. The table for shewbread was put in the holy place on the north 
side (to the right as you enter), and the candlestick on the south. 4. The 
outer door (into the holy place) was a framework hung with curtains. 

Ch. 27 :l-8. — The altar for burnt offerings was three yards square and 
one and one-half yards high. It was placed near to and in front of the 
doorway to the holy place. The route into the holy place lay by the 
sacrifice. 

9-19. — The court was fifty yards long and twenty-five yards broad. 
The enclosure around it was about three yards high, made of curtains of 
network it is supposed, so that the people could see through it. This net 
enclosure was supported on sixty brass pillars, each pillar sitting on 
a brass pedestal. 

20, 21. — The olive oil mentioned was obtained by crushing and pressing 
the olive. Both the fruit and the oil could be obtained of traders. 

Ch. 28 :1. — Moses until now had performed the duties of priest. Now 
Aaron was to be appointed, and the house of Aaron continued in the office 
until the coming of Christ. 

2-5. — The word "holy" as applied to garments meant that they were 
worn in the discharge of sacred duties. 

6-43. — "The high priest had a peculiar dress, which passed to his 



EXODUS. 87 

successor at his death. This dress consisted of eight parts, as the Rabbins 
constantly note, the breast plate, the ephod with its curious girdle, the 
robe of the ephod, the mitre, the broidered coat or diaper tunic, and the 
girdle, the materials being gold, blue, red, crimson, and fine (white) 
linen. (Ex. 28.) To the above are added, in verse 42, the breeches or 
drawers of linen, and to make up the number eight some reckon the high 
priest's mitre, or the plate separately from the bonnet, while others 
reckon the curious girdle of the ephod separately from the ephod. Of 
these eight articles of attire, four, viz., the coat or tunic, the girdle, the 
breeches and the bonnet or turban, instead of the mitre, belonged to the 
common priests. Taking the articles of the high priest's dress in the 
order in which they are enumerated above, we have the breast plate, or, 
as it is further named, the breast plate of judgment. The breast plate 
was originally two spans long and one span broad, but when doubled it 
was square, the shape in which it was worn. On it were the twelve 
(precious stones, set in four rows, three in a row, thus corresponding to 
the twelve tribes, and divided in the same manner as their camps were, 
each stone having the name of one of the children of Israel engraved upon 
it. According to the LXX, and Josephus, and in accordance with the 
language of Scripture, it was these stones which constituted the Urim 
and Thummim. The ephod : This consisted of two parts, one of which 
covered the back, and the other the front, i. e., the breast and upper part 
of the body. These were clasped together on the shoulder with two large 
onyx stones, each having engraved on it six of the names of the tribes of 
Israel. It was further united by a "curious girdle" of gold, blue, purple, 
scarlet and fine twined linen around the waist. The robe of the ephod : 
This was of inferior material to the ephod itself, being all of blue, which 
implied its being only of "woven work." It was worn immediately under 
the ephod, and was longer than it. The blue robe had no sleeves, but only 
slits in the side for the arms to come through. It had a hole for the head 
to pass through, with a border around it of woven work to prevent its 
being rent. The skirt of this robe had a remarkable trimming of pome- 
granates in blue, red and crimson, with a bell of gold between each 
pomegranate alternately. The bells were to give a sound when the high 
priest went in and out of the holy place. The mitre or upper turban, 
with its gold plate engraved with Holiness to the Lord, fastened to it 
by a ribbon of blue. The broidered coat was a tunic or long skirt of linen 
with a tessellated or diaper pattern, like the setting of a stone. The 
girdle, also of linen, was wound around the body several times from the 
breast downwards, and the ends hung down to the ankles. The breeches 



88 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

or drawers, of linen, covered the loins and thighs, and the bonnet was a 
turban of linen, partially covering the head, but not in the form of a cone 
like that of the high priest when the mitre was added to it. These four 
last were common to all priests." (Smith.) 

Ch. 29:1-37. — The ceremony of consecrating the priest was a great 
event in the history of their national life. These ceremonies would 
impress the people with exalted views of the office, and the anointed ones 
themselves with the greatness and importance of their duties. 

38-44. — Every day, morning and evening, an offering was to be made. 

45, 46. — Then the chosen family was given some duty to test their 
obedience and fealty to God, and contingent upon their faithfulness was 
made to them a beautiful promise of God's continual presence and 
blessing. 

Ch. 30 :1-10. — The altar of incense mentioned was to be nearly two feet 
square and nearly four feet high. It sat in the rear of the holy place 
just in front of the veil. 

11-16. — The small sum demanded as a ransom for the souls of the able 
bodied men (not minors, women or old men) was probably spent for 
repairs and other expenses about the tabernacle service. 

17-21. — The brass laver would be necessary to cleanliness in the rites of 
the sanctuary. 

22-33. — The oil would keep the tabernacle and furniture in good 
condition in that dry climate. 

34-38. — The perfume would remove the repulsive smell which would be 
likely to arise where animal victims were slain and burned. Both these 
articles were prohibited from common use, thus giving attraction and 
dignity to the tabernacle and its service. 

Ch. 31 :1-11. — The Lord now sets apart a head to direct the work "of 
building a tabernacle. "The selecting being done by God Himself, would 
prevent jealousy on the part of any who might think their merits over- 
looked. Bezaleel was Hur's grandson. There is tradition that Hur was 
the husband of Miriam." 

12-17. — It is thought that the reason for this fresh inculcation of the 
fourth commandment at this period was that the ardor and eagerness of 
the people in building the tabernacle would expose them to the temptation 
of encroaching on the sanctity of rest day, seeing it was accounted a 
sacred work. It is more likely, however, that the injunction was repeated 
because of the liability of the people to noo-lect the injunction in their 
daily toil. Such has been the history of the human family through all 
ages. 



EXODUS. 89 

18.— Now that the law is complete, and Moses ready to return to the 
people, God gives the basis of that law (the Ten Commandments) to 
Moses in a written form to be delivered to the keeping of this new nation, 
and to be to them a perpetual reminder of their duty. 

Ch. 32:1-6.— Meanwhile great things were transpiring in the valley. 
The impatient people gathered against Aaron, and even with the cloud 
before their eyes act entirely forgetful of what they had just witnessed. 
The word rendered gods is the same Hebrew word as that rendered God 
in Gen. 1:1. It is unfair, perhaps, to charge them with renouncing the 
worship of the true God for that of idols. Xow that the glory of God, of 
which tbey had hitherto enjoyed the sight, was veiled, they wanted a 
material object as a symbol of the Divine presence. It is suggested that 
it was the mixed rabble, or foreign slaves, who wore the earrings, and 
who were the ringleaders in the insurrection, and that Aaron calculated 
to gain time by his command, and probably thought their love of finery 
would prove stronger than their religious feelings. The language in 
verse 4 is transposed. It should be rendered, "He framed with a graving 
tool the image to be made, and having poured the liquid gold into the 
mold he made it a golden calf." (J. F. B.) Verses 5 and 6 go to show 
that the people had broken not the first, but the second commandment. 

7-10.— Some suppose that the threat of the Lord on this occasion was 
to call out the faith of Moses and excite the alarm of the people. The 
more reasonable conception is that God intended to destroy that unstable 
people and put in their place the descendants of Moses. 

11-14.— The intercession of Moses develops first his anxiety lest he be 
considered the author of the people's destruction by suggesting and 
leading the Exodus. Second, his real solicitude for the welfare of the 
people. Third, his meekness in choosing their preferment before his own. 

15-19.— It seems deplorable that the stone tablets containing the Ten 
Commandments should have been broken. Possibly the passionate act 
of Moses in doing so was not justifiable. Joshua, it will be remembered, 
had gone part way up the mount with Moses, and was waiting for him in 
the hollow of the mountain's brow. 

20.— "Malleable metal, ground into dust, will float in a running stream 
for days. The contempt shown for that worthless image would be kept in - 
remembrance by the condition of the drinking water for some days." 
(Napier.) 

21-24.— Whether or not the excuse of Aaron was entirely satisfactory 
does not appear. 

25-28.— It is likely that only the obstinate and defiant were slain. 



90 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Probably these were largely the mixed rabble which followed with Israel 
from Egypt. 

29. — A better rendering for the second clause of verse 29 is, "Because 
every man has been against his son, and against his brother." 

30-32. — The appeal of Moses for the forgivenness of the people is a 
touching one. One commentator says that verse 32 refers to the custom 
of registering the names of all children born, and blotting out the names 
of those who die. 

33-35. — Whether the plague here referred to happened at this time or 
whether the idea of the sacred writer is that this lapse aggravated later 
apostasies, is not clear. 

Ch. 33 :l-3. — It is supposed that the messages of God in verses 1-3 had 
been given to Moses before his prayer for their foregiveness. After his 
intercession for them he now delivers them the message. 

4-6. — Verse 5 is also an order which had previously been given to Moses. 
God gives them opportunity to show by their deeds whether or not they 
had truly repented. 

7, 8. — The tabernacle mentioned must have been one set up as the 
headquarters of Moses, their leader, where the people came together 
possibly for worship, and also to have their grievances adjusted. "Its 
withdrawal in abhorrence from a polluted camp would be a first step in 
the total abandonment with which God had threatened them." 

9-11. — The close companion and attendant of Moses, Joshua, went 
with Moses into the tabernacle. When the people, whose hearts had sunk 
when they saw the tent of their leader go out of their midst, saw the 
cloudy pillar descend on the tent, they took heart again, and humbly 
worshiped, every man at his tent door. 

12-18. — The request here mentioned of Moses to God is simple, earnest 
and beautiful. How earnest he was is shown by the way God answered 
his request. 

19-23. — This appearance of God's glory to Moses could not be described 
in words which could be understood by finite beings. The words face, 
back parts, hand, in this conection, are of course figurative. 

Ch. 34 :l-3. — Moses was now ordered to prepare two stone tablets like 
what he had destroyed. Moses alone was to ascend the mount this time. 

4-9. — This manifestation of God to Moses is simply announced, not 
described. God announces here his policy of forgiveness toward the 
repentant, and his visitation of just punishment on all offenders. 

10. — The promise of forgiveness of those repentant is verified here 
and now by restoring this repentant nation to its former covenant rights. 



EXODUS. 91 

11-17. — But most solemn warning is given concerning repetition of 
their offense, especial caution being given to drive out the sinful idolaters 
of the land, and avoid mixing with them and incurring liability of 
partaking of their idolatry. 

18. — The order about a feast was renewed, that they might remember 
their deliverance from Egypt. 

19, 20. — The law of dedicating the first born to the Lord was to be 
rigidly observed that the people might remember to whom their increase 
of persons and substance was due. 

21. — Again they were warned to remember the Sabbath. 

22-24. — The feasts were particularly mentioned, and also the gathering 
of all the men before the Lord thrice each year. 

25, 26. — The direction about the sacrifices and the first fruits were 
again called to mind. 

27, 28. — Moses was now commanded to write these laws that they 
might more easily be taught to the people correctly and surely, leaving no 
excuse in the future on the ground of ignorance. 

29-35. — When Moses descended w r ith the two tables his face was so 
radiant with the reflection of that sight of God's glory he had seen that 
he had to veil it while he talked with the people. He had been gone again 
forty days. 

Ch. 35:1-19. — In the address of Moses to the people they were first 
reminded of the necessity of keeping the Sabbath as a holy day. Since 
that observance lay at the basis of their national prosperity, the most 
severe penalty was set for its violation. Moses now specifies what gifts 
are needed for the building of the new tabernacle. 

20-29. — The willingness with which the people brought gifts for the 
tabernacle is very refreshing in contrast with the scene of the worship 
about the golden calf. 

30-35. — The two artificers are now named by Moses. Doubtless they 
were simply overseers, directing and instructing the workmen who were 
under their charge. 

Ch. 3G :l-4. — The heads, hearts and hands of the people were fully 
occupied in preparing, and their spirits enlarged in giving what pertained 
to the building of their house of God — a noble school in which to spend 
their sojourn in the wilderness. 

5-7. — So successful was the infusion of this spirit that the contagion 
became general, the preparation of material continued, and morning by 
morning was brought in, until the artificers said to Moses, We have more 
than enough. 



92 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

8-13. — The cherubim curtains formed the inner covering of the 
sanctuary. They were linen fabric, most costly and beautiful. 

14-18. — The goat hair curtains were placed over the cherubim curtains 
for protection and strength. 

19. — For the same reason the red leather covering, and last of all the 
badger skin covering, were placed over these. 

20-30. — The boards would enclose the two sides and rear of the holy of 
holies, thus preventing anyone entering otherwise than by the one way 
ordained, an effectual protection against trespassers. 

31-34. — The bars, as already noticed, gave substantial framework to 
the whole structure. 

35, 36. — The veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies, 
called the tabernacle curtain, was of the same material and design as the 
cherubim curtains forming the inner roof. 

37, 38. — The tabernacle door was also of the same material. 

Ch. 37 :l-5. — The ark, overlaid as it was by pure gold, would defy time 
and decay. It was to be a depositing place for the most important 
document which God committed to man, the Ten Commandments, the 
basis of all law, which defines and demonstrates man a transgressor, and 
so demanding a Redeemer. 

6-9. — The mercy seat and the two cherubim upon it were made of pure 
gold. This would serve as a lid or cover for the ark. 

10-16. — The table for shewbread was overlaid with pure gold. 

17-24. — The candlestick (lamp stand) was pure gold, and also its 
snuffers and snuff dish. 

25-28. — The altar of incense, like the ark and table, was made of wood 
ahd overlaid with gold. 

29. — The anointing oil was compounded according to orders ; also the 
incense for perfume about the sanctuary. 

Ch. 38:1-7. — The altar of burnt offerings was to stand in the open 
space in front of the tabernacle. On it every day a sacrifice was offered, 
morning and evening. This altar was made of wood and overlaid with 
brass. 

8. — The laver was a huge washing basin which stood between the altar 
and the entrance of the tabernacle. The mirrors of that day were made 
of polished brass. 

9-20. — The wall which formed the court surrounding the tabernacle 
was made of linen similar in texture and color to the inner roof of the 
tabernacle. This court was one hundred and fifty by seventy-five feet, 
its wall about seven and one-half feet high, and the only opening at the 



EXODUS. 93 

east end. It was supported by brass pillars about seven and one-half feet 
apart. 

21-31. — The cost was: Of gold, twenty-nine talents, seven hundred 
and thirty shekels; silver, one hundred talents, one thousand seven 
hundred and seventy-five shekels. 

Ch. 39 :l-7. — The ephod consisted of a front piece and a back piece 
connected by clasps over the shoulders and by a costly girdle about the 
waist. 

8-21. — The breast plate was inseparably attached to the ephod. 

22-26. — The ephod robe was worn immediately under the ephod, being 
longer than it and having bells on the skirt of the robe to give sound as 
the high priest went in and out of the holy place. 

27-29. — The mitre was worn over the forehead. 

30, 31. — The sign upon the mitre plate was thus put in the most 
conspicuous place. « 

32-43. — The work is now collected preparatory to setting up the 
tabernacle. 

Ch. 40 :1-15. — Directions are now given concerning the work of putting 
in order of all these things. 

16-33.— Moses followed faithfully all the directions in rearing the 
tabernacle, as he had done in preparing its parts. 

34-38. — When all was in order the pillar which guided the Israelites 
in their wanderings covered the tabernacle. By day it was a cloud, by 
night a pillar of fire. When God desired them to go forward He lifted 
the cloud from the tabernacle. 



LEVITICUS. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 
1-17 Law of the burnt offerings. 
1-9 From the herd. 
10-13 From the flock. 
14-17 From the fowls. 

Chapter 2. 
1-16 Law of food offerings. 
1-3 Eaw. 
4-11 Cooked. 
12-16 First fruits. 

Chapter 3. 
1-17 Law of peace offerings. 
1-5 From the herd. 
6-17 From the flock. 
6-11 A lamb. 
12-17 A goat. 

Chapter 4. 
1-35 Law of error of ignorance. 
1-12 For the priest. 
13-21 For the congregation. 
22-26 For a ruler. 
27-35 For any of the people. 

Chapter 5. 
1-19 Specifications of trespasses. Their Expiation. 
1 Witness to adjuration. 
2, 3 Unclean contact. 

4 Rash oath, 
5-13 The penalty. Its alternatives. 
14-16 Sacrilege. Its penalty. 
17-19 Transgression. Its penalty. 



LEVITICUS. 95 



Chapter 6. 

1-7 Sin against a neighbor. Penalty. 
8-13 Regulations of the altar of burnt offerings. 
14-18 Regulations of the food offering. 
19-23 The high priest's offering. 
24-30 Regulation of the sin offering. 

Chapter 7. 

1-10 Portion of the priests in the offerings. 
11-38 Regulations of the peace offering. 

11-15 Thanksgiving. 

16-21 A vow, or voluntary. 

22-27 Rule about fat and blood. 

28-38 Portion of the priest. 

Chapter 8. 

1-36 Consecration ceremony of Aaron and his sons. 
Chapter 9. 

1-24 The first official service of Aaron and his sons. 

Chapter 10. 

1-7 Death of Nadab and Abihu. 
8-11 Rule against wine drinking by the priests. 
12-15 Substance of the priests assigned. 
16-20 Aaron's excuse for a trespass. 

Chapter 11. 
1-47 List of clean and unclean creatures. 
1-8 On land. 
9-12 In water. 
13-23 Flying things. 
24-28 Purification from unclean contact. 
29-38 Unclean creepers. Their contact. 
39, 40 Contact with deceased clean beasts. 
41-47 Recapitulation. 

Chapter 12, 

1-8 Purification after childbirth. 
1-4 For male child. 

5 For female child. 
6-8 The offering. 



96 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 13. 
1-59 Signs for discerning leprosy. 
1-44 In human beings. 
45, 46 Regulation of the leper. 
47-59 Garment leprosy. 
Chapter 14. 
1-57 Law for the cleansing of the leprosy. 
1-32 In human beings. 
33-57 In houses. 

Chapter 15. 

1-18 Uncleanness of men. 
19-33 Uncleanness of women. 

Chapter 16. 

1-28 The service in the holy of holies. 
29-34 The time appointed for it. 

Chapter 17. 

1-9 The law of beasts slain in Israel. 
10-16 The law concerning their blood. 

Chapter 18. 

1-23 Unlawful intimacies. 
24-30 Their results. 

Chapter 19. 

1-27-34 Collation of laws. 
1, 2 Holiness. 

3 Parental reverence. 

4 Idolatry. 

5-8 Peace offerings. 
9, 10 Harvest gathering. 

11 Deception. 

12 False swearing. 

13 Fraud. 

14 Irreverence. 

15 Just judgment. 

16 Tattling. 

17 Hatred. 

18 Enmity. 

19 Adulteration. 
20-22 Carnality. 



LEVITICUS 97 

23-25 Fruits of Canaan. 
26-28 Personal habits. 

29 Chastity. 

30 The Sabbath. 

31 Witchcraft. 

32 Eeverence to aged. 
33,34 Strangers. 

35-37 Just dealing. 

Chapter 20. 

1-5 Service to Molech. 

6 Penalty of witchcraft. 
7, 8 Sanctification. 
9 Parent cursing. 
10-21 Specifications of carnality. Penalty. 
10-12 Adultery. 

13 Sodomy. 

14 Kin debauchery. 
15, 16 Bestiality. 
17-21 Uncleanness. 

22-26 Obedience. Its reward. 
27 Treatment of wizards. 

Chapter 21. 

1-22-16 Regulations concerning priests. 
1-6 Their mourning. 
7, 8 Whom they must not marry. 
9, 10 Conduct relating to daughters. 
11, 12 Personal defilement. 
13-15 Their marriage. 
16-24 Debarment from priestly service. 

Chapter 22. 

1-9 Law of priestly purity in their functions. 

10-13 Law as to who shall eat of the priest's food. 

14-16 Penalty for eating unknowingly the priest's food. 
17-25 Perfection of the animal offerings. 
26-28 Age of the animal offerings. 
29, 30 Eating of the thank offering. 
31-33 Conclusion. 



98 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 23. 

1-44 The festival seasons. 
1-3 The Sabbath. 
4-8 The Passover. 
9-14 First fruits. 
15-21 Pentecost. 

22 Gleaning of the harvests. 
23-25 Trumpets. 
26-32 Day of atonement. 
33-44 Feast of tabernacles. 



Chapter 24. 

1-4 Oil for the tabernacle lamps. 
5-9 The shewbread. 
10-23 A test case of blasphemy. 
10-12 Its statement. 
13-16 Its penalty. 
17-22 Other penalties. 
23 Its execution. 



Chapter 25. 

1-7 The Sabbatic year. 
8-17 Year of jubilee. 
18-22 The blessings for obedience. 
23-34 Property redemption. 
35-38 Treatment of the poor. 
39-55 The law of servants. 

39-43 Hebrew servants. 
44-46 Foreign servants. 
47-55 Hebrew servants to foreigners. 

Chapter 26. 

1 Idolatry. 

2 Eeligious reverence. 
3-13 Blessings for obedience. 

14-39 Curses for neglect. 
40-46 Promise to the penitent- 



LEVITICUS, 

Chapter 27. 

1-34 The law of vows and redemptions. 
1-8 The estimate of a person. 
9-13 The estimate of a beast. 
14, 15 The estimate of a house. 
16-25 The estimate of a field. 
26-29 Firstlings of the flock. 
30-34 Tithing. 



LESSOR NOTES. 

These laws are, doubtless, announced to Moses from the holy of holies. 
Probably Moses remains in the holy place and hears the announcements 
from God through the veil. 

Ch. 1 :l-9. — The offerings here mentioned were free will offerings, in 
addition to the daily offering of two lambs, for the entire nation. (One 
in the morning, the other in the afternoon.) It was to be of tame 
animals, useful for food. This burnt offering was to be wholly consumed 
on the altar. The placing of the hands was a confession of sin, and a 
substitution of the animal instead of the worshiper. The worshiper 
killed the bullock. The priests sprinkled the blood (life). "The washing 
was to indicate the inward purity and holy walk of the worshiper." 
(J. F. B.) The burnt offering expressed self-dedication. 

10-13. — Those who could not afford the expense of a bullock might 
offer a less expensive offering, observing the same ceremonies. 

14-17. — The offering appointed for the poor was from the fowls. The 
time of year at which pigeons were not fit for food was the time when the 
excellent turtle dove appeared. The offering of these in the right spirit 
by the poor were as acceptable to God as a free will offering, as the 
bullock of the rich. 

Ch. 2:1-3. — The word "meat" stands for food (here wheat flour). 
These food, offerings, which might be (1) raw, or (2) cooked, were a 
thankful acknowledgment to God for the bounty of providence. The oil 
used was similar to our use of butter. The priests fed on these articles 
after a part was burned (as given to God). 

4-16. — Leaven signified corruption. But some suppose that the chief 
reason for prohibiting leaven and honey was that these were used in 
heathen sacrifices. Salt indicated freedom from corruption, since salt 
preserves from corruption, freshens and sweetens. The suggestion about 
the preserving qualities of God's covenant is very pertinent, and shows 
the value of salt as a type, in addition to its positive qualities. All these 
LoTC. 



100 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

food offerings, whether of first fruits or daily offerings, either raw or 
cooked, were accounted as thank offerings. 

Ch, 3 :l-5. — The peace offering was also a thank offering, since the word 
peace in Scripture denotes prosperity and general happiness. This 
offering might be either male or female. The fat only was burnt, and the 
rest returned to the offerer to be eaten by himself and friends. In this 
respect the two classes of thank offerings [meat (food) and peace] 
differed. In the first the priests ate the part not burned ; in the second, 
the offerer ate it. The offering was to be of -the best of the herd. 

6-17. — And here again, if the offerer could not afford to give from the 
herd, he might substitute from the flock (1) a lamb, or (2) a goat. The 
reference to the lamb's tail in verse 9 is explained thus: "There is in 
Eastern countries a species of sheep the tails of which are not less than 
four feet and a half in length. These tails are of a substance between 
fat and marrow. A sheep of this kind weighs sixty or seventy English 
pound weight, of which the tail usually weighs fifteen pounds and 
upwards. This species is by far the most numerous in Arabia, Syria 
and Palestine, and, forming probably a large portion in the flocks of 
the Israelites, seems to have been the kind that usually bled on the Jewish 
altars. The extraordinary size and deliciousness of their tails give 
additional importance to this law. To command by an express law the 
tail of a British sheep to be offered in sacrifice to God might well surprise 
us; but the wonder ceases when we are told of those broad-tailed Eastern 
sheep and of the extreme delicacy of that part so particularly specified in 
the statute." (J. F. B.) The prohibition against eating fat and blood 
(aside from the fact that the blood was the life of the beast and was to 
be poured out as an offering to God) was, I think, on health grounds, as 
could be clearly shown. ' ■ 

Ch. 4:1-12. — In case the priest erred he was to lay his hands upon the 
young bullock and it was to be slain and the blood sprinkled seven times 
before the incense altar in the holy place, and tip the horns of the golden 
altar with blood. The fat was offered on the altar, and all the rest of the 
carcass carried and burned outside the camp. 

13-21. — If the congregation of people erred the same sacrifice was to 
be offered, with this difference, that the elders (representing the people) 
were to lay their hands on its head. 

22-26. — The error of a civil ruler, being less serious in its character, 
the offering was of inferior value, the blood was not carried within the 
sanctuary, and the flesh, instead of being burned without the camp, was 
eaten by the priests. 



LEVITICUS. 101 

27-35. — In case of the error of an individual, a female kid or a female 
lamb was to be offered, in the same manner as the offering for a ruler. 

Ch. 5 :1. — Jewish courts of justice required anyone who could give 
information about the guilt of a criminal to come and bear testimony. 
Neglecting or avoiding to do so was a trespass. 

2, 3. — Becoming polluted by unclean things and not observing the 
ceremonies of cleansing was a trespass. 

4. — A rash oath, binding one to do a wrong, or neglecting to perform 
a good vow, might on reflection bring one to a sense of his lack. 

5-13. — The offering in expiation was according to his worth — a lamb, 
or two doves (or two pigeons), or about three quarts of flour. 

14-16. — Sacrilege would be failure to fulfill one's part concerning holy 
things, or that which pertains to worship, e. g., failure to pay the full 
due of tithes, or unknowingly eating what pertained to the priests alone. 
He was to make restitution, and add twenty per cent, and then the priest 
was to make the offering of the ram brought. 

17-19. — Any trespass called for expiation. Strictly speaking, these 
could not be called sins (not being wilful transgressions of known 
laws), but it was necessary to so designate these things as to impress the 
people with a sense of responsibility to God, and lay on them a fear of 
any secret wrong. And so we have to follow in civil jurisprudence this 
maxim, "Ignorance of the lav/ excuses no one." These trespasses were 
fair examples of the errors of ignorance spoken of in the previous 
chapter; and the only object in demanding an expiation is that the 
human family might be guarded against carelessness in that direction. 

Ch. 6 :l-7. — Here is sin, properly so called — done knowingly and 
wilfully. It is falsity. In any of the things herein specified he must 
return all which his falsity cost the other, and add to it twenty per cent 
as a penalty. Then he has only discharged his plain duty to his fellow 
man. Xow he must own and make offering for his guilt toward God. 
All sin is an offense against both God and man. The requirement of such 
a law kept one roused to a sense of responsibility toward God and man. 

8-13. — The fire on the altar was to be kept burning day and night, 
slowly consuming the offerings which were put upon it, one each morning 
and one each afternoon. Some suppose that the sacrifice was so arranged 
as to feed the fire all night. The first fire on this altar was to come from 
God (Chapter 9), and was not to be allowed to go out. So the ashes 
must be carefully removed. The linen to be worn about the altar was a 
wise precaution against fire. 

14-18. — These food offerings, when presented by a worshiper, had a 



102 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

handful taken from them, salted and burned on the altar, and the rest 
was eaten by the priests. The frankincense would be valuable to cover 
the unpleasant odor of burning food. 

19-23. — This is supposed to be the daily food offering of the high 
priest, one-half in the morning, the other half in the evening. It was all 
burned. Though the priest stood between the people and God, the 
same faith and offerings were required from him as from the people. 
(Hebrews tells of the high priest for whom no offering was necessary.) 

24-30. — When a sin offering was made the fat and inwards were 
burned on the altar, but the rest of the offering was to be food for the 
officiating priests, eaten within the enclosure of the tabernacle. Vessels 
used were to be considered too sacred for ordinary uses, and so either 
to be deshoyed or thoroughly cleansed of all liquid remains of the holy 
offering. The porous earthen vessel (not burned and glazed as are ours) 
which could not be so cleansed, was to be broken. "Thus the minds of 
priest and people were impressed with the evil nature of sin and the care 
necessary to prevent its taints clinging to them." (J. F. B.) 

Ch. 7 :1-10. — The guilt offering was to be eaten by all the priests. The 
priest offering a man's burnt offering should have the skin for his own; 
the cooked offering was to be the priest's who offered it, and the raw flour 
offerings were to belong to all the priests equally. 

11-15. — In the thanksgiving offering, beside the usual accompaniment 
of other sacrifices, leavened bread was common in the feasts. The flesh 
was to be eaten on the day of its offering. 

16-21. — In the case of a vow (or voluntary) the offering might be 
eaten the first or second day, but no later. It was not to be understood 
that its dedication to God would keep it from decay. But for this 
regulation some offerers would aim to keep their offering as long as 
possible, and as a result it would, from decay, become unwholesome and 
loathesome ; and further, would tend to lessen the number of repetition 
of such sacrifices. Only the most wholesome flesh was to be so used, and 
then only by cleanly people in a cleanly manner. 

22-27. — The prohibition against fat and blood was a wise health 
regulation. The penalty of wilful disobedience in these matters was 
"being cut off from the privileges of worship among the Jewish people." 

28-38. — The offerer must brimr the offering to the priest with his own 
hands, showing it to be given voluntarily. The breast was waved before 
the Lord, indicating its devotion to him, and then given to the priests. 
The right thigh (or shoulder) was given to the officiating priest. 

Ch. 8 :l-36. — The whole assembly was now gathered to witness the 



LEVITICUS. 103 

consecration of Aaron and his sons, ordered so long before. They were 
washed, they were attired, they were anointed. The bullock was slain for 
a sin offering, the ram for a burnt offering (expressing self-dedication), 
the second ram for a peace offering, expressive of the general gratitude 
and joy of the people in entering God's service. For seven days Aaron 
and his sons 'were kept in the sacred enclosure faithfully performing 
sacred duties on probation, and admonished that the breach of any 
appointed observance would mean the forfeit of their lives. 

Ch. 9 :l-24. — It will, be observed that in this first official service of 
the priests there was commanded a sin offering and a burnt offering for 
the priests, and the same repeated for the people, thus putting the 
priesthood on a level with the people. The priests did not eat any 
part of their own sin offering, as they were at liberty to do in the case 
of the people's offering, but burned the whole without the camp. "They 
could not bear their own sins." (J. F. B.) Moses now conducted Aaron 
for the first time into the sacred tent. After this the sacred fire descends 
from God and consumes the sacrifice, kindling a blaze upon the altar, 
which is not to be allowed to go out. 

Ch. 10 :l-7. — The disobedience of these two sons of Aaron if allowed to 
go unpunished would have established a precedent of exceeding danger 
to the whole system of religion which God had established, even if it did 
not indeed breed contempt for it among the people. But this first 
instance of contempt met a fate similar to the first instance in the 
Christian dispensation. (Acts 5:1-11.) 

8-11. — The rule against wine drinking which follows is taught by some 
to imply that these priests were intoxicated. 

12-15. — Moses now officially assigns the sustenance to the priests 
according to divine directions. 

16-20. — "Aaron's excuse for this irregularity seems to be, either that 
he was too 'dejected over his calamity to celebrate a cheerful feast, or else 
that he supposed from the judgments inflicted that the whole service 
was vitiated, and so did not complete it. Moses sympathized with him, 
and having pointed out the error, said no more." (J. F. B.) 

Ch. 11 :l-8. — This distinction between clean and unclean creatures was 
observed, it seems, from the beginning of human history. It was not an 
arbitrary distinction, but grounded on the ideas of health and cleanliness. 
The "clean beast," i. e., one allowable for food, must both part the hoof 
and chew the cud. To have but one of these distinctions was insufficient. 
(tee if you can find a reason why.) 



104 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

9-12. — In the case of water creatures, fins and scales were to be the 
necessary passports into the catalogue of food creatures. 

13-23. — The unclean fivers mentioned are scavengers, just as the swine 
is a scavenger among land animals, and so unclean as a food animal. 
The locust, grasshopper, etc., properly prepared were accounted delicious 
food. 

24-28. — Contact with unclean creatures must be carefully guarded 
against that the chosen family might not fall into the errors of the 
surrounding heathen in according to these creatures the reverence due 
God (see Bom. 1:23). Compare our concepts, which are due to this 
Levitical law, with the Egyptian and other national ideas, which made 
the killing of a snake or crocodile a capital crime. 

29-38. — Even the vessels of common use must be kept from contact 
with the unclean creatures. The unburned (and unglazed) Eastern 
vessel, being a ready absorbent of pollution, must be broken. The ovens 
mentioned were earthen ovens, and so would be impossible of cleansing. 
A strong spring of water, however, would cleanse itself when the impurity 
was removed. 

39, 40. — Clean beasts, which had died of themselves, must be as care- 
fully guarded against, so as to avoid contamination by their decomposed 
bodies. 

41-47. — The high standard of purity and the reason given for it is a 
fair characterization of the nature of the religion whose embodiment is 
Christ. Man is higher than the brute creation. Sin must not be allowed 
to degrade him to its level. He must be discriminating, clean, civilized, 
Godlike. Xo other religion on earth produces the like. 

Ch. 12 :l-4. — The entire scope of these regulations for cleansing after 
childbirth is based on grounds of cleanliness and health. To be thoroughly 
sure that all possible impurities were removed before approaching God 
as a worshiper in the public; assembly, was to display the most exalted 
concept of God's purity, and utmost reverence in his approach. On the 
eighth day the male child was to be circumcised, the ceremony of the 
Jewish church corresponding to our baptism, a religious rite — instituted 
as well for reasons sanitary and physical. 

5. — Tt is suggested that the extra length of time required for purifica- 
tion in the case of a female child (double that of male) was an equivalent 
to that of the circumcision of the male. 

6-8. — The natural order would be, first the sin offering (a pigeon or 
turtle dove), and then the lamb burnt offering (self-dedicatory) ; or if 
the parent be not able to afford a lamb, a dove or a pigeon in its stead. 



LEVITICUS. 105 

The sin offering mentioned did not imply guilt in child bearing, but was 
a ceremonial putting away of that "sorrow in which thou shalt bring 
forth children" (Gen. 3:16). 

Ch. 13 :l-44. — "Leprosy was an incurable and spreading disease, whose 
origin has never been satisfactorily explained. It seems to have been 
regarded as a curse from God on account of sin. When in the system it 
could be transmitted physically from parent to child. What originates 
it and how it is propagated are points involved in profound darkness. It 
leisurely eats up its victim in one long, remorseless meal. I have 
suspected that this disease is, or is caused by, living and self -propagating 
animalculae." (Thompson.) So far as can be observed, physical unclean- 
ness, especially the use of unclean food and licentiousness, is the most 
prolific source of the disease. Probably the Lord must put upon diso- 
bedience to his laws the most terrible physical penalty, in view of the 
conditions of that age. 

45, 46. — He who had the plague of leprosy must dwell alone without 
the camp (or in company with other lepers), and by his dress and voice 
warn everyone away from him. 

47-59. — The fact that the disease attacked garments and seemed to 
spread there lends color to the idea that it is due to living animalculas. 
Garments were more valuable in that day, being harder to produce than 
now, so that the aim was to save them if possible. 

Ch. 14:1-32. — In case the plague of leprosy was healed, the ceremony 
of Chapter 14 was observed. The cedar wood mentioned was used as a 
handle to which to tie the living bird and use it with the scarlet and 
hyssop as a mop with which to sprinkle the healed man with the blood 
of the slain bird. The trespass offering (a lamb) was offered, and after 
thataburnt offering (self-dedicatory) and a food offering (thanksgiving), 
the last being respectively a he lamb and a she lamb, or if he be too poor 
to afford these, then two turtle doves or two young pigeons. After this 
the healed man was again admitted to camp and society. 

33-57. — If the house should be attacked with the disease in its walls, 
the whole was to be sharply watched and doctored, and if not cured, 
finally destroyed. The priest was to be the one to whom all those afflicted 
with malady should be brought. 

Ch. 15:1-33. — The law regarding the uncleanness of men and women 
is self-explanatory. Doubtless the uncleanness embraces all forms of 
physical disorders resulting from licentiousness. 

Ch. 16 :l-28. — On one day in a year the high priest was to go into the 
holy of holies. This occasion was called the Day of Atonement. On that 



103 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

day he put off the garments he usually ministered in, washed himself, 
and put on linen garments used exclusively for that service. A bullock 
was first offered (sin offering) for the priests. Of the two goats taken, 
one was offered (sin offering) for the people; the other (the other part 
of the sin offering) had the sins of the nation confessed over it, and was 
sent into the wilderness — a place of separation, thus signifying the 
separation of the people from their sins. The high priest went into the 
holy of holies first to burn incense on a censer of coals taken from the 
altar of burnt offerings. Then to sprinkle the blood of the bullock (for 
the priests) and a third time to sprinkle the blood of the goat (for the 
people). The blood of the sin offerings was probably sprinkled on the 
altar of incense in the holy place, and on the altar of burnt offerings. 
After this the high priest, having ceremonially cleansed himself, the 
people and the place and vessels of worship, put off his holy garments, 
washed himself, and put on again the garments of his daily ministry. 
Xow he offers a burnt offering for himself and one for the people. The 
one who took away the scapegoat was to wash himself and his clothes 
before he returned to camp. The word translated "scapegoat" is literally 
Azazel, a proper name, and is believed by many authorities to mean the 
devil. Sending the goat to Azazel, then, would signify parting with sin 
and sending it away to the source from which it came. 

29-34. — The tenth day of the seventh month was to be Atonement Day. 
The afflicting of the soul is supposed to mean fasting, and also embrace 
that penitence and humility which gives scope and purpose to the 
outward act. 

Ch. 17 :l-9. — The object of the regulation concerning slain beasts was 
to make peace offerings of all the beasts slain for food and so formally 
recognize that element of thanksgiving for their daily food. And the 
only possible way to. prevent routine duties, care, and neglect from 
crushing out that thought, was to compel it as a law, and by this forced 
observance set the nation to systematically cultivating the idea. 

10-16. — The penalty for eating blood was expulsion from the Jewish 
church. The reason for this prohibition was a health reason. Blood is 
the life. It embodies and communicates the animal characteristics of 
its victim, and is as well the most accessible channel for carrying disease. 
The rule against eating what had died of itself is explained by the fact 
that such meat would not have the blood properly extracted. It must 
therefore be accounted as unclean, and the people taught to abhor it. 

Ch. 18:1-23. — The laws of unlawful intimacies are self-explanatory. 
From the case of the parents of Moses it seems that marriage with an 



LEVITICUS. 107 

aunt was not forbidden in Egypt.., Just what is meant by verse 21 no one 
seems to know. Molech was a god of the Ammonites. Some believe that 
they made to the deity a brazen image, which was heated and children 
passed through its arms. Others believe that children were actually 
burned as sacrifices to this god. 

24-30. — God held up the Canaanites as examples of these abominations, 
and announced his purpose to destroy them utterly. Perhaps it is 
impossible at this distance to comprehend the depth of Canaanite 
depravity. For centuries all their religious inclinations had been taxed 
to defile the mind and heart. They were fit now only for destruction. 
In their case utter annihilation was the most merciful thing God could 
grant both for their own sake and for humanity's sake. God's warning 
to the Israelites not to follow their example then was very pertinent. 

Ch. 19 : 1-2 1-24. — The brief laws which begin in Chapter 19 have, many 
of them, been already given. The whole book of Leviticus, given to the 
whole nation, finds its keynote in the latter clause of verse 2. * * * 
Verses 9 and 10 express a pleasing touch of refined charity found nowhere 
in previous history. * * * Verse 15, "Judgment was not to be 
warped either out ,of pity to the poor, or to win favor with the rich" 
(Cook). It is probable that the linen and woolen mixture of verse 19 
was for sanitary reasons. Woolen, a great absorber of impurities, would 
not likely be kept duly clean if mingled with linen. * * * The 
fruits of Canaan were for three years to mature before being considered 
fit to offer to God. The people were not to partake until they were first 
sanctified by being offered to God. * * * The heathenish customs 
of marring the personal appearance by unsightly shavings or cutting the 
flesh was to be entirely avoided. * * * The regulations concerning 
the priests were of particularly high standard, since naturally the people 
would look to them as guides. The same principle operates in the case 
of the sinner and the Christian, and while as a matter of fact the layman 
should live as pure a life as his pastor ; and the sinner, able to detect flaws 
in Christian character, will be held accountable for the light he mani- 
festly has, yet it behooves all Christians, since they are kings and priests 
unto God their Father, to so bear themselves that people not only may, 
but must own them as proper examples and safe guides. 

Ch. 22:1-9. — Any son of Aaron who was ceremonially unclean was 
forbidden to partake of or even touch the sacrificial food. The law was 
wise in that it cultivated cleanliness, reverence for sacred things and 
abhorrence of all contamination. Their religious functions thus became 



108 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the most exalted and revered of all the characteristics of this chosen 
people. 

10-13. — The visitor or hired servant might eat of ordinary food, but 
only the immediate family could eat of the sacrificial food. The bought 
servant, however, was incorporated as a member of the household. 

14-16. — The mild penalty for eating unknowingly was a wise pre- 
caution against carelessness in that regard. 

17-25. — The offerings, while they were to be made by the free will of 
the people, were to be of the best of the flock. To have accepted anything 
less would have set the people to giving to the Lord what was too mean 
for their own use, and thus cultivating a contempt for the priesthood, 
for religion and for God. 

26-28. — "No victim was to be offered in sacrifice until it was a week 
old. The meaning of this law appears to be that the animal should 
realize a distinct existence in becoming less dependent on its mother and 
able to provide for its own wants." (Cook.) 

29, 30. — The reason for the immediate eating of the thank offering has 
been previously explained. 

31-33. — The conclusion assigns a reason for the whole of the preceding 
requirements. 

Ch. 23.— The Hebrew word rendered "feasts" means literally, "ap- 
pointed times." Here is a classification of them. 

1-3. — The Sabbath was of course a weekly observance. Not even a fire 
was allowed to be kindled. Preparation of food on that day was 
prohibited. 

4-8. — The Passover was a yearly remembrance of the slaying of the 
first born of Egypt, which gave the Israelites their freedom. This event 
was to be the beginning of a week's feast of unleavened bread, the first 
and last days (15th and 21st) being kept as Sabbaths. The passover 
lamb was killed on the evening of the 14th day, so that the ceremonies of 
the following seven days were really the celebration of that event. Ordi- 
nary work was prohibited on the first and seventh of these days, but the 
preparation of food was allowed. On each of these seven days there was 
offered beside the daily burnt offering, two bullocks, one ram, seven lambs 
and one goat. (Num. 28:16-25.) 

9-14. — The first grain ripe was barley. Likely a sheaf of this was 
waved before the Lord. Nearly all the Jewish writers claim that the 
offering was a measure of freshly ground barley meal. The Hebrew word, 
"omer," may mean either a sheaf or a measure (about four-fifths of a 
gallon). Authorities differ as to whether verse 11 means the 16th (tin 



LEVITICUS. 109 

day after the first day of the great gathering), or the 22d (the day after 
the last day) or the day following the weekly Sabbath when barley 
happened to be ripe, according as the season was earlier or later. It 
matters little. This was the beginning of grain harvest, and verse 14 
says that the three forms in which the new grain was commonly eaten 
should be deferred until an offering had first been made to God. 

15-21. — Fifty days later was the assembly which in the Xew Testament 
is called Pentecost. It is called in the Old Testament, "Feast of Harvest/' 
(Ex. 23 :16) "Feast of Weeks;" "Feast of first fruits of wheat harvest." 
Deut. 16 :10. This marked the end of grain harvest. This day was also 
to be kept as a Sabbath, ordinary work being prohibited. 

22. — In this connection the poor were to be remembered by leaving 
something for them to glean. 

23-25. — On the first day of the seventh month came the time appointed 
for the blowing of trumpets, or rather, as the Hebrew puts it, "shoutings.'* 
This is supposed to be the first day of the civil year, and so was observed 
as new year's day. 

26-32. — The tenth day of this seventh month was the great day of 
atonement, when the high priest went into the holy of holies. This day 
was kept as an ordinary Sabbath, no manner of work being allowed. The 
ceremony of this day has been detailed in Chapter 16. 

33-44.— On the 15th day of the seventh month the "Feast of Taber- 
nacles" began. The people during this time camped in booths made of 
branches of trees. The offerings of this period will be described in Num. 
29:12-38. The 15th day and the 22d were kept as Sabbaths. The 
Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles were the "three times in the year 
when all the males were to assemble before God." (Ex. 23:17. Ex. 
34:23. Deut. 16:16.) 

Ch. 24:5-9. — The Hebrew rendered shewbread means "bread of the 
presence," that is, bread put upon the table in the tabernacle of the Lord, 
where his presence was manifested. In verse 7 the Septuagint adds "and 
salt" after "frankincense." See Ch. 2 :13. There were two piles of cakes, 
six in a pile, one cake to represent each tribe. 

10-23. — Here we have the first instance of punishment of a transgressor 
of these laws. The hearers, by placing their hands on his head, would 
give distinct personal testimony of his guilt. That very severe penalty 
was yet more merciful than it would have been to let him and his example 
remain to poison the innocent. 

Ch. 25 :l-7. — One year out of seven the land was to have complete rest 
No sowing or reaping was to be done. 



110' BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

8-17. — After seven such cycles of years came the year of jubilee. In 
this year the land to which they should go, and which was to be divided 
by lot, should be restored, each field or lot which might be lost by debts 
or otherwise to the original family to whom it was given. The trumpets 
announcing the year of jubilee were blown on the day of atonement. All 
captives were released, debts forgiven, and forfeited estates redeemed. 

18-22. — The blessings promised in verses 18-22 are probably named 
to allay the fears which might arise in the minds of some of the unbeliev- 
ing, seeing that two years of land rest came together (the seventh 
sabbatic year and the year of jubilee) . 

23-34. — Here is a most remarkable characteristic of Jewish law, 
arguing its divine origin. Nowhere else has law originated so mindful 
of each individual interest and so incompatible with monopolists. Prop- 
erty sold under pressure might be redeemed, and in any event it was to be 
restored in the year of jubilee. 

35-38. — The unfortunate poor was to be treated as a brother. These 
verses 35-38 contain the real spirit of the Gospel of Christ. It is the true 
worship of the true God — the obedience which is better than sacrifice. 

39-43. — The law concerning Hebrew servants carries out the same 
idea — gentle and Godlike dealing with the unfortunate. It would be a 
certainty that some, more slothful or incompetent than others, would be 
fit only for servants to the more thrifty class, but casts and classes must 
not be made in Israel by dooming their offspring to servitude because of 
their parents. 

44-46. — As to the foreign servants, they were not to be mixed with and 
made equal to the Israelites. That course would have quickly destroyed 
the identity of this chosen people. 

47-55. — Similarly, Hebrews were not to be allowed to become perma- 
nent slaves of foreigners. The chosen family must be kept intact, each 
on equality with every other, and all driving toward readiness for the 
coming of him who should engraft the entire human family again into 
the kingdom of God. 

Ch. 26 :1. — Here again the people are reminded whom they are to serve. 

2. — And how they are to reverence him and his service. 

3-13. — Most precious promises are given them as a nation and people, 
conditioned on keeping these laws. 

14_39. — Most terrible calamities upon them nationally and individually 
are pronounced if they turn their backs on God. And all these would 
have been but a just punishment for the sinful lives which their neglect 



NUMBERS. Ill 

of and hostility to God would imply. Canaan at this very time was 
cursed with just such inhabitants. 

40-46. — But upon the storm cloud of threatenings shined the bow of 
promise for the penitent. The future history of Israel will show how 
wonderfully these threatenings and promises were fulfilled. 

Ch. 27:1-25. — The estimates of money value in Chapter 27 were a 
necessity in order that what was devoted to God might have a stated value 
which could be put into the treasury of the Lord. The priest properly 
did the estimating. 

26-29. — Since the law demanded that all the first born belong to the 
Lord, of course it was not in order for anyone to pretend that he make 
a free will offering of such. It was already the Lord's. 

30-34. — The tithing must be carefully kept up, since it alone supported 
the religious machinery of the whole Jewish system. 



NUMBERS. 





ANALYSIS. 


Chapter 1. 




1-16 Order to number the Israelites. 


17-46 Numbering of the people. 


17-21 Reuben, 


46,500 


22,23 Simeon, 


59,300 


24,25 Gad, 


45,650 


26, 27 Judah, 


74,600 


28,29 Issachar, 


54,400 


30,31 Zebulun, 


57,400 


32,33 Ephraim, 


40,500 


34,35 Manasseh, 


32,200 


36, 37 Benjamin, 


35,400 


38,39 Dan, 


62,700 


40,41 Asher, 


41,500 


42,43 Naphtali, 


53,400 



44-46 Total, 603,550 
47-54 Dutv of the Levites. 



112 



BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 



Chapter 2. 
1-34 Position of the tribes in camp. 



Dan 
(Capt. Ahiezer) 



Asher 
(Capt. Pagiel) 



Naphtali 
(Capt. Ahira) 



Benjamin 

(Capt. 

Abidan) 


3d. Rank, 108,100 

Gershonites 

(Chief Eliasaph) 

Tents and Court Walls. 


4th. Rank, 157,600 

Merarites 

(Chief Zuriel) 

Tent and Court Frames. 

N. 


1st. Rank, 186,400 
Moses 
Aaron. 


Judah 
(Capt. 
Nahshon) 


Manasseh 

(Capt. 

Gamaliel) 




Tabernacle 




Issachar 

(Capt. 

Nethaneel 


Ephraim 

(Capt. 

Elishama) 


T, 


s. 

Kohathites 
(Chief Elizaphan) 
ibernacle Furnitui 

2d. Rank, 151,450 


*e. 


Zebulun 

(Capt. 

Eliab) 



Gad 
(Capt. Eliasaph) 



Simeon Reuben 

(Capt. Shelumiel ) ( Capt. Elizur ) 



Chapter 3. 

1-4 The sons of Aaron. 
5-13 Dedication of the Levites to God. 
14-39 Numbering of "the Levites— 22,000. 
14-20 Their families. 
21-26 Gershonites— 7,500. 
27-32 Kohathites— 8,600. 
33-37 Merarites— 6,200. 

38 Moses, Aaron and sons. 

39 Total of Levites. 

40-43 The first born in Israel— 22,273. 
44-51 Substitution of the Levites. 



NUMBERS. 113 



Chapter 4. 

1-20 Carriage of the Kohath priests. 
21-28 Carriage of the Gershon priests. 
29-33 Carriage of the Merari priests. 
34-37 Number of the Kohath priests, 2,750 
38-41 Number of the Gershon priests, 2,630 
42-45 Number of the Merari priests, 3,200 



46-49 Total, 8,580 

Chapter 5. 

1-4. Exclusion of the unclean from camp. 
5-10 Repayal of a trespass. 
11-31 The test of a wife's fidelity. 

Chapter 6. 
1-21 The law of the Nazarites. 
1-8 His abstinence. 
9-12 Cleansing from accidental defilement. 
13-21 Ceremony of completing the vow. 
22-27 A form of benediction. 

Chapter 7. 
1-88 Offerings of princes at the dedication. 
1-11 Transportation of the gifts. 
12-17 Gift of Nahshon (of Judah). 
18-23 Gift of Nethaneel (of Issachar). 
24-29 Gift of Eliab (of Zebulun). 
30-35 Gift of Elizur (of Reuben). 
36-41 Gift of Shelumiel (of Simeon). 
42-47 Gift of Eliasaph (of Gad). 
48-53 Gift of Elishama (of Ephraim). 
54-59 Gift of Gamaliel (of Manasseh). 
60-65 Gift of Abidan (of Benjamin). 
66-71 Gift of Ahiezer (of Dan). 
72-77 Gift of Pagiel (of Asher). 
78-83 Gift of Ahira (of Naphtali). 
84-88 Total. 
89 The Lord spfeaks from the mercy seat. 



114 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 8. 

1-4 Order about the lamps. 
5-22 Consecration of the Levites. 
23-26 The period of their service. 

Chapter 9. 

1-5 Charge concerning the Passover. Repeated. 
6-13 Special charge for those unclean or absent. 
14 Rule for the stranger. 
15-23 The pillar of cloud and fire. 

Chapter 10. 

1-10 The silver trumpets. 
11-13 Removal from Sinai to Paran. 
14-28 Order of the march. 
29-32 Moses' entreaty to Hobab. 
33-36 Moses prays God's presence. 

Chapter 11. 

1-3 God's judgment on the people for complaint. 
4-9 Cry of the people for their former food. 
10-15 The appeal of Moses to God. 
16-23 God's answer.. 

16, 17 Appointment of elders to assist Moses. 
18-20 God's promise of flesh food. 
21-23 Incredulity of Moses. 
24-30 Coming of the spirit of prophecy on the elders. 
31-34 Quails sent. The plague. 
35 Journey to Hazeroth. 

Chapter 12. 

1-3 Sedition of Miriam and Aaron against Moses. 
4-15 God rebukes them. 

4-9 Conference with them. 
10 Leprosy of Miriam. 
11-13 Her healing at the prayer of Moses. 
14-15 Her shutting out from camp. 
16 Removal from Hazeroth. 

Chapter 13. 

1-20 The twelve spies sent to search out Canaan. 
21-25 Their route and stay. 
26-33 Their report. 



NUMBERS. 115 

Chapter 14. 

1-5 Its effect on the people. 
6-10 Protest of Joshua and Caleb. 
11, 12 God's anger with the people. 
13-20 Entreaty of Moses for them. 
21-35 The people turned back to the wilderness. 
36-39 Death of the ten false spies. 
40-45 Attempt of the people to go into Canaan. 

Chapter 15. 

1-16 Law of the food and drink offering with animal sacrifices. 
17-21 First fruits of the dough. 
22-29 The error of ignorance. 

22-26 Offering for the congregation. 

27-29 Offering for the people. 
30, 31 The penalty for sin. 
32-36 A case of Sabbath breaking. The penalty. 
37-41 The blue fringe of the garments. 

Chapter 16. 
1-50 Kebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. 

1-3 Their accusation against Moses and Aaron. 
4-11 Reply of Moses to Korah. 
12-14 Dathan and Abiram called. Their Defiance. 
15-19 Order of Moses to Korah and his company. 
20-22 God's anger with the people. Plea of Moses. 
23-30 God's order concerning the rebels. 
31-35 Their destruction. 
36-40 The use of the rebels' censers. 
41-43 Murmur of the people. 
44-50 The plague. 

Chapter 17. 

1-9 The test of the budding rod. 
10-13 The preservation of Aaron's rod. 

Chapter 18. 

1-7 Duty of the priests and Levites. 
8-20 The sustenance of the priests. 
21-24 Sustenance of the Levites. 
25-32 Levite offering to the priests. 



J 36 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 



Chapter 19. 



1-10 The water of separation. 
11-22 Law of its use. 



Chapter 20. 

1 Death of Miriam. 
2-6 Murmur of the people for water. 
7, 8 God's direction to Moses. 
9-13 Blunder of Moses. Its penalty. 
14-21 Israel denied passage through Edom. 
22-29 Death of Aaron at Mt. Hor. 



Chapter 21. 

1-3 Destruction of the Canaanites. 

4-6 Murmur of Israel. The serpents. 

7-9 The brazen serpent. 
10-20 Eoute of Israel around Edom. 
21-32 War against the Amorites. 
33-35 War against Og, king of Bashan. 



Chapter 22. 

1-14 Message of the king of Moab to Balaam. Beply. 
15-21 Second message to Balaam. 
22-35 Balaam and the angel. 
36-24-9 Balaam blesses Israel. Thrice. 
10, 11 Anger of Balak. 
12-25 Answer and prophecies of Balaam. 



Chapter 25. 

1-15 Sin of Israel. Punishment. 
16-18 Order concerning the Midianites. 



NUMBERS. 117 



Chapter 26. 




1-51 Second numbering of the people, 


5-11 Reuben, 


43,730 


12-14 Simeon, 


22,200 


15-18 Gad, 


40,500 


19-22 Judah, 


76,500 


23-25 Issachar, 


64,300 


26,27 Zebulun, 


60,500 


28-34 Manasseh, 


52,700 


35-37 Ephraim, 


32,500 


38-41 Benjamin, 


45,600 


42,43 Dan, 


64,400 


44-47 Asher, 


53,400 


48-50 Naphtali, 


45,400 



51 Total, 601,730 

52-56 The law of allotment. 
57-62 Number of the Levites. 
63-65 The two men twice numbered. 

Chapter 27. 

1-5 The plea of Zelophehad's daughters. 
6-11 The law of inheritance. 

12-14 Moses ordered to go up the mount and see Canaan. 
15-23 Joshua appointed to succeed Moses. 

Chapter 28. 

1-29-40 The religious offerings of Israel. 
1-8 The daily offerings. 
9, 10 The Sabbath offering. 
11-15 The monthly offering. 
16 : 25 The Passover offering. 
26-31 First fruits offering. 
(29) 1-6 Feast of trumpets offering. 
7-11 Tenth day assembly offering. 
12-40 Convocation week offering. 
Chapter 30. 

1, 2 Legal force of a vow. 
3-5 The vow of a maid. 
6-8 The vow of a wife. 
9-16 The vow of a widow. 



118 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 31. 

1-12 War against the Midianites. 
13-18 Disposal of the captives. 
19-24 Purification of the warriors and the spoils. 
25-47 The rule for division of the spoils. 
48-54 The gift of the warriors. 

Chapter 32. 
1-42 The location of two and one-half tribes east of Jordan. 
1-5 Their request. 
6-15 Beproof of Moses. 
16-32 Their explanation. 

33 The assignment. 
34-42 Their conquest. 

Chapter 33. 

1-49 The forty-two journeys of Israel. 
50-56 Charge of God about the people of Canaan. 

Chapter 34. 

1-15 The boundaries of the Promise Land. 
16-29 Names of the committee of division. 

Chapter 35. 

1-8 The forty-eight cities for the Levites. 
9-15 The six cities of refuge. 
16-34 The laws of murder. 

Chapter 36. 

1-4 A legal difficulty in inheritance. 
5-13 Decision concerning it. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1-16. — The law having been given, the Israelites are now about 
ready to leave Sinai. One month before the tabernacle had been set up, 
and it is supposed the laws of the book of Leviticus were given in the 
thirty days of that first month of the second year after leaving Egypt. 
Now the nation must be made into divisions for perfect order and govern- 
ment on the march. The names of the captains of the tribes are given 
in the analytical table of Chapter 2. 

17-46. — This first numbering of the people is one of the two acts from 
which this book takes its name, the other one occurring at the close of the 
book. Only men above twenty years old were numbered (such as were 



NUMBERS. 119 

able to be warriors). The whole population of Israel was near 2,400,000. 
The tribe of Levi was omitted from the numbering, for none of them 
were to be warriors. They were set apart for priests, to do all the work 
which pertained to the sanctuary. They were to tent between the other 
tribes and the tabernacle. No stranger, nor even an Israelite of any other 
tribe, was allowed to come among the consecrated things under penalty 
of death. Thus they were to cultivate reverence for the worship of God, 
and all that pertained to it. 

Ch. 2 :l-34. — Each tribe would have its standard, and each division 
of the tribe its banner. Jewish writers say Judah's standard was a lion, 
Benjamin's a wolf, etc. (Gen. 49:3-27), and that each banner was 
distinguished by its color being the same as that of the precious stone of 
that tribe in the high priest's breastplate. Three tribes rallied under the 
standard of Judah. Three under that of Reuben. Three under Ephraim. 
Three under Dan. The position of these four ranks are shown in the 
diagram of Chapter 2. Judah was placed on the northeast, where he 
would naturally lead, the journeys being mostly in that direction. It is 
supposed that the Levites with the sacred tabernacle belongings marched 
between the second and third ranks. 

Ch. 3:1-4. — Since Nadab and Abihu had died, Eleazar and Ithamar 
were left of Aaron's sons. 

5-13. — God had told Moses (Ex. 33:2) that all the first born of man 
and beast in Israel should belong to God. Now the administration of 
sacred things which formerly was assigned to the first born of each 
family was transferred to the Levites, who should give all their time and 
take the responsibility of the performance of the rites of the sanctuary. 

14-39. — The Levites were now numbered, but on a different basis from 
the other tribes, these being numbered from one month old and upward. 
For the purpose of war they were not available until twenty years of age, 
but as one selected of the Lord, they were set apart as soon as they began 
to realize an independent existence. They were all grouped under the 
names of the three sons of Levi. Verses 22, 28, 34 added, equal 22,300. 
Verse 39 probably omits such as were the first born among the Levites, 
and who for that reason were already devoted to God. 

40-43. — Moses now numbers the first born of the Israelites. 

44-51. — In the exchange, if three hundred Levites were already devoted 
to God by virtue of their being first born, of course those would have no 
purchasing value to exempt others similarly devoted. So the odd numbers 
were redeemed by money which was given to the priests, while the cattle 
of the Levites were given to God instead of the first born of all the cattle 



120 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

of Israel. These were used to supply the Levites with dairy products and 
animal food. 

Ch. 4:1-20. — From thirty years to fifty years was the period of active 
service for a priest. When the camp moved, Aaron and his sons carefully 
covered all the furniture of the tabernacle, and after that the Kohathites 
were to carry them, but were not allowed to touch any of these articles 
otherwise than by the handles prepared for carrying them. They might 
touch the covers, but not the things covered. Eleazar had charge of this 
division of the Levites. The fire on the altar was probably carried in a 
closed vessel to keep a portion of it alive for rekindling. These carriers 
vere not to go in to see the sacred articles when they were covered. 

21-28. — Next in order would come the Gershonites, bearing the tent 
and the texture of which the court walls were made. 

29-33. — These were followed by the Merarites, who carried the heaviest 
parts, i. e., the framework, bars, boards, metal posts, pins, cords, etc. 
These numerous details would have to be carefully numbered lest some of 
them be lost. Ithamar, the other son of Aaron, had charge of these 
two divisions, Gershonites and Merarites. 

34-49. — Of those who were the proper age for priestly service by far 
the largest division were Merarites, who were assigned the heaviest work. 

Ch. 5:1-4. — Cleanliness demanded the removal from camp of those 
who, being defiled, might defile others. The world, it would seem, never 
grasped the idea of quarantine regulations for health purposes, only as 
it was enjoined by the commands of God. 

5-10. — "The difference between this and the case covered by Leviticus 
6:1-7 seems to be that the one was enacted against flagrant and deter- 
mined thieves, but this one against those whose necessities might have 
urged them into fraud and who were distressed by their sins. The law 
also supposed the injured party to be dead. The obvious tenor of the 
passage is that, the guilty person is conscience smitten." (J. F. B.) 

11-31. — "The ordeal concerning a wife's fidelity would tend to greatly 
discourage conjugal unfaithfulness, and would be also a sufficient protec- 
tion against the consequences of hasty and groundless suspicion on the 
part of the husband. In the offering which the husband brought oil and 
frankincense (denoting joy and acceptance) were omitted. The dust of 
the floor was an emblem of vileness and misery." (J. F. B.) 

Ch. 6:1-8. — "The Hebrew word for 'Nazarite' means to separate. It 
was used to designate a class of persons who, under the impulse of 
extraordinary piety and with a view to higher degrees of religious 
improvement, voluntarily renounced the occupations and pleasures of 



NUMBERS. 121 

the world to give themselves unreservedly to divine service. The vow 
might be taken by either sex, provided they had the disposal of themselves, 
and for a limited period, usually a month, possibly a lifetime." (Jamie- 
son.) Wine was forbidden; cutting the hair was forbidden, since that 
was a familiar sign of pollution; contact with dead bodies was forbidden, 
for the service of .God stood for life, the opposite of death. 

9-12. — In case of an accidental contact with death the subject was to 
shave his head as a sign of defilement, perform a ceremonial cleansing, 
and begin over again his days of separation. 

13-21. — When the time set apart to God was completed, the hair, whose 
length was a testimony of the observance of the vow, was cut off, and 
after the sin offering and burnt offering was presented, it was put into the 
fire over which was the peace offering. 

22-27. — The form of benediction given to Aaron and his sons for 
dismissing the congregations is suggestive of the threefold manifestation 
of God, the Father's care and favor, the Son's manifestation of the 
salvation plan, and the Holy Spirit's abiding presence and guidance. 

Ch. 7:1-83. — Jamieson supposes the ceremony described in this chapter 
was about a month after the completion of it, after the tabernacle and all 
that belonged to it had been anointed, the Levites separated and the 
people numbered and disposed in order about the sacred tent. The 
expression "day" is synonymous with "time," and covers the several days 
occupied in the transaction. In these offerings the leading men distin- 
guished themselves by setting a noble example. Six wagons and twelve 
oxen, hauling these gifts, were given to the Levites to haul the heavy 
parts of the tabernacle. Possibly others followed the example with like 
gifts until enough were obtained to haul all the heavier parts. The 
sacred furniture must be carried on the shoulders of the Levites. The 
offerings were presented on twelve consecutive days, and the order was 
the same as the position of the tribes shown in Chapter 2. Some suppose 
that the costliness of the offerings indicate that the entire tribe con- 
tributed in each case. 

84-88. — The total shows that of the silver and gold articles the value 
would be over three thousand dollars. Besides this there were two 
hundred and forty head of stock. 

80. — Moses hears the audible voice of God from the mercy seat in the 
holy of holies. We are not to think that Moses went into the holy of 
holies. 

Ch. 8:1-4. — It was Aaron's personal duty to light God's house, which 
was without windows, and so required constant light. 



122 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

5-22. — The Levites as a tribe were devoted to the service of God, but in 
addition to their hereditary descent they were to undergo a special 
ceremony. This ceremony was much simpler than that which was 
appointed for the priests. The Levites were sprinkled with water, 
offerings were made for them, and representatives of the tribes laid their 
hands upon them. 

23-2 G. — The active period of their service was to be between the ages 
of twenty-five and fifty years. "From twenty-five to thirty they were on 
probation under the direction of their senior brethren, and at thirty they 
were admitted to the full discharge of their official functions. After fifty 
they ceased from the laborious and exhausting work, performing easier 
and lighter duties, instructing the young or superintending important 
trusts." (Fausset.) 

Ch. 9 :l-5. — Here the command regarding the Passover given a month 
before is repeated to introduce notice of a particular case for which a 
special law was granted. 

6-13. — Attendance on a funeral entailed ceremonial defilement which 
excluded from camp and society for seven days. Jewish writers say that 
these were the men who carried out the dead bodies of Xadab and Abihu. 
Such as these were allowed to keep the Passover on the same day of the 
second month. But all who were at camp, and who were clean, were 
obliged to eat it on the fourteenth of the first month. 

14. — The circumcised Gentile w T as entitled to the same privileges as 
the native Israelite. But if not circumcised he could not eat the Passover. 
If circumcised he must eat it. 

15-23. — The cloud which rested on the tabernacle by day, a protection 
from the sun's heat, and by night growing livid like fire, was a visible 
sign of God's constant presence. When it was lifted from the tent high 
up so that all the camp might see it, that was the sigual for moving on. 

Ch. 10:1-10. — The two silver trumpets could be heard throughout the 
camp. "A simple uniform sound of the trumpets summoned a general 
assembly of the people. The blast of a single trumpet called the princes 
to consult on public affairs. Rotes of some other kind were made to 
sound an alarm for journeying or for w r ar. One alarm moved the eastern 
division, two moved the southern, and, the Septuagint adds, three moved 
the western and four the northern." (J. F. B.) Only the priests were 
allowed to blow these trumpets, that the commands given might be 
recognized as coming from God. The blowing of these trumpets on the 
eve of war would call to the people's remembrance God's promises, and 
stimulate their faith. And the same feelings of settled peace and 



NUMBERS. 123 

confidence with which they were to go to war at God's command should 
characterize them on days of national religious gatherings. 

11-13. — Now that the law had been given and all its attendant cere- 
monies arranged, and the people organized and set in order, they were 
ready to begin their march toward the land of promise. On the twentieth 
day of the second month, after that special class had finished the 
observance of their Passover, the cloud was lifted and the camp broke 
for marching. The wilderness of Paran extends from the neighborhood 
of Sinai to the southwest borders of Canaan. 

14-28. — The order of the tribes in the march has been previously-noticed. 
It is probable that Moses stationed himself on some eminence to see the 
ranks set forth in their order. After the first division, the Gershonites 
and Merarites went with the heavier and coarser materials of the 
tabernacle. Then came the second and third divisions, probably as flanks 
between which the Kohathites marched bearing the sacred furniture. 
The fourth division would then bring up the rear. The tabernacle would 
be set up by the time the Kohathites arrived with the furniture. 

29-32. — Hobab was the brother-in-law of Moses. The cloud showed the 
general route, but this man would be valuable in pointing out pasture, 
shade, water, etc., amid the shifting sands of the desert place, besides 
being a valuable ally as a prince of a powerful Arabic clan. 

33-36. — "The three days' journey would likely be eighteen or twenty 
miles." (Jamieson.) The real march to Canaan now begins. The 
family of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, had gone to Egypt seventy in 
number. In two hundred and fifteen years, despite the efforts of a 
jealous people to prevent their growth, they had come to be a nation of 
two and one-half millions. Had the Egyptians been more kindly toward 
them, there might have been more danger of their intermarrying with 
Egyptians and losing identity. Their ill treatment knit them together 
into a compact company, with one aim, and turned their desires away 
from Egypt to the land promised to their fathers. They went out of 
Egypt a crowd of slaves. They leave Sinai the best organized nation on 
earth, with perhaps the best army. The law which God gave them there 
has become the basis of all the civil jurisprudence of all civilized peoples. 
Every movement of Israel, individually and collectively, is systematized. 
Day by day they are schooled into correct habits of life, and right social 
conditions. They are taught the majesty of law, and their daily religious 
duties are bound like golden chains about their necks for grace and 
beauty, and especially for usefulness, that they may in no wise forget the 
God who is the giver of all, and whose special charge they have become. 



124 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

There is now a place for everything, and everything is to be kept in its 
place, and guided by the cloudy-fiery pillar, which stands to them as the 
conscious, approving presence of God, they make their first short march 
toward the land God had promised them. 

Ch. 11 :l-3. — Xow that the people have seen God's hand stretched out 
in their behalf, and know by experience God's care for them, it remains to 
be seen how well they will remember and show gratitude. They had been 
led out of slavery, made into an ideal nation, but now that God asks of 
them to be contented, possibly self-denying for a time, they selfishly and 
persistently complain. "The best rendering of the Hebrew is, 'The people 
were as those that complain of evil in the ears of the Lord/ They were 
murmuring against the privations of the march. The fire of the Lord 
was probably lightning. The fire did not reach far into the camp, but 
was quickly quenched at the prayer of Moses. Taberah names only the 
event, not the place." (Cook.) 

4-9. — Now the riffraff which followed from Egypt makes trouble. 
They started the Israelites to fretting about the dainties they used to 
have in Egypt, and for the second time to complaining for lack of 
sustenance. (Ex. 16 :3.) The description of the manna shows that their 
loathing of it was not due to its character, but to their own unreasonable 
spirit of discontent. 

10-15. — Moses feels keenly the responsibility of his position. Perhaps 
he was more impatient than he should have been, as we are all apt to be, 
but doubtless the burden at that time weighed as heavy upon him as if 
the Lord had put upon him the entire responsibility of allaying the 
clamor of the people, and who knows but that entire responsibility did 
rest upon him until by his active intercession he laid it upon God? 

16, 17. — The appointing of the elders would lay upon them a share 
of the responsibility, and thus relieve Moses. It would furthermore set 
more of the people themselves (the seventy and their following) to 
planning the good of their nation. The Hebrew of verse 17 means, 
"They shall have their portion of the same divine gift which thou hast." 

18-20. — God promises them now flesh food until they should tire of it. 
Moses, in spite of all past experience, was incredulous, a fact which would 
seem, from the standpoint of the milrlcst judgment, to indicate human 
weakness. It indicates the human standpoint from which Moses usually 
viewed things. It argues that we have as much to convince us of the 
presence and providence of God as they did. 

24-30. — When the spirit came upon the elders they gave evidence of 
it by their speech. The word prophecy here doubtless has the force of 



NUMBERS. 125 

testimony. The answer of Moses to Joshua indicates his kindness of 
spirit and real desire to have all the people as God would have them be. 

31-34. — For the second time quails were sent to the people, and they 
came in great numbers. The word "high" in verse 32 should be stricken 
out. The thought is that the birds flew about breast high above the 
ground, and so were easily caught. Stanley says, "Large flocks of birds 
so numerous as to darken the sky have been seen by modern travelers in 
the same district." The ancient translators understood the expression 
"ere it was chewed" 1o mean "before it was consumed." What they had 
gathered would last many days, and ancient naturalists assert that the 
quail feeds and fattens on herbs which are poisonous to man, and so 
regarded the bird as unwholesome for food. In that case the plague 
would be a natural punishment which would follow their gluttonous 
gratification, and the afflicted people would not be slow to attribute it to 
the wrath of an insulted God. And rightly so, for God is the author of 
all law which violated brings punishment, and that as truly in the law 
of appetite as in other things. 

35. — The location of Ilazeroth is by no means certain. 

Ch. 12:1-3. — It seems likely that the former wife of Moses had died, 
and Cook thinks that she being dead, Miriam expected to have greater 
influence with Moses, and so was greatly disappointed at his second 
marriage. The word "meek" might be with propriety rendered "humble." 

4-9. — In the conference with these three, God declared his approval 
of Moses as a servant over his whole house — that is, all departments of 
his chosen family. God spoke with special directness to Moses, and gave 
him special visions of himself that he might the more surely carry out the 
specially appointed services ordained. 

10. — The punishment upon Miriam came swift and sure, indicating 
that she was the leader of that sedition. 

11-13. — The prayer demonstrated their repentance and also the for- 
giving spirit of Moses. 

14, 15. — The shutting out from the camp was to be a public display of 
the humiliation which God had visited upon her. 

16. — From Hazeroth they moved northward toward the southern 
border of Canaan, and came to Kadesh. 

Ch. 13:1-20. — One man was taken from each tribe to search out the 
land. The mountain mentioned would be the hill country of Canaan, all 
about where Jerusalem stood. The first grapes ripen in Palestine in 
July and August. They left Sinai about the middle of May, had marched 



126 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK 

near one hundred and seventy-five miles, having spent a month at 
Kibroth-hattaavah and a week at Hazeroth. 

21-25. — Those forty eventful days meant more than these spies dreamed 
of. Beland speaks of bunches of grapes in Palestine of ten pounds weight. 
Schulzius has seen them of twelve pounds. Kitto in history of Palestine 
mentions one of nineteen pounds weight. 

26-33. — The report made by ten of these men shows the weakness of 
their faith despite all they had seen. They couid see nothing apparently 
but defeat. Caleb insisted that they could and ought to take immediate 
possession of the land, but the majority said no. The land eats up its 
inhabitants (by war), and all whom we saw there were giants. 

Ch. 14:1-5. — The panic-stricken people now talk of electing a captain 
and returning to Egypt. Moses and Aaron fell down in supplication. 

6-10. — In vain did Joshua and Caleb rend their clothes as a sign of 
grief, and beseech them not to rebel against the Lord. The miserable 
mob was about to kill them with stones, when there appeared a manifes- 
tation of God in the tabernacle. 

11, 12. — Here is evidence of how God changes his purpose toward men. 
All the promises were now about to be rendered void through their 
disobedience. 

13-20. — .Now appears the beauty of Moses' character. He pleads by 
every consideration which would seem to appeal to the character of God, 
that the people may be forgiven and taken back into God's favor. God's 
fidelity is pleaded as it would appear to the heathen w r orld. His long 
suffering and forgiveness is pleaded, and his promises quoted as in the 
second commandment, and so earnest was his entreaty that it was granted. 

21-35. — The unbelieving adults were turned back into the wilderness 
to die. They were barred out from entering the promise land. Their 
little ones, whom they declared would be a prey to their enemies, God said 
should inherit the promise land. Moses and Aaron are commanded to 
tell the people, and to say that for each day the spies had spent searching 
the land, the people should spend a year in the wilderness. 

36-39. — Immediately the ten false spies died by a plague. God prom- 
ised that Joshua and Caleb should live to enter the promise land. 

40-45. — Shortly before the people ha'd been mourning from fear of the 
enemies. Now they mourn because they cannot go into the land and 
engage them. True to their unreasoning spirit they now determine to 
go into the land contrary to God's comma nd. The Amalekites and 
Canaanites utterly defeated them. The word Hormah means "utter 
destruction." 



NUMBERS. 127 

Ch. 15:1-10. — Along with every offering from the flock was to be a 
food offering of flour, oil and wine. 

17-21. — Also the law demanded an offering of the first dough. This 
was to be a heave offering. All heave offerings were to belong to Aaron 
and his sons. 

22-29. — In case the whole congregation of Israel erred through igno- 
rance a sacrifice was to be made for the congregation. (A bullock, with the 
food and drink offering, and a kid for a sin offering.) When the indi- 
vidual erred through ignorance, there was to be offered a she goat for 
a sin offering. 

30, 31. — The penalty for sin (wilful wrong) was to be utter exclusion 
from all the privileges of Judaism. 

32-36. — The apparent severity of the penalty of this case of Sabbath 
breaking is modified when we remember that Moses had been most 
diligently instructing the people on these matters, and God's will in the 
matter was clearly understood. But there was a feeling of rebellion in 
camp, and this man was doubtless brazenly and boldly defying God and 
all human authority. 

37-41. — The fringe with its blue was set to call to constant remem- 
brance the commands of God. If not at first, it is thought in later years 
parts of the law were written on these borders. The Savior refers to these 
borders in Matt. 23 :5. 

Ch. 16:1-3. — As was to be expected, all was not smooth within this 
new nation. Envy and jealousy were there. Korah, probably a leader 
of the Kohathites of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, leading 
Beubenites (Reuben was the oldest of Jacob's sons), and two hundred 
and fifty prominent princes of Israel headed a movement to restrict if 
not wholly destroy the authority of Moses and Aaron. It is probable that 
the Kcubenites thought themselves entitled to first place, instead of the 
Judahites. ' There would of course be Levites who would desire the 
priesthood, and would willingly side with the Eeubenites in this view; 
and many discontented souls in Israel, indeed a large per cent, by the 
manipulation of prominent leaders, could be argued into the belief that 
Moses and Aaron were exalting themselves and family at the expense of 
and to the detriment of the people. 

4-11. — The news of this is very painful to Moses, but he promises 
Korah and his company that God would settle this case. They were 
ordered to come with their censers the next day. Moses chides them with 
over-officiousness, charges them with belittling the duty of the Levites 



128 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

and attempting to take the priesthood, and worst of all, conspiring 
against the Lord. 

12-14. — The insolent refusal and answer sent to Moses by Dathan and 
Abiram when they were called probably voiced the sentiment of the 
malcontents in all Israel. 

15-19. — It is noticeable that next day Korah was able to gather the 
whole congregation together. The danger was fearful. A spark of 
apparent success on the part of these rebels would explode the entire 
magazine of the people's discontent. Only God could foresee the result. 

20-22. — Had not Moses and Aaron been infinitely better than their 
accusers, the justice of God would have made quick work in the punish- 
ment of the rebels. They deserved it, but at the prayer of Moses and 
Aaron, God's mercy deferred his just judgment. 

23-30. — Now was made a test so that all who would might choose 
the right and escape wrath. God was about to send an appalling judg- 
ment on these men that the people might be deterred from following 
such adventurers. 

31-.'>5. — The cry of those God-condemned rebels as they sank into the 
earth must have been beyond the power of language to describe. The 
people fled in dismay, crying piteously for protection, while the fire of 
the Lord was consuming the two hundred and fifty princes. More 
merciful, however, was that punishment than to let the rebels against 
God live to poison the flock. 

3G-40. — Eleazor was commanded to gather the censers of the destroyed 
princes, and since they had set them apart to the Lord, to make them into 
brass plates for the altar. Ilere they would serve a useful purpose and 
also be a perpetual reminder of the great danger of anyone not recog- 
nized of God assuming to take upon himself authority. 

41-50. — Still the spirit of rebellion was not entirely crushed. The 
people had no reason to murmur. God had been much better to them 
than their stupid stubborness and ingratitude called for, but the bitter- 
ness of their yet unsubdued spirits led them as soon as they had partially 
recovered from the fear of the rebels' destruction to charge Moses and 
Aaron with their death. Let the excited people become imbued with 
that idea and the destruction of these leaders would be sure. The danger 
is imminent, and only prompt and decisive action on God's part can save 
the nation from anarchy. God interferes, and 11,700 other rebels are 
slain by the fires, and the nation is saved. 

Ch. 17:1-9.— Now that the question of the authority of the high priest 



NUMBERS. 129 

had become so important, the budding of Aaron's rod was to become an 
all suflicient and continuous evidence of God's will in the matter. 

10-13. — Its preservation would make it a perpetual reminder of the 
expressed will of God, a reference for future generations. The rod was 
put in the ark of the covenant. 

Ch. 18 :l-7. — God now repeats to Aaron that his family are to be the 
priests, and that the entire tribe of Levi is to be subject to his direction in 
the sacred duties. "Security was given to the people from the fears 
expressed in verse 12 of the last chapter by fixing the responsibility on 
the priesthood; and that would also tend to remove envy at Aaron's 
honor when the burdens and dangers were considered." (J. F. B.) 

8-20. — The heave offerings were parts of the vow and free will offerings 
of meat, bread, wine, oil and first fruits given by the Israelites. This 
was to be used for the support of the priesthood. 

21-24. — The Levites, who, same as the priests, were to have no land in 
Israel, were to be supported by the tithes of the people. This left them 
free to attend their religious duties, it scattered them among the tribes 
that they might more readily instruct and direct the people, and formed 
a mutual attachment between the Levites, who instructed, and the people, 
who supported the instructors. 

25-32. — Out of their tenth Levites were to give a tenth to the priests. 
The tithing was not optional, but an express duty. 

Ch. 19 :1-10. — This peculiar ordinance in mentioning both the sex and 
color (both of which were sacred in Egypt) was probably instituted to 
drive out of Israelite minds an Egyptian superstition. Eleazar was 
chosen that the high priest might not be even temporarily defiled. 

11-22. — The idea of defilement by contact with the dead, and the 
sanitary rule of the speedy burial of all the dead, needed to be strongly 
impressed on all Israel after their schooling on that subject in Egypt, 
where the dead were preserved. And that this ceremony might not lose 
its force on the minds of the people, the touching of the water on ordinary 
occasions was reckoned as a defilement. The water was to perform its 
office only by being used according to divine directions. 

Ch. 20 :1. — Between the last of the preceding chapter and this one is 
supposed to be an interval of thirty-seven years. The old generation had 
nearly all died. The new one had come to Kadesh, where they had been 
thirty-eight years before. Here Miriam died, probably near the age of 
one hundred and thirty years. 

2-8. — As usual with humans, the dignity of Moses gave way when the 
reward was almost in sight, and both he and his brother, in a passionate 



130 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

moment, took upon themselves that which they knew they should leave 
to God. They were commanded to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses 
twice struck it. The rod mentioned was probably the same he used to 
perform his wonders in Egypt. 

9-13. — For this act of disobedience on the part of Moses and Aaron, 
God took from them the privilege of leading the people into Canaan. 

14-21. — By taking an easterly course around the Dead Sea they were 
to come into Canaan from the east by crossing the Jordan Eiver. The 
polite request of Moses for passage through the territory occupied by 
Esau's descendants was utterly refused. 

22-29. — The Israelites now begin to make a long journey south to 
get around the territory of Esau. When they come to Mount Hor, God 
directs Moses to put the garments of Aaron, the high priest, on Eleazar, 
and on the mountain top they two alone witnessed the death of Aaron. 
This was supposed to be four months after the death of Miriam. 

Ch. 21 :l-3. — It is supposed that the battle referred to in verses 1-3 
occurred at some time during the three or four months' stay of the people 
at Kadesh. It is probable that the invasion of Canaan, forty years before, 
was in the mind of the Canaanites, and the stinging defeat they gave to 
Israel. There is no good reason to doubt that spies would be again sent 
into Canaan from Kadesh, and the whole transaction would call vividly 
to mind the former attempt and embolden King Arad to again go against 
Israel. Moses probably concluded that the required fighting necessary 
to enter Canaan from the south would be too much for the people at that 
time, and so sent messengers to Edom to ask privilege to pass through 
their territory. The event mentioned in verses 1-3 should probably, as to 
chronology, have been placed between verses 13 and 14 of Chapter 20. 

4-6. — Mount Hor, where Aaron had died, was some sixty miles south- 
east of Kadesh. From this point they journey on south toward the 
Arabian Gulf in order to find a mountain pass in the Seir range. Hitter 
describes the line of their march as a plain of loose sand, gravel and 
granite formation, sprinkled with low shrubs, furnishing very little food 
or water, and troubled with sand storms. Hence the last part of verse 4. 
Verse 5 indicates that the people said and continued to say very harsh 
things against Moses and God, things which they should have known 
better, and (I think) did know better than to say. Cook thinks that the 
term fiery refers to the inflammatory effect of the serpent's bite. It may, 
however, refer to the fiery red spots and wavy stripes of the poisonous 
species which Schubert found there in his travels. 

7-9. — Xo sooner did the people own their sin and pray for relief than 



NUMBERS. 131 

God prepared for them a remedy. Obeying the simple and easy order of 
God was an indication of their faith, which God honored by curing the 
believer. The same principle precisely operates in the plan of salvation 
referred to by Jesus himself in John 3 :14, 15. 

10-20. — Oboth, which means "holes dug in the ground for water," is 
supposed to be about opposite Mount Hor, east of the range of Mount 
Seir. Ijeabarim is a little farther north. Zared is the first stream they 
crossed flowing westward into the Dead Sea. The brook Arnon divided 
Moab from Ammon. (Moab and Ammon were the two sons of Lot. 
There is no certainty about the location of the other points named until 
the people came to Pisgah (Hill) a ridge of the Abarim Mountains by 
which was a town called Nebo, from which the mountain range was 
named. 

21-32. — Israel now sends messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites 
asking to go peacefully through their territory. The request was answered 
by an open declaration of war, and in the conflict which followed Israel 
took from the Amorites all the country between Arnon and Jabbok, a 
territory which Sihon had taken from the Moabites. 

33-35. — Bashan was a great territory east of the Sea of Galilee and 
north of Jabbok. 

Ch. 22 :1-14. — Balak was king of the Moabites, and having seen how 
their conquerors, the Amorites, had been defeated, feared greatly for their 
own safety. It is supposed that Balaam lived somewhere on the Eu- 
phrates. He seems to have been a worshiper of the true God, and the 
Moabites, who would not be ignorant of the history of Lot, their father, 
and his uncle Abram, would not be slow to conclude that a prophet of the 
true God must be had to deal with them. God gave to Balaam strict and 
plain directions, and the messengers returned without him. 

15-21. — Again Balak sends for him. Balaam's word on the former 
occasion, "Lord refuseth to give me leave," and "cannot go beyond the 
word of my Lord," shows clearly enough that he wanted to go and do as 
Balak asked for the sake of the reward. And his entertaining the mes- 
sengers again, and again inquiring of the Lord after knowing God's will 
in the matter, and especially seeing the Lord granted him leave to go 
under protest, all argue that he must have been very solicitous to go. 

22-35. — The incident of an angel standing in Balaam's path taught him 
a never-to-be-forgotten' lesson on struggling against the will of God. He 
was about to turn back again, Vhen the Lord sends him on that he may 
bless instead of curse Israel. "In desiring to curse Israel, Balaam was 
fighting against Israel's leader. The presence of the angel in his path 



132 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

was designed to open his eyes to the real character of his course of 
conduct/' (Cook.) 

36-24-9. — Three times Balak built seven altars and offered a sacrifice 
on each according to the request of Balaam. The first set was built in the 
grove in which the Moabites worshiped their false gods. After Balaam 
had blessed Israel, Balak repeated the altar building on Mount Pisgah, 
where only a part of Israel could be seen, probably hoping that a partial 
view would change the character of Balaam's estimate of Israel. The 
third attempt was from the top of Peor, north of Pisgah in the same 
range of hills. But each time Balaam spoke good of these hosts chosen 
of the Lord. 

10, 11. — The anger of King Balak was to be expected under the circum- 
stances. But Balaam was unmoved by it. 

12-25. — Balaam reminds Balak of the first message he (Balaam) sent 
him, and then foretells the future conquests of Israel over the tribes 
around. 

Ch. 25 :1-15. — Here in the plains of Moab the people began to be led 
into idolatry. Baal was the god of the Moabites. Peor was the near-by 
town on the mountains at which Israel was encamped. Verse 4 means 
that the rulers of Israel were to slay the offenders and hang them up 
publicly that they might be a terrible warning against the idolatry and 
impurity into which the daughters of Moab were leading the people. 
The Midianites, it seems, were joined with the Moabites, probably had 
conquered Moab and joined with them in political and social alliance. 
This heathen worship was unspeakably licentious. If we may believe 
history, its devotees were mentally, morally and physically rotten. A 
physical plague would begin to spread and consume Israel. Zimri was 
a chief of Israel. Doubtless he was enticed with a great show of pride 
by this daughter of the heathen prince. "The extraordinary act of ven- 
geance by the young priest Phinehas w r as justified by the atrocity of the 
crime which provoked it." (Cook.) It is probable that after much 
punishment had been administered it was thought by these sensual 
idolaters that Israel would not dare punish one of their own rulers and 
also a prince of the Midianites, so that a supreme test was made in this 
case of Zimri, and Phinehas was praised for his prompt devotion, and 
rightly so. 

16-18. — The much discussed question of the destruction of the tribes 
of Canaan by Israel is made clear enough here. They were wicked to a 
degree which made their destruction a mercy to all mankind. Who can 
estimate what might have been the result on this family of Israel, whom 



NUMBERS. 133 

God had chosen to evangelize the world, had he allowed such event* 
as just described to go on? Accordingly and rightly, they were to he 
utterly cleaned off the map. The same argument which would justify 
capital punishment would justify the utter annihilation of the tribes of 
Canaan. Were the nations civilized to the extent they ought to be, 
perhaps there would be no necessity in this day ever to take human or 
even brute life. 

Ch. 26 :1-51. — After about forty years the people were numbered again. 
Had each tribe increased as did Manasseh there would have been by this 
time one million warriors. But so slight was the increase of some tribes, 
and so great was the decrease of others, especially Simeon, that there were 
eighteen hundred less warriors in Israel than forty years before. In the 
table of this numbering mention is made of the principal families of the 
tribes. 

52-56. — The land was to be divided by lot. The details of this plan 
are not given us. But each tribe was to receive an amount of land 
proportioned to its population. And so the districting of Canaan into 
tribal territories was very different now from what it would have been if 
Israel had not sinned, wandered in the wilderness, and had the population 
of their tribes so changed. 

57-62. — The Levites had increased one thousand. 

63-65. — The only two men who were numbered in both the numberings 
were Caleb and Joshua, the two spies who brought back the true report 
from Canaan. Jamieson says of verse G-i, "The statement must not be 
considered absolute. For besides Caleb and Joshua there were alive at 
this time Eleazar, Ithamar, and probably many Levites who had no 
participation in the popular defections in the wilderness. The tribe of 
Levi sent no spy into Canaan, was not included in the enumeration at 
Sinai, and therefore must not be regarded as coming within the range of 
the fatal sentence." 

Ch. 2? :l-5. — Zelopehad was a descendant of Manasseh, one of Joseph's 
sons. He had died without having any sons, and his daughters asked 
that the inheritance which otherwise would have gone to his sons be 
given to them. The last clause of verse three probably means that he 
died a natural death in the wilderness along with others who had sinfully 
refused to enter Canaan at first. 

6-11. — When Moses brought the case to the Lord, God stated to him 
the rule for all similar cases. This statement is the basis of all civil law 
on this subject. 

12-14. — The Lord now orders Moses to go up Mount Abarim (one of 



134 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the ranges of the Moabite Mountains) that he may see before he died the 
Promised Land of Canaan, lie reminds Moses of why he cannot enter 
the land. "The pious leader submitted with meek acquiescence to the 
divine decree, and evinced the spirit of genuine patriotism in his fervent 
prayer for the appointment of a worthy and competent successor." (J. 
F. 13.) 

15-23. — Joshua, by his conduct, had shown himself worthy to be a 
leader in Israel, lie had been the pupil, the fast and trusted friend, the 
military officer of the old warrior Moses. The ceremony of the laying 
on of hands is here shown to be an ancient one. Verse 21 refers to the 
custom of asking direction of the Lord through the high priest; the 
responses indicated by the colors of the gems in the breastplate of the 
high priest. 

Ch. 28:1-8. — But before Moses leaves the people attention is called 
again to the laws and ceremonies. These are all important. Care and 
regularity is necessary in their observance. 

9, 10. — Here for the first time reference is made to a special offering 
on the Sabbath. 

11-15. — It is said that messengers were appointed to watch for the first 
appearance of the new moon (which event ushered in the new month), 
and announce it by kindling signal fires on the mountain tops. Since 
the heathen had festivals of the moon and sacrificed to it, it is supposed 
that the great object of this festival was to direct the minds of this people 
to God the Creator rather than to the thing created. 

16-25. — The mention of the Passover feast here adds a few details not 
mentioned in Lev. 23. 

26-31. — Also in the first fruits offering, "A new sacrifice is appointed 
for the celebration of the festival in addition to the other offering which 
was to accompany the first fruits." (J. F. B.) (Lev. 23.) 

Ch. 29 :l-6. — It will be clearly seen that the object of this repetition is 
to give more of the details as well as to formally indoctrinate this new- 
generation born in the wilderness. 

7-11. — The tenth day assembly was the great day of atonement. See 
what additional offering is noted here beside that of Lev. 16. 

12-40. — The fifteenth day began the convocation week or Feast of 
Tabernacles. The eighth day brought to a close this feast, and was also 
the celebration of the ingathering of the harvest. 

Ch. 30:1, 2. — The secret purpose of the mind expressed in words 
constituted a vow, which once made could not be neglected without guilt. 



NUMBERS. 135 

3-5. — Jewish writers say that minors of both sexes were included, also 
that the name father comprehended all guardians of youth. 

6-8. — The husband, who first by his silence approved and afterward 
hindered the performance of a wife's vow, was to bear the sin of its non- 
performance. 

9-16. — The widow was to remember and perform the vow made during 
her husband's lifetime. The rules about vows show that the minors or 
wives dependent upon others should consult before making vows those 
upon whom they were dependent. 

Ch. 31:1-12. — "The Midianites were descended from Abraham and 
Keturah, occupying a tract of country east and southeast of Moab. They 
seem to have been the principal instigators of the infamous scheme of 
seduction planned to trap the Israelites into the double crime of idolatry 
and licentiousness, by which it was hoped the Lord would withdraw from 
that people the benefit of his protection and favor." (Jamieson.) The 
word avenge in verses 2 and 3 suggests that both the cause of God and the 
rights of his people had been injured. The word "and" in verse should 
be rendered "even." Evidently many Midianites were absent when their 
nation was spoiled. (Judges 6 :1.) Balaam, who was violently outraging 
his' better sense, here met his just deserts. (Rev. 2:14. Jude 11. 
II Pet. 2:15.) 

13-18. — The women by their former conduct had forfeited all claim to 
mercy. See in verse 16 what part Balaam had in the matter. The 
destruction of the male children does not seem so appalling when we 
consider that this villainous people were to be wiped out as a nation. If 
the children were innocent, God was only putting them into a better 
place and condition. As to the female virgins and children, we do not 
know how many of them may have become wives of the Israelites, and 
so incorporated into the chosen family, the same as the wives of the 
twelve sons of Jacob. 

19-24.— The soldiers were to stay outside the camp and observe the 
seven days of purification for themselves, their captives and all the stuff. 
The metals were purified by fire. The melting would destroy the images 
and forms, leaving only the pure metal to be remolded, and thus all 
remnants and relics of idolatry and impurity would be destroyed. 

25-47. — The captive people and the stock were divided into two equal 
parts. One part was given to the soldiers who took it, the other to the 
Israelite people. Of the soldiers' part, one five-hundredth part was given 
to the high priest. Of the people's part, one-fiftieth part was given to 
the Levites. 



136 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

48-54. — Xot an Israelitish soldier was slain in the contest. The value 
of the gift which the officers brought was nearly four hundred thousand 
dollars. This gift to the Lord was from jewelry which each soldier had 
been allowed to collect for himself. 

Ch. 32:1-5. — Reuben and Gad were both in the second standard, south 
of the tabernacle, and were both noted as shepherd tribes. Their request 
for land east of the Jordan is easily explained by the fact that the land 
which Israel had just been conquering, as well as the land north of it, 
was rich in pasture. 

6-15. — The reproof of Moses, in which he cites the story of the wilder- 
ness, was based on the assumption that these tribes would not want to go 
west of the Jordan to help conquer the land there. 

16-32. — Their explanation and promise was fair and satisfactory. 

33. — He assigns them on those conditions the land of the Amorites 
and the land of Bashan, a territory reaching from the brook Arnon, east 
of the Dead Sea, to Mount Hermon on the north. It is supposed by 
some that when Moses found that the country east of the Jordan was 
more than sufficient for the two tribes he invited half of that tribe to 
remain, giving preference to it because it also had great flocks and for 
their bravery in conquering the land. (Verse 39. Josh. 17:1.) 

The places named in verses 34-42 were simply fortified encampments. 
Some of the points are still known, under different names, and others 
cannot be located. 

Ch. 33 :l-49. — The journeys of the Israelites as detailed by Moses form 
the closing history of the journey from Egypt to Canaan. The whole is 
briefly summed up here in forty-two journeys. 

50-56. — The charge concerning the people of Canaan is very signif- 
icant. "Destroy their pictures and images" is a suggestive order. The 
ruinous effects of nude pictures and images even in our Christian civiliza- 
tion is apparent even to a superficial observer. Erotomania and Satyriasis 
are frightfully increasing. And the depraved condition which called for 
the utter annihilation of these Canaanite nations, unable to let any 
remain lest they pollute all Israel, was due to these same false ideas which 
are today rampant, nursing obscenity under the false name of esthetics 
and art. The first part of verse 55 applies to us in this respect as much 
as to Israel then. 

Ch. 34:1-15. — Neither the north nor south boundaries can be clearly 
traced, but it is clear that the west was the Mediterranean Sea and the 
east the Jordan River. The Israelites never conquered all the land 
named. Their later history will show the folly of their negligence in 



NUMBERS. 137 

this respect, and this very warning of Chapter 33 :55 will be repeatedly 
referred to. 

16-29. — The committee of division was named by the Lord. This 
would put the seal of divine approval on their decision, would prevent 
jealousy and discontent among the tribes, and further would inspire all 
with confidence that God was leading on to the accomplishment of what 
he had promised. 

Ch. 35:1-8. — The Levites, being the priestly tribe, were to have no 
territory to themselves, but to be scattered through the territories of the 
other tribes. "There was an extent of ground amounting to three 
thousand cubits measured from the walls of the city. One thousand were 
occupied with houses (for shepherds and other servants), gardens, vine- 
yards and olive yards. The other two thousand cubits was a common for 
pasturing cattle/' (J. F. B.) 

9-15. — God here gives* to Moses commandment about six cities of 
refuge, three on each side of Jordan. They w T ere to be selected from 
among the cities of the Levites. Everyone slaying a fellow man was to 
flee there, whether he was an Israelite or a stranger, until his case be tried. 

16-34. — The laws of early society made it the duty of the nearest 
relative to avenge a murder. Verses 16-21 relate to premeditated murder. 
But in the cases of killing not premeditated the city of refuge was to be 
a secure retreat (as long as the killer staid in it) until the death of the 
high priest, when he might return home. Both classes of killers might 
flee to a city of refuge, but it was a safe retreat only for the one not guilty 
of killing intentionally. 

Ch. 36 :l-4. — The tribe of Manasseh raised a very pertinent point of 
law about the inheritance of the daughters, which inheritance might pass 
from their tribe by marriage. 

5-13.— The decision of this matter is called by Jamieson "progressive 
legislation" relating to the civil affairs of the Israelites. 



DEUTERONOMY. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-4-43 First address of Moses. 
1-5 Introduction. 

6-8 Israel ordered from Sinai to Canaan. 
9-18 The appointment of officers. 
19-21 The journey to Canaan. 
22-46 Israel's rebellion. God's judgment. 
Chapter 2. 

1-3-11 The forty years' wandering. 
1-7 Among the Edomites. 
8-18 Among the Moabites. 
19-23 Among the Ammonites. 
24-37 Conquest of the Ammonites. 
Chapter 3. 

1-11 Conquest of Bashan. 
12-20 Division of the land. 
21-22 Charge to Joshua. 
23-29 Prayer of Moses. Its answer. 
Chapter 4. 

1-40 The exhortation to obedience. 
41-43 Three cities of refuge. 
44-49 The place of Moses' address. 
Chapter 5. 
1-26-19 Second address of Moses. 

1-21 The ten commandments. 
22-33 The mediator between God and the people. 
Chapter 6. 

1-25 Exhortation to obey and teach the law. 
1, 2 Its origin. 
3-6 Reverence enjoined. 
7-9 Child teaching. 
10-15 Warning against forgetfulness. 
16-25 The reverence of conduct and precept. 



DEUTERONOMY. 13 

Chapter 7. 

1-3 Destruction of the near nation enjoined. 
4-G Reason. 
7-26 Assurance of God's love and help. 

Chapter 8. 

1-20 Review or God's providential dealing. Warning. 

Chapter 9. 

1-29 A guard against self-exaltation. 
1-6 Its occasion. 
7-29 The wilderness rebellions. 

Chapter 10. 

1-22 A discussion of God's mercy. 
1-5 The tables renewed. 
6-9 The provision of the priesthood. 
10, 11 The sparing of the people. 
12-22 The reasonableness and justness of his service. 

Chapter 11. 

1-25 'Israel's duty set forth. 
1-9 Their knowledge. 
10-12 Canaan compared with Egypt. 
13-25 The encouragement to learn and keep God's law. 
26-28 The blessing and the curse. 
29-32 Gerezim and Ebal appointed. 

Chapter 12. 

1*26-19 A rule of religious conduct in Canaan. 
1-3 As to idolatry. 
4-32 As pertains to God. 

4-19 Worship at his house. 
20-28 The exception. 
29-32 Guard against the snares of the heathen. 

Chapter 13. 

1-5 Duty as to false prophets. 

6-11 Duty as to an idolatrous relative. 

12-18 Duty as to idolatrous cities. 



140 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 14. 

1, 2 Personal mutilation forbidden. 
3-21 Cleanliness as to food. 
22-29 The tithing of the field's increase. 
22-27 Annually. 
28-29 Triennially. 



Chapter 15. 



Chapter 16. 



Chapter 17. 



Chapter 18. 



Chapter 19. 



Chapter 20. 



1-6 The law of release. 

7-11 The law of relief for a neighbor. 

12-18 Duty toward Hebrew slaves. 

19-23 Rule of the firstlings. 

1-8 Commemoration of the Passover. 
9-12 The feast of the Pentecost. 
13-17 The feast of the tabernacles. 
18-20 Appointment of the sub-officers. 
21, 22 Prohibition of groves. 

1 The law of sacrificed animals. 
2-7 The punishment of idolatry. 
8-13 The supreme court of controversies. 
14-20 The selection and duty of a king. 

1-8 Inheritance of the Levites. 
9-14 Warning against the heathen superstition. 
16-22 The divine plan of religious instruction. 

1-13 Directions about the city of refuge. 
14 The law of landmarks. 
15-21 Regulation of court testimony. 

1-4 Encouragement of the warriors. 

5-9 The four grounds of exemption from war. 

10-15 The regulations in taking a city. 

16-18 The nations to be destroyed. 

19-20 The sparing of fruit trees. 



Chapter 21, 



Chapter 22. 



Chapter 23. 



Chapter 24. 



DEUTERONOMY. Hi 



1-9 Proceedings in case of an unknown slayer. 
10-14 *Rules for incorporating captives into Israel. 
15-17 Rights of the first born. 
18-21 Treatment of a rebellious son. 
22, 23 Disposal of an executed criminal. 

1-4 Care of a brother's personal property. 
5 Rule of sex apparel. 

6, 7 Regulation regarding a mother bird. 

8 The house battlement. 

9 Purity of seeds. 

10 Law of a working team. 

11 Prohibition of mixed wool and linen. 

12 The rule of fringes. 

13-21 The trial of a wife's virginity. 
22-24 Penalty for adultery. 
25-29 Penalty for rape. 

30 Prohibition of marriage with a stepmother. 

1-6 Persons debarred from the assembly of Israel. 

1 Maimed men. 

2 Illegitimate born. 

3-6 Ammonites and Moabites. 

7, 8 Social attitude toward Edomites and Egyptians. 
9-14 Regulations of camp during war. 

15, 16 Treatment of a fugitive slave. 
17-18 Prohibition of social evil. 
19, 20 Law of loans. 
21-23 Responsibility of a religious vow. 
24, 25 Liberties in a neighbor's crop. 

1-4 The law of divorce. 

5 Exemption from war of the newly married. 

6 Exemption of the millstone from levy. 

7 Prohibition of man stealing. 

8, 9 Warning concerning leprosy. 

10-13 Directions about pledge taking for loans. 



142 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

14, 15 Treatment of a hired servant. 

16 Responsibility of the individual. 
17, 18 Just dealing with the defenseless. 
19-22 Gleanings for the needy. 



Chapter 25. 



1-3 Eegulation of punishment. 
4 Rights of the toiling beast. 
5-10 Duty of a man toward a deceased elder brother. 
11, 12 Regulation concerning strife. 
13-16 Law of just weights. 
17-19 Punishment of Amalek. 



Chapter 26. 



1-11 Ceremony in offering first fruits. 
12-15 Confession of duty done. The blessing. 
16-19 Pledge between God and Israel. 

Chapter 27. 

1-30-20 Renewal of the covenant. Blessings and curses. 
1-8 Command about writing the law in Canaan. 
9-13 Division of the tribes at Gerezim and Ebal. 
14-26 Recital of some curses. 

Chapter 28. 

1-14 Recital of great blessings for future obedience. 
15-68 Recital of fearful curses for future neglect. 

Chapter 29. 

1-9 Review of God's former leading. 
10-30-20 A national exhortation. 
10-29 Warning of calamity. 

Chapter 30. 

1-14 The way of restoration. 
15-20 The great choice. 

Chapter 31. 

1-34-12 Closing scenes of Moses' life. 

1-6 His encouragement of the people. 
7, 8 His encouragement of Joshua. 

9-13 Delivery of the written law to the priests. Charge to them. 
14-23 Conference of Moses and Joshua with God. 
24-30 Placing of the law. Charge to the Levites. 



DEUTERONOMY. 143 

Chapter 32. 

1-43 Song of Moses. 

1-6 Burden of the song. 
7-14 God's past care of Israel. 
15-18 Their ingratitude. 
19-25 The penalty. 

26, 27 The restraint from God's utter destruction of them 
28-30 Stupidity of the heathen world. 
31-35 Their vain trust. 

36-43 God's aid for his people against their enemies. 
44-47 Charge of Moses to the people. 
48-52 Moses ordered to Mount Nebo. 
Chapter 33. 

1-29 The blessing of Moses on the people. 
Chapter 34. 

1-4 Moses sees the promise land from Nebo. 
5-8 Death of Moses. 
9 Appointment of Joshua. 
10-12 Moses' prophetic rank. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-5. — The first address of Moses covers four chapters of this 
book. He speaks now to all Israel through their representatives. The 
word "sea" should be stricken out of verse 1. The Hebrew word trans- 
lated "Ked" (Suph) is supposed to mean a place noted for reeds. That 
eleven days' journey had been drawn out into a forty years' wandering 
by the ungrateful action of the people. 

6-8. — Moses begins the address by reminding them how God had 
intended that they should go direct from Sinai to Canaan, enter by the 
south, and make conquest of the land northward and eastward. The 
Amorites were in the south part of Canaan. 

9-18. — It was literally true that the people had become more in 
numbers than the visible stars (three thousand and ten). The plan of 
setting judges over them had been first suggested by Jethro to Moses, who 
then proposed it to the people, and they accepted it. 

19-21. — The wilderness mentioned is bounded on the north by Canaan, 
on the east by Mount Seir, on the south by Sinai, and on the west by the 
Red Sea and Egypt. It is generally known as the Desert of Arabia. 

22-46. — Moses is rehearsing the story of God's guidance and protection 



144 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

during the march to Canaan, and the unbelief of the people which caused 
their turning back into the wilderness to die. He gently refers to the 
fact that his own failure to come into Canaan was due to their aggrava- 
tions of him. 

Ch. 2:1-7. — The last clause of verse 1 covers the whole period of the 
forty years' wandering. Between verses 1 and 2 they had come a second 
time to Kadesh, and had asked permission to go through Edom, which 
being refused, they had journeyed southward again until they were able 
to pass to the east of Mount Seir, when verse 2 comes in. Jamieson 
suggests that the children of Esau were now alarmed because the children 
of Israel had come around on their weak side. In that country, where 
water was so scarce and where a well cost so much to dig, water was 
bought. The manna was still falling, but they were allowed to buy other 
food if they chose. 

8-23. — Neither Moab nor Ammon were to be disturbed. These were 
the descendants of the two children of Lot, kindred of Abraham. 

24-37. — Moab's country between Arnon and the Jabbok had been 
conquered by the Amorites, an exceeding wicked nation, doomed to 
destruction. It is supposed that Moses considered this doom as referring 
to their possessions west of the Jordan, but his peace embassy would not 
so argue, for even though he were certain what King Sihon would do, 
still Moses would give him a fair chance. The Amorites west of the 
Jordan were the ones who had defeated the Israelites forty years before. 
Yerse 30 presents no difficulty, in the light of the story of Pharaoh of 
Egypt. The spirit hardening was done in accordance with well known 
laws of God, but Sihon alone was responsible for his attitude. 

Ch. 3 :1-11. — The conquest of Bashan has been told in Xumbers 
21 :33-35. More of the details are given in this recital of the history 
of Moses. 

12-20. — The story of the distribution of the land was also recited in 
Numbers. 

21, 22. — Xo doubt Moses greatly encouraged Joshua at the time of 
these conquests, showing what he might in the future expect from God 
in the way of help by citing the success of these battles. 

23-29. — The word "and" in verse 25 most scholars render "even." The 
character of Moses is shown by the meekness with which he received the 
denial of the privilege to go on over Jordan. He evidently thought the 
Lord might change his purpose in that regard, but the privilege is firmly 
and finally denied. Xo better evidence than this exists that God did 
actually deal with Moses, for had the prayers and their answers been 



DEUTERONOMY. I 45 

mere products of desire and imagination, as skeptics claim, nothing could 
have kept the grand old warrior out of Canaan, which he so desired to 

enter. 

Ch. -4:1-40.— The exhortation to obedience is a most powerful address. 

Each pupil should become very familiar with it. Verses 21 and 22 

feelingly refer to a fact which should have enshrined (probably did) 

this noble leader in the affections of Israel, and reminded them of their 

obligations to him. 

41-43.— Mark the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan. 
44-5-21.— Here closes the first address of Moses, and here begins the 

second address, with the repetition of the ten commandments, the basis 

of all the law which followed. 

Ch. 5 :22-33.— The writers of Hebrew refer to Moses as a person 

standing between God and the people (mediator). Moses here refers to 

himself in the same capacity. 

Ch. 6 :1, 2.— Moses reminds the people that these laws come from God, 

and God has an all sufficient reason for giving them to the people. The 

legitimate result of the observance of God's law is length of days and 

happiness. 

3_6._ The nation whose God is the Lord is a nation which greatly 

increase in numbers as well as in wealth and happiness. Verse 5 was 

used by Jesus as a summary of all the commandments relating to man's 
duty to God. 

?-9._"The ancient Egyptians had the lintels and imposts of their 
doors inscribed with sentences indicative of a favorable omen. Moses 
designed to turn this ancient and favorite custom to a better account, 
and ordered that, instead of the former superstitious inscriptions, should 
be written the words of God, persuading and enjoining the people to hold 
the laws in perpetual remembrance. The Egyptians also wore jewels 
on the forehead and arm, inscribed with certain words and sentences, as 
amulet? .to protect them from danger. These, it has been conjectured, 
Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the law; and 
so the Hebrews understood him, for thev have always considered the 
wearing of the frontlets a permanent obligation. The form was as 
follows: Four pieces of parchment, inscribed, the first with Exodus 
13:2-10, the second with Exodus 13:11-16, the third with Deut. 6:1-8, 
and the fourth with Deut. 11 :1 8-21, were enclosed in a square case or box 
of tough skin, on the side of which was placed the Hebrew letter (shin) 
nnd bound around the forehead with a leather thong or ribbon. When 
designed for the arms, those four texts were written on one slip of 



146 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

parchment, which, as well as the ink, was carefully prepared for the 
purpose." (J. F. B.) It would be difficult to lay too much stress on 
child teaching. Nothing else in the fight of right against wrong counts 
for so much as the proper training of the little ones. We must take time 
for it. The great unity of the Jewish people is due to their diligent child 
training. 

10>15. — The tendency to forget God in times of prosperity is so 
universal that it has passed into a proverb. Verse 13 refers to the most 
sacred of promises by which a member of the human family can bind 
himself. All presidents of the United States put their hands on the Bible 
when they take the oath of office. The word jealous poorly expresses 
the idea of verse 15. The idea is that the very nature of God and all his 
creation is such that no one can worship a miserable idol or any false god 
without doing violence to his own nature and to all with whom he has to 
do, thus outraging and setting at naught all the laws which God has set 
to govern and induce the development of the moral universe. 

16-25. — The first great and good result of pure religion is the ordering 
of the daily life on upright principles. A second, and no less important, 
is the diligent instruction of others (especially children) in the proper 
way. Precept and example must go together. Either is most sure to fail 
without the other. 

Ch. 7 :l-3. — The apparently cruel destruction of the nations around is 
easily understood when one considers their hopeless wickedness. Those 
incorrigibly evil tribes were fit only for utter annihilation, and such a 
course was a mercy even to them, just as it was a mercy to destroy all 
mankind in the days of the flood. Just so it becomes us to destroy all 
those precepts and practices of ours which tend to unfit us for duty here 
and hereafter. 

Verses 4-6 explain themselves. To have allowed this chosen family to 
associate with the tribes mentioned would have been to utterly overwhelm 
Israel in moral depravity and destroy the entire purpose of God in 
selecting a people for a special purpose. 

7-26. — The Lord can raise the humblest to the highest place. Not 
social position, nor wealth, nor strength of numbers, is necessary, but 
only to show love toward God, who displays love to saint and sinner alike. 
His love to man, met with man's love to him, kindles in the human soul 
that consuming flame which destroys sin and renews the soul in the 
image of God. All the promises here made to Israel are verified in the 
experience of every true Christian. Even Job, who suffered so many 



DEUTEBONOMY. 147 

reverses for a wise purpose, was an example of the truth of the promises. 
What God did for them he does for us daily. 

Ch. 8:1-20. — The review of Chapter 8 was spoken to Israel, but what 
Christian is there who cannot find in his own experience a perfect counter- 
part of the blessings there named. All the happiness of individuals and 
nations, their enlightenment and prosperity and inventive genius, is the 
direct result of pure and intelligent religion. The nations of God are 
the nations who chain the lightnings, and the people in whose behalf 
the stars in their courses fight. 

Ch. 9 :l-29. : — It was wise that a people so exalted in privilege as Israel 
should be warned against pride. The wilderness experience at which 
they so repined at the time would in later years come to be a matter of 
pride with the Israelite, who would over and over tell the story to his 
children. They would forget or neglect to tell all their disobedience, and 
would tell only how the Lord had honored them. Naturally enough 
they would come to greatly exalt the idea of verse 4 of chapter 9. And 
so Moses pours into their ears the humiliating and sorrowful story of 
those shameful rebellions in the wilderness. 

Ch. 10 :l-22. — After the humbling rehearsal, Moses discusses the mercy 
of the Lord from four standpoints. 

1. God had kindly furnished again what their sin had caused to be 
destroyed. 1-5. 

2. He provided means for the perpetuation of their religion. 6-9. 

3. He spared the people in answer to prayer, when their conduct 
merited their utter destruction. 10, 11. 

4. The service he asks is only such as any right minded person ought 
to be delighted to render. 12-22. All the commands of God are such 
that, even from the standpoint of this life, if there was no life hereafter, 
it pays greatly to do them. 

Ch. 11 :l-9. — "xAnd now," continues Moses, "in view of what has just 
been said, your duty is plain. You will act, not from hearsay, but from 
your own personal knowledge. God has been leading you in the wilder- 
ness, and you have seen his miracles before your very eyes." Many of 
those to whom he spoke had a distinct remembrance of the plagues upon 
Egypt, being youth at the time of the Exodus, under twenty years of age. 

10-12. — The watering with the foot is an expression well understood 
in countries where irrigating is done. In Egypt little rain fell. The 
yearly overflow of the Nile and the irrigating streams conducted out of 
the Nile River raised the crops. These streams were taken from the 
river far above where they were wanted so as to allow for the proper fall 



148 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

so that the water would run down between the rows of vegetation or 
overflow the grain fields. When a sufficient amount had run into one row 
the filler would with his foot make a bank of mud and turn the water into 
another row. This means no small amount of work. A country like 
Canaan, where rain fell in abundance, would be a great relief from such 
toil. 

13-25. — The early rains promised were in September and October. 
The latter rains were in March and April. The seed was sown just 
after the first mentioned rains, and the latter rains came just before 
harvest, thus filling out the grain. These blessings were promised as 
a reward for faithfulness to God, and were to be withheld if they turned 
away from God. Men forget that all the common blessings of life come 
from God. An English farmer recently in a journey from Joppri to 
Jerusalem saw not a blade of grass, and afterward learned that the 
inhabitants live chiefly on ass' milk. He remarks, says Jamieson, that 
the barrenness of the country is due largely to the cessations of the early 
and latter rains. And so it was fitting that in return for these blessings 
the people should diligently teach their children of God and men's duty 
to him. 

26-2S. — History has wonderfully verified the promise both of the 
blessing and the curse. No land was more favored or prosperous than 
was Palestine once. Now no land is so signally cursed by the withdrawal 
of God's special care. 

29-32. — The latter part of this book gives a fuller description of the 
pronouncing of the blessing and the curse that was to take place at the 
mountains here named of God for that purpose — Ebal and Gerezim. 

Ch. 12:1-3. — The matter of this address now turns particularly to 
the religious conduct of this people after they had come into Canaan. 
Here were special duties to perform. Every vestige of idolatry was to be 
destroyed, even to their groves where their great religious assemblies were 
held. The principle was, that if they did not become familiar with its 
face they would not be called upon to endure these practices, and so would 
not be likely to come to pity or finally to embrace the vileness. 

4-19. — As to their duty to God, a particular place was chosen to which 
all the tribes were to come for the making of their offerings. (The place 
was first Mizpeh, next Shiloh, and afterward Jerusalem.) The appoint- 
ment of one general place would keep the minds of the people drawn 
away from the places of idolatrous worship, and would also preserve the 
purity of the worship of the true God by bringing each Israelite into 



DEUTERONOMY. 149 

direct contact with the high priest of all Israel. Verse 17 does not refer 
to the ordinary tithes, but to the peace offerings for instance. 

20-28. — It has been already noted that the beasts slain for food among 
the people should have their blood offered upon the altar, but here God 
makes provision for such as are too far away to come to the place of 
offerings each time an animal was to be killed. 

29-32. — The reason for the repeated warnings against social and 
religious affiliation with the heathen is explained in verse 31. It also 
explains on humanitarian grounds the edicts for their utter extermination 
sent forth from God. 

Ch. 13:1-5. — The person likely to do the most mischief in the way of 
turning away the people from God would be the one laying claim to the 
authority of a prophet, able to perform dextrous feats or foretell events 
like eclipses, or by any use of scientific knowledge make the people believe 
him a real prophet. 

6-11. — No degree of relationship was to be allowed to shield one from 
the consequences of so infamous an act. The beginning of all villainies 
and the basis of all other wrongs is the wronging of one's own Maker, 
and that is especially true when he not only puts God out of his own 
plans, but induces others to do likewise. 

12-18. — In case of a city being drawn into apostasy, nothing was to be 
saved from it. Its ruined heap was to forever remain a mute witness of 
its utter folly. "God was their king, idolatry was treason, and a city 
turned to idols puts itself into a state and incurred the penalty of 
rebellion." (J. F. B.) 

Ch. 14:1, 2. — The heathen were accustomed to use their finger nails 
or other sharp instruments to disfigure themselves as they mourned in 
their hopeless sorrow, and such a custom was to be utterly repudiated 
by those who had hope in the living God. False religions and no religion 
turns the future into an everlasting night. Hope in God perches on the 
banner of dea'h and thrills the heart clear through the valley of shadows 
with the joyful prophecy of eternal gladness. 

3-21. — The matter of cleanliness of food has been previously dwelt 
upon. Health reasons is the key which unlocks that entire mystery. 
Only clean animals were to be eaten. They were privileged to give or 
even sell that which died of itself to such people as desired or determined 
to eat such, since no principle was involved and no harm would flow from 
it. Such things could, in the very nature of things, occur only 
occasionally, and could make matters no better or worse for those accus- 
tomed to eat such by giving or withholding. But as for themselves, they 



150 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

were to reflect the nature of their God and their religion in the character 
of their food. 

22-27. — The law of animal tithing is self-explanatory. When the 
distance was too great to carry it to the place of offerings they were to 
convert it into money and bring its value there. 

28, 29. — Every third year the tithing was to go to the Levites' widows 
and orphans directly. Perhaps each year the Levites received their 
proportion of the tithing through the officiating priests, but each third 
year they were to get it all, and share with the widows and orphans ; their 
proportion of tithing in two years out of three being sufficient to con- 
tinuously support the officiating priests. 

Ch. 15 :l-6. — At the Sabbatic year every debt was to be released. Some 
authorities claim that this was only a temporary release that year, and 
not an actual discharge of the debt. This, however, lacks text proof. 

The warning of verses 7-11 lends color to the idea that it was an actual 
and final release. No course of human reasoning would ever arrive at the 
conclusion of verse 10. The very nature of its contents prove it divine. 

12-18. — Hebrews often became slaves with all of their families for 
debt, but the period could not last longer than six years. If the year of 
jubilee should intervene the slaves were to go free, even before the six 
years expired. When he went out he was to receive gifts to help him 
start again. The transaction of verse 17 practically made him one of 
the family of his master. Verse 15 was a most powerful appeal to an 
Israelite. 

19-23. — The first born of all the flocks each year were given as 
offerings. The worshipers as well as the officiating priests partook of 
these offerings. Part was taken to the place of offerings and part 
consumed at home. In case of any blemish the firstling was not to be 
offered to God, but simply consumed by the owner and his friends at 
home. 

Ch. 16:1-8. — Abib, the first month of the Jewish sacred year, corre- 
sponded to the latter half of March and the first half of April. Pharaoh 
rose up in the night, called for Moses and Aaron, and told Israel to go. 
They began their march early in the morning. The Passover sacrifices 
were to be slain only where the tabernacle was located. The assembly 
continued seven days, during which time they ate bread without leaven, 
but the paschal lamb slain at eventide — that is, the beginning of the 
Jewish day — was to be entirely consumed before the morning. The 
blood of these lambs was sprinkled on the altar. 

9-12. — "On the second day of the Passover feast a sheaf of new barley 



DEUTERONOMY. 151 

reaped on purpose was offered; so on the second day of Pentecost (fifty 
days later) a sheaf of new wheat was presented as first fruits. This feast 
was instituted in memory of the giving of the law, that spiritual food 
by which man's soul is nourished." (J. F. B.) It will be remembered 
that the law was given fifty days after the Exodus. 

13-17. — It was fitting that when the harvest was all gathered the 
people should gather to thank God for his bounty. It was restful and 
refreshing to camp out in booths made of the green branches, and through 
this glad period of the feast of tabernacles eat, drink, be merry and 
grateful. It gave good opportunity for a wholesome exchange of ideas, 
social cultivation and the like. All the males were to attend the above 
three feasts, and women might if they chose. 

18-20. — The officers mentioned were to carry out the orders of higher 
power in Israel. The gate corresponded to our court house. The prohi- 
bition against gift taking explains itself, and the principle is recognized 
in all our common law. 

21, 22. — Groves were the high places of resort and worship for idol- 
aters. Israel was to avoid them, as being strong temptations toward 
idolatry. The pillars mentioned were usually set by the heathen altars. 

Ch. 17 :1. — Animals sacrificed to God must be the best. Any standard 
below that would vitiate the entire worship of the chosen family into a 
hollow pretense, by giving to God what they did not desire for themselves. 

2-7. — Idolatry must be prohibited at any cost. Every case must be 
sifted and dealt with, and that people might be careful about rash 
testimony the witnesses were obliged to cast the first stones. 

8-13. — "The Levitical priests, including the high priest, were members 
of the legislative assembly, forming one body called 'the judge.' Their 
sittings were held in the neighborhood of the sanctuary, because in great 
emergencies the high priest had to consult God by Urim." (J. F. B.) 
This was the supreme council, from which there was no appeal, and 
refusal to submit to it was punishable as treason. 

14-20. — Moses, understanding human nature, foresaw the very demands 
which actually came in the days of Samuel. This does not argue that 
God approved that demand. On the contrary he most unequivocally 
disapproved it. But the king must be an Israelite, he must not be a 
horse jockey (which, says Jamieson, would increase intercourse with 
foreign nations, especially Egypt, lead to pompous parade in time of 
peace and dependence on Egypt in time of war) ; he must not be a 
polygamist, as the kings of the nations around him ; he must have a copy 
of the law, and use it so as to rightly discharge his duties. 



152 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 18:1-8. — The Levites were supported by tithes, first fruits, and 
portions of other offerings. The Levites served in rotation, but one so 
choosing might serve continuously, that is, with each one of the three 
divisions of the Levites, What of property he might have in one of the 
Levitical cities was to effect his maintenance as a priest. 

9-14. — Warning after warning was given against the evil practices of 
the surrounding nations, but in spite of them all the Philistines were a 
constant menace and snare to Israel with their superstitious practices. 

16-22. — God, according to his promise here made, raised up prophets 
to instruct and guide Israel, until the last, the greatest, the consummation 
of all was embodied in Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:22, 23.) The declaration 
and teaching of God's will toward men is accomplished through human 
agency. See Luke 16:29-31. 

Ch. 19:1-13. — It will be clearly seen here that the object of the cities 
of refuge was to shield the one killing accidentally, and also preserve 
the intentional murderer until his guilt be officially declared and sen- 
tence passed. 

14. — It was necessary to have divine restrictions on the subject of 
landmarks in a country like Palestine, where boundaries were and yet 
are marked only by slight gutters of earth or small stones easily moved. 

15-21. — The regulation of court testimony hero specified is the basis 
of all similar laws recognized in civilized courts of today. 

Ch. 20:1-4. — The highest motive that can animate patriotism is a 
religious one. The best soldiers in all wars are the God-fearing men. 
Over and over again in the history of the past has this fact been dem- 
onstrated. 

5-9. — The four grounds of exemption from military duty are plain. 
It was deemed a great hardship to leave a house unfinished, a new 
property uncultivated, or a recently contracted marriage. It was very 
wise to leave out of the army the cowards who by their acts of cowardice 
spread panic among the better soldiers. 

10-15. — In the wars against nations not marked for utter destruction 
all possible mercy was to be shown. The men were to be spared if they 
would, but if not, at least the women and children were to be spared and 
incorporated with Israel. 

16-18. — The necessity of the utter destruction of the nations here 
named has already been discussed. The cup of their iniquity was full, 
and their utter annihilation was a mercy to themselves and all humanity. 

19, 20. — Fruit trees were to be spared. Fruit was the principal article 
of diet in those warm countries, and the reckless destruction of fruit 



DEUTERONOMY. 153 

trees would have been pure vandalism, and inexcusable from any stand- 
point. 

Ch. 21:1-9. — The ceremonies here described would rouse the public 
mind, kindle horror and indignation, as well as fear of God's judgment 
on the community, and so would be likely to lead to the discovery of the 
criminal and the suppression of crime in general. Every freeman would 
have a motive in suppressing crime. The highest type of civilization is 
that in which every person both keeps the law and impels others to do so. 

10-14. — In ancient times those who captured female slaves in war had 
undisputed control over their person. In contrast with those customs, 
which made the slave a mere animal, stands this law elevating them to 
the highest dignities of the chosen family of God. 

15-17. — The first verb in verse 15 should be rendered "have had." 
This case is not one of polygamy, but a case where the first wife has died. 
The tense of the following verbs confirm this view. The word hatred, as 
formerly explained, does not here convey the sense which we attach to 
the word, but simply that the love for the former was obscured by the 
love of the latter. From the earliest times the first born has been 
considered secoxd self of the father. 

18-21. — In the case of a rebellious son the two parents must be agreed 
and act in concert. The rule would prevent either from wronging a child 
in a fit of provocation or anger. Parents are God's representatives, and 
resisting proper obedience to them is resisting obedience to God. 

22, 23. — The land was not to be reproached with decaying bodies, a 
prey for fowls and ravenous beasts. Burial must follow speedily before 
that hot climate produced putrefaction. 

Ch. 22. — Verses 1-4 is the golden rule put onto two feet. It was simply 
treating another as one would himself be treated. It is held by some that 
the term brother here means any human being, known or unknown, a 
foreigner or even an enemy. 

5. — Disguises were used in heathen temples, where most loathsome 
levities were often practised. Any act which covers up the distinctions 
of nature opens the way for numberless evils. No wonder it was called an 
abomination to the Lord. 

G, 7. — Even if the birds were not suitable food, they were useful for 
keeping the country rid of destroying insects and reptiles. So in any 
event the mother bird must be left to propagate the species. 

8. — Those flat Eastern roofs were a great resort in evening for coolness. 
Accidents would be many unless a railing was put around the roof to 
prevent falling off. 



154 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

9. — It is well known that an indiscriminate mixture of seeds produced 
both diseased land and vegetation. Whitlaw says, "If the various genera 
of the natural order Graminea?, which includes the grains and grasses, 
should be sown in the same field, and flower at the same time, so that 
the pollen of the two flowers mix, a spurious seed will be the consequence, 
called by the farmers chess, and is always inferior, and unlike either of 
the two grains that produced it, in size, flavor and nutritious principles. 
Independently of contributing to disease the soil, they never fail to 
produce the same in animals and men that feed on them." 

Verse 10 strikes at another inhumanity. "An ox and an ass being of 
different species and of different characters, cannot associate comfortably, 
nor unite cheerfuly in drawing a plough or a wagon. The ass being 
much smaller and step shorter, there must be an unequal and irregular 
draught. Besides, the ass, from feeding on coarse and poisonous weeds, 
has a foetid breath, which its yoke fellow seeks to avoid, not only as 
poisonous and offensive, but producing leanness, or, if long continued, 
death; and hence it has been observed always to hold its head from the 
ass, and to pull only with one shoulder." (J. F. B.) 

11. — "The observations and researches of modern science have proven 
that 'wool when combined with linen increases its power of passing off 
the electricity from the body; in hot climates it brings on malignant 
fevers and exhausts the strength, and when passing off from the body it 
meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister." 
(Whitlaw.) 

The probable object of verse 12 was to furnish a means of readily 
identifying that article, since it was the one not to be taken as a pledge 
for debt, or if taken, to be returned before sundown. 

The test of 13-21 was to effectually discourage rash charges against a 
wife, or false charges raised simply to get free from her. Of course, 
however, if the charges be true, she was to pay the penalty. 

22-24. — The penalty for breaking the seventh commandment was 
death. The bethrothed was reckoned the wife of the other as much as if 
the marriage ceremony had actually taken place. 

25-29. — Rape was punishable by death if the woman belonged to 
another man. If a virgin, the act made her the wife of her violater, and 
he could not divorce her for any cause. 

Ch. 23 :1. — Entering the congregation of Israel was equivalent to being 
admitted to all the privileges of office in church and state. The Eastern 
habit among heathen of mutilating men that they might be made into 
domestic servants for the rich was to be forever prohibited in Israel by. 



DEUTERONOMY. 155 

degrading such from the coveted privileges of the chosen f amity. Parents 
would then shield their children from such indignities. 

2. — Illegitimate offspring of Israel with foreigners was to be discour- 
aged also. Foreigners must become real Israelites, or else be not entitled 
to Israelite privileges. Any other course would have soon destroyed 
the identity of the entire chosen family. 

3-6. — The Ammonites and Moabites, though related by blood, had by 
their contemptuous conduct forfeited all claim to social intercourse with 
Israel. So they were to be utterly disregarded. 

7, 8. — The Edomites, Esau's descendants, were to be kindly treated. 
They were very near relatives of Israel. The Egyptians also were to be 
kindly treated, since Israel had been slaves in their land. 

9-14. — The first great evidence of civilization and true religion is 
decency of personal habit and sanitary regulations such as here indicated. 
This would signally distinguish Israel from all their enemies, and their 
successes would lead the nations around to attach great value to these 
personal habits, and imitate them. 

15, 16. — Brown thinks verses 15 and 16 mean a servant of the 
Canaanites or some neighboring people, driven by the tyranny of his 
master or induced with a view of accepting true religion, to take refuge 
in Israel. 

17, 18. — Much is said in the Bible respecting the social evil because it 
strikes at the very root of all society. Its evil cannot be overestimated. 

19, 20. — The word usury has come to mean with us unlawful 
interest. Here it unquestionably means lawful interest. They were 
not to deal with each other for gain, but might so deal with nations whose 
business was borrowing and loaning for gain. 

21-23. — The people were to be taught that a vow made to the Lord 
was just as binding as a vow made to men. That point seems never yet 
to have been grasped by the human family. 

Verses 24, 25, "was a kindly privilege given the poor and wayfaring 
man, and in those countries where grapes were so cheap the quantity so 
plucked was a loss never felt by the proprietor." (J. F. B.) 

Ch. 24:1-4. — Lane says that "the practice of divorce was at this early 
period very prevalent among the Israelites, who had in all probability 
become familiar with it in Egypt." The act of Moses then, while toler- 
ating it, imposed conditions calculated to discourage it wholly, viz: 
putting the matter in written form, and making it impossible to undo 
the decision. 



156 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

The law of verse 5 cemented the newly formed union, and removed 
the tendency to divorces mentioned. 

6. — The millstone which was to grind the bread for each day was as 
necessary as an article of clothing. 

7. — Man stealing, that most abominable of all crimes, certainly merited 
instant and certain death. 

8, 9. — Leprosy was discussed at length in Leviticus. Moses warns 
the people to take close heed to those directions. The climate and the 
people with whom they came in touch would make that warning very 
pertinent. 

10-13. — Here is a most delicate touch of the better side of human 
nature. Staying outside would spare the feelings of the borrower. If 
very poor, the garment, which would be his covering at night, was to be 
returned the same day. 

14-22. — The four themes which close this chapter explain themselves. 
Justice, tempered with mercy, was the essence of the law. 

Ch. 25 :l-3. — In the case of punishment with stripes, forty was to be 
the limit. In all punishment they were to remember that the culprit 
was a fellow man. 

4. — In Eastern countries the grain was threshed by oxen, which day 
after day tramped round and round on the threshing floor. These 
animals were to be allowed to pick up a mouthful when they chose. 

5-10. — "This usage existed before the age of Moses (Genesis 38:8). 
But the Mosaic law rendered the custom obligatory (Matthew 22:25) on 
younger brothers, or the nearest kinsman, to marry the widow (Ruth 
4:4), by associating the natural desire of perpetuating a brother's name 
with the preservation of pro]3erty in the Hebrew families and tribes. In 
the event of the youngest brother declining to comply with the law, the 
widow brought her claim before the authorities of the place at a public 
assembly (the gate of the city), and he having declared his refusal, she 
was ordered to loosen the thong of his shoe — a sign of degradation — 
following up that act by spitting on the ground — the strongest expression 
of ignominy and contempt amongst Eastern people. The shoe was kept 
by the magistrate as an evidence of the transaction, and the parties 
separated." ( J. F. B.) 

11, 12. — Even in strife, the most sacred of all the organs of the body, 
those on which the very continuance of the species depended, were not to 
be made the target of vicious attack. 

13-16. — "Weights were anciently made of stone, and are frequently 
used still by Eastern shop keepers and traders, who take them out of the 



DEUTERONOMY. 157 

bag and put them in the balance. The man who is not cheated by the 
trader and his bag of divers weights must be blessed with more acuteness 
than most of his fellows." (Roberts.) 

17-19. — This cold-blooded and dastardly atrocity is not narrated in 
the previous history (Exodus 17:14). It was an unprovoked outrage 
on the law of nature and humanity, as well as a daring defiance of that 
God who had so signally shown his favor towards Israel (see I Samuel 
15:27). (Roberts.) 

Ch. 26:1-11. — No Israelite was at liberty to use any productions of his 
fields until he had presented the required offerings. After the land was 
settled this tribute was demanded and collected each year. Abram was 
a Syrian. The words "ready to perish" were better translated "wan- 
dering." Abram's ancestors were shepherds, and so wanderers in search 
of pastures. The ceremony here enjoined was well calculated to keep 
the people in grateful remembrance of God's providential care toward 
them. It was a time of national thanksgiving and rejoicing. 

12-15. — Among the Hebrews there were two tithings. The first was 
appropriated to the Levites. The second was a tenth of what remained, 
and each year was either brought to Jerusalem or converted into money, 
and the owner on arriving at Jerusalem bought what he wished (chapter 
14:22, 23) and ate it with his friends. On the third year this was to be 
given to the Levites and the poor. To have eaten of it in any period of 
mourning or to have handled it when the owner was ceremonially unclean 
would have defiled it. They were to give their best to God, and in most 
decorous manner. Such habits were great civilizers. 

16-19. — This pledge is the embodiments of all true religion. What is 
here mentioned concerning this peculiar people Israel is true of the entire 
Christian company, of which Israel was a picture. The covenant is 
between God and the entire human family., and reaches from the Garden 
of Eden to the end of time. 

Ch. 2T :l-8. — Here begins the third address of Moses. The covenant 
is renewed, and the people on passing into the land are to write the law 
on a stone monument. Some think the stones were painted white or 
whitewashed to make it more conspicuous. In any event such a monu- 
ment would be a national attraction, and its effect on the minds of the 
people would be as conspicuous and Listing as the monument itself. 

9-13. — The two mountains named were near Shechem (in what 
afterward was Samaria). They were about eight hundred feet high, and 
separated by a fertile valley five hundred yards wide. In this valley the 
priests, standing about the ark, turned to Gerezim and recited a blessing; 



158 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the people on that mountain responded "Amen." Then turning to Ebal, 
the priests recited a curse, and the people there said "Amen." 

14-26. — It is observed by scholars that the verb in verses 15-25 should 
be rendered is, making it a declaration and not a wish, as in the case with 
the rendering be. 

Ch. 28:1-14. — The blessings promised for future obedience were mar- 
velously fulfilled in the prosperous Israelite nation when they sought 
and served the Lord. Israel's civilization was the light of the world prior 
to the coming of the Messiah, and in him, the consummation and 
embodiment of all the truth which Judaism foreshadowed, the light 
will shine forever to all mankind. 

15-6S. — Xo less remarkable has been the fulfillment of the curses 
here mentioned. Israel, on account of idolatry, was repeatedly delivered 
into the hands of their enemies, until the great exile to Babylon finally 
cured them of that folly. And when, after God had restored and favored 
them again, they so closed their eyes against the light as to reject and 
crucify the Lord of Glory, they suffered the very essence of all curses, 
and as the consummation of all were scattered among the nations, a 
hissing and reproach, to learn by unspeakable suffering in the school of 
experience the omnipotence of truth. 

Ch. 29 :l-9. — Fittingly the minds of the people were turned back to 
providential leading that had brought them out of bondage. Here was 
undisputed evidence of how God cared for those who trusted him. 

10-29. — In the national exhortation here given, Moses speaks to the 
tribes there present, including the strangers among them, and also 
through them to all their posterity. Calamity was sure to follow disregard 
of God's instructions. It is no less true now than formerly. Every path 
contrary to right tends to inevitable destruction of body and soul. 

Ch. 30:1-20. — But behind the dark cloud of penalty was the light of 
promise. The way of restoration was plain. It depended then, as now, 
wholly upon the individual. The remedy was put within reach, carefully 
labeled, and no mistake need be made in its application. Obedience 
would undo the calamity and bring them again to rejoicing and favor. 
Authorities call attention to the fact that the latter part of verse 5 has 
never yet been fulfilled, and therefore the captivity of the past eighteen 
hundred years must be the captivity that fits that verse, and not the 
captivity in Babylon, as the Jew claims. The same "life and good — 
death and evil" are before us to choose. We are the legal successors of 
this chosen nation, and promises and warnings which concern them are 
as pertinent to us. 



DEUTERONOMY. 159 

Ch. 31 :l-6. — The great life work of Moses is now at its close. The 
grand old warrior, statesman and law-giver is about to go to his heavenly 
home. Though still in the strength of his best manhood, his work is 
completed. God has no more for him to do in this world. He exhorts 
the people not to fear their enemies, to remember the help they had 
received from God in the presence of former enemies, and to show their 
confidence by their actions. 

7, 8. — The young warrior Joshua, upon whom the mantle of Moses 
was to fall, received a special personal charge along the same line. This 
last strain of encouragement from their great leader would be long 
remembered, and be a great source of inspiration after the death of Moses. 

9-13. — It was wise to have a most accurate copy to deposit in the 
national archives to which. to refer in any case of necessity. The safest 
place in Judaism was with the ark of the covenant. Besides this there 
were other public and private copies of the law for daily public and 
private use. All governments imitate this example in keeping safely 
stowed away accurate copies of their enactments, and, as well, weights 
and measures used by them. On each Sabbatic year at the feast of the 
tabernacles the law was to be publicly read. Added to this the people 
were instructed in it weekly at the public gatherings and daily in their 
own homes. 

14-23. — The conference of Moses and Joshua with God was calculated 
to impress upon the mind of the young leader the danger into which 
Israel was likely to come, and so put him on his guard against these 
things. As a result of that conference we have the prophecy of Israel's 
apostasy, an extra charge to Joshua, and the song of Moses. The tent 
mentioned here is not the sacred tabernacle in which was the holy place 
and holy of holies, but the tabernacle of the congregation. 

24-30. — When Moses had finished writing this special copy of the law 
he called the priests to assume charge of it and put it with the ark of 
the covenant, some say in a little chest perhaps made especially. He 
takes this occasion to warn the priest of evil conduct in future, and also 
the elders and officers of Israel. When the evils he foretold came to pass 
Israel would recall this event and be likely to be self -convicted of their 
evil conduct here foretold by Moses. 

Ch. 32:1-6. — Here is one of the most perfect specimens of poetry in 
any language. Its object — ascription of greatness and praise to God — is 
the secret of its sublimity. Verse 5 alludes to the marks of their gods 
with which idolaters mark themselves. Still another rendering (see 



160 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

revised Bible) sanctions this thought: "It is their blemish that they are 
not his children." 

7-14. — The most intelligible rendering of verses 8 and 9. (sanctioned 
by eminent scholars) is this: "When the most high divided to the nations 
their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam and set the bounds 
of every people, the children of Israel were few in number when the 
Lord chose that people and made Jacob his inheritance." This agrees 
better with the context. "It is said that eaglets never learn to fly until 
their mother stirs up their too comfortable nest and pushes them from 
the ledge of the rock, where they must fall into the abyss or take to their 
wings. It is then that fluttering over them with anxious care she swoops 
beneath them and bears them on her wings." (Selected.) 

15-18. — Jeshurun is a poetical name for Israel. Their conduct is here 
compared to a spoiled animal, which by good keeping becomes vicious. 
Verse 17 is explained by Lev. 17:7, the reference being to satyrs. 

19-25. — God visits wrath on men by bringing upon them the results 
of their own conduct. Israel's national calamities were the direct result 
of those sins by which they forfeited God's protection. 

26, 27. — It is a well understood principle that God defers punishment 
of the wicked often out of regard for the righteous. The thought of 
verses 26 and 27 is that because of its effect on Israel's enemies he would 
not visit upon Israel their entire deserts. For righteousness' sake, i. e., 
that the world might not get a false idea of God and his promises, Israel 
would not be entirely discarded, as they deserved to be. 

28-30. — The utter stupidity of the unsaved world is plain by the way 
it disregards God in everything, as if there were no God. Exactly the 
phase of humanity which Moses here discusses is manifest in the unsaved 
masses of today. The ease with which Christian nations and Christian 
enlightenment hold supremacy over vastly greater numbers illustrates 
the truth in verse 30. 

31-35. — The reference in verse 32 is to a fruit which the Arabs call 
"Lot's sea orange." "Its color is bright yellow, and the fruit grows in 
clusters of three or four. When mellow it is tempting in appearance, 
but on being struck explodes like a puff ball, consisting of skin and fiber 
only." (J. F. B.) The trust and end of men who put God out of their 
plans is here accurately pictured. If God exists, if the universe is 
governed by law, if right is worthy to prevail over wrong, then a just 
penalty must be visited upon evil. God may do this largely by the 
operation of what we call natural law (God's habits). That he does 



DEL'TERONOMY. 161 

punish evil is no evidence of vindictiveness on his part. He must do so, 
if he remains just. 

36-43. — When bitter experience has taught God's children the hope- 
lessness of depending upon earthly things, and they turn again toward 
God, he hastens to forgive their misdeeds and moves to protect them 
against their enemies. 

44-47.— Lowth calls this song of Moses "The song of the dying swan." 
"It was designed to be a national anthem which it should be the duty 
and care of magistrates to make well known by frequent repetition, to 
animate the people to right sentiments and a steadfast adherence to God's 
service." (J. F. B.) Once more and for the last time Moses exhorts 
the people to keep the law of God. 

48-52. — The Lord now commands Moses to go up the mount (Pisgah) 
that he might see the Promised Land, reminding him he could not go 
into the land. Xo trait of Moses' character better commends him than 
the quiet resignation with which he received this prohibition from God. 

Ch. 33 :l-29. — But before he goes he utters a parting blessing on the 
tribes. Verses 2-4 refer to the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai. The 
blessings on the various tribes refer largely to their individual traits and 
to their tribal history; e. g., verses 8 and 9 refer to the zeal with which 
the Levites supported God's cause, and chastised even their nearest 
relatives in the idolatry of the golden calf. Verse 12, Benjamin had his 
inheritance assigned near the temple of God. 18, 19, "Both Zcbulun and 
Issachar should traffic with the Phoenicians in gold and silver, pearl and 
coral, especially in mdrex, the shell fish that yielded the famous Tyrian 
dye, and in glass which was manufactured from the sand of the river 
Belus." (Jamieson.) Verse 21, the settlement assigned to Dan in the 
south proved too small. "By a sudden and successful irruption he 
established a colony in the extreme north." The dipping of the foot in 
oil probably refers to the habit of crushing out olive oil by foot presses. 
The word "bars" in verse 25 should be read "shoes." 

Ch. 34:1-4. — We can scarcely imagine the scene that must have been 
enacted when the old hero left the people for the ascent. They knew they 
should never see him again on earth. It is said that the atmosphere of 
that land is so free from vapor that the sight is carried to immense 
distances. 

5-8. — It is held by some that after viewing the land he entered a cave 
and died there, and was buried by angels. Verse 7 shows that he was 
still in his primeval strength of body. The usual seven days of mourning 
was lengthened to thirty days for this leader of eminent rank. 



162 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

9. — Brown called attention to the fact that Joshua was not the successor 
of Moses, since he was neither a prophet nor a civil ruler, but a military 
leader to conquer Canaan and locate the tribes. 

10-12. — The eulogy of Moses by the writer of this last chapter is self- 
explanatory and manifestly just. 



JOSHUA. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Seeing that Moses kept a strict record not only of the events which led 
up to the Exodus, but of the going of the Hebrews from Egypt and their 
turning into a nation which headed the civilization of the world, it is 
most natural that Joshua, his successor as leader of Israel, should feel 
duty bound to record carefully the events of his administration. It is 
likely that Joshua wrote of the death of Moses and appended it as a 
fitting close of the Pentateuch, just as some one later wrote of the death 
of Joshua, and annexed it to this book. The history of this book begins 
about 1451 years B. C, or forty years after the Exodus. Joshua was 
forty-live years old when the people left Egypt, and when he takes up 
the leadership is eighty-five. He was one of the two faithful spies who 
brought back a proper report from Canaan. He was a trained and 
skillful warrior, and served in that capacity under Moses for forty years, 
and now has the distinguished privilege of leading Israel into Canaan. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-9 Command of God to Joshua. 
10, 11 Command of Joshua to the officers. 
12-18 Charge to the two and one-half tribes. Their reply. 
Chapter 2. 
1-24 Story of the two spies. 

1 Their mission to Jericho. 
2, 3 Anxiety of the king. 
4-6 Their concealment by Eahab. 
7 Their pursuers. 
8-21 Covenant between Rahab and the spies. 
22 'Their concealment in the mountains. 
23, 24 Their return to Joshua. 



JOSHUA. 163 

Chapter 3. 

1 Removal of the camp to Jordan. 
2-4 Command of the officers to Israel. 
5, 6 Command of Joshua to people and priests. 
7, 8 Message of God to Joshua. 
9-13 Message given to the people. 
14-17 Passage of the Jordan by Israel. 

Chapter 4. 

1-8 Monument of twelve stones from the Jordan. 
9 Monument of twelve stones in the Jordan. 
10-18 Removal of the ark from Jordan. 

1 9 Date of the passage. 
20-24 Place of the stone monument from Jordan. 

Chapter 5. 

1 Fear of the Canaanites. 
2-9 Circumcision at Gilgal. 
10, 11 Observance of the Passover. 

12 Ceasing of the manna. 
13-15 Joshua and the divine warrior. 

Chapter 6. 
1-25 Siege of Jericho. 

1-5 God's orders to Joshua. 
6-9 Their execution. 
10-14 Rules of the march. Six days. 
15, 16 Seventh day march. 
17-19 Charge of Joshua about the spoils. 

20 Falling of the walls. 
21-25 Destruction of the inhabitants. Treatment of Rahab. 
26, 27 Curse on the rebuilder of the city. 

Chapter 7. 

1 Sin of Achan. 
2-5 Defeat of Israel at Ai. 
6-9 Plea of Joshua to God. 
10-15 God's orders about finding the sinner. 
16-21 Execution of the orders. Achan's confession. 
22, 23 Finding of the hidden spoil. 
24-26 Destruction of Achan. 



164 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 8. 

1, 2 God cheers Joshua with promise. 

3-8 Joshua's plan of attack upon Ai. 

9-13 Execution of the plan. 

14-17 Attack of the enemy. 

18-29 Destruction of the city and its people. 

30-35 The altars in Ebal. The blessings and curses. 

Chapter 9. 

1, 2 Combination of kings against Israel. 

3-13 Trick of the Gibeonites to make peace with Israel. 
14,15 The league. 
16-27 Their punishment. 

Chapter 10. 

1-5 The league of five kings against the Gibeonites. 
6 Their appeal to Joshua for help. 
7-15 The battle. Lengthening of the day. 
16-21 Hiding of the five kings from the slaughter. 
22-27 Joshua humbles and executes them. 

28 Conquest of Makkedah. 
29, 30 Conquest of Libnah. 

31-33 Conquest of Lachish. Destruction of the Gezerites. 
34, 35 Conquest of Eglon. 
36, 37 Conquest of Hebron. 
38, 39 Conquest of Debir. 
40-43 Summary of conquests. 

Chapter 11. 

1-9 Battle of Merom. 
10-14 Destruction of Hazor. Conquest of other cities. 
15-20 Summary. 
21-23 Destruction of the Anakin. 

Chapter 12. 

1-6 Conquests of Moses. 
7-24 Conquests of Joshua. 



JOSHUA. 165 



Chapter 13. 

1-6 The unconquered land. 
7 Order to divide the land west of Jordan. 
8-14 The possessions east of Jordan. 
15-23 Reuben's boundaries. 
24-28 Gad's boundaries. 
29-31 Boundaries of the one-half tribe. 
32, 33 Levi's inheritance. 

Chapter 14. 

1-5 Disposal of the land west of Jordan. 
6-15 The inheritance of Caleb. 

Chapter 15. 

1-12 Judah's boundaries. 
13-19 Caleb's conquests. An incident. 
20-62 The cities of Judah. 
63 The Jebusites. 

Chapter 16. 

1-17-18 Inheritance of Joseph's children. 
1-4 Allotment of the two tribes. 
5-10 Boundaries of Ephraim. 

Chapter 17. 

1-13 Boundaries of Manasseh. 
14-18 Their appeal to Joshua. 

Chapter 18. 

1 Removal of the tabernacle to Shiloh. 
2-9 The surveyors of seven remaining tribes. 
10 The allotment at Shiloh. 
11-20 Boundaries of Benjamin. 
21-28 Their cities. 

Chapter 19. 

1-9 Simeon's inheritance. 

10-16 Boundaries of Zebulun. 

17-23 Boundaries of Issachar. 

24-31 Boundaries of Asher. 

32-39 Boundaries of Naphtali. 

40-48 Boundaries of Dan. 

49-51 Inheritance of Joshua. 



166 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 20. 

1-9 The six cities of refuge. 

Chapter 21. 
1-42 Distribution of the Levitical cities. 

1-3 The Levites ask for their inheritance. 
4, 5 Lot of the Kohathites. 
6 Lot of the Gershonites. 
7, 8 Lot of the Merarites. 
9-19 The thirteen cities of Aaron. 
20-26 The ten cities for the remaining Kohathites. 
27-33 The thirteen cities for the Gershonites. 
34-40 The twelve cities for the Merarites. 
41, 42 Summary. 
43-45 Fulfillment of God's promises. 

Chapter 22. 

1-9 Dismission of the two and one-half tribes. 
10 Their altar at Jordan. 
11-20 The committee from the nine and one-half tribes. 
21-29 Answer of the two and one-half tribes. 
30,31 Satisfaction of the committee. 
32, 33 Their report to the nine and one-half tribes. 

34 Xame of the altar. 
Chapter 23. 
1-1 G Exhortation of Joshua to the tribes. 
1-4 Their past help from God. 
5-10 Their promised future help. 
11-16 Warning. 
Chapter 24. 
1-25 Final address of Joshua. 

1-13 Keview from Terah to the possession of Canaan. 
14, 15 Final decision exhorted. 
16-18 Answer of the people. 
19, 20 Joshua's warning. 

21 Answer of the people. 
22-25 Covenant between Joshua and the people. 
26-28 Writing of the vow. The stone pillar. 
29-31 Death of Joshua. 

32 Burial of Joseph's bones. 

33 Death of Eleazar. 



JOSHUA. 167 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-9. — Now that Moses the servant of the Most High is dead, God 
appoints Joshua to lead Israel over into Canaan and conquer the land. 
In this charge God three times warns Joshua that to keep the law 
thoroughly means prosperity and good success. 

10, 11. — Joshua commands the people now through their officers to 
prepare for entrance into Canaan immediately. Here was a privilege 
which the grand old warrior and lawgiver would have exceedingly 
enjoyed. Joshua's name originally was Oshea, but was changed to Joshua 
(Savior). 

12-18. — The reply of the two and one-half tribes to the charge of 
Joshua to them shows their desire and purpose to be honest and efficient 
in duty to God and their brethren. The harsh lessons of the wilderness 
had been profitable schooling. 

Ch. 2:1. — Joshua relied on the Lord for victory, but adopted every 
precaution to insure success from a human standpoint. "In the prospect 
of investing Jericho it was desirable to get full information as to its site, 
its approaches, the character and resources of its inhabitants." (J. F. B.) 
It is, by some, supposed that their mission was concealed from the 
Israelites themselves, lest some exaggerated report might produce a 
similar effect to that of the spies in the days of Moses. 

2, 3. — In a time like that the king of Jericho would have sentinels 
posted to watch every movement of the enemy, and report to the king. 
The presence of such a powerful foe, with its reputation for conquest, 
and with its face turned toward Jericho, would make the king tremble 
day and night. 

4-6. — The woman expected a search after the men. The flat housetop 
of the East was a good place to dry vegetable matter, and in this instance 
afforded a good shelter for the spies. The entire social make-up of the 
Orient holds lying to be a virtue when it seems to best serve the purpose. 
Tt is in no wise remarkable that we find it cropping out in Rahab's char- 
acter, but the conversation which followed showed to advantage another 
side of her character. 

7. — The closing of the gates secured the city from dangers without, 
and also seemed likely to secure any spies who might be within it. The 
pursuers would naturally expect these two strangers to be on their way 
back toward their camp if they had left the city. 

8-21. — The talk between Eahab and the spies after the pursuers had 
gone showed that the surrounding nations had become familiar with the 



168 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

story of the Exodus, and also showed the feeling of these people in view 
of the coming of Israel. There can be no reasonable doubt that these 
Canaanite tribes felt the justness of the destruction which they feared 
was now about to fall on them. Evil doers know their deserts, even 
though they be unwilling to acknowledge them to men. The wall of the 
town formed the rear wall of the house, and she probably let the men 
through a rear window and down over the wall. The utmost secrecy 
would be necessary to enable her to carry out the arrangements with. the 
spies without interference on the part of the townsmen. 

22. — The mountain referred to was north of Jericho, where the hills 
rise to twelve hundred or fifteen hundred feet in height, and are per- 
forated with caves. 

23, 24. — In the report, the spies mentioned the fear which the Canaan- 
ites showed as evidence of the ease and certainty with which Israel might 
conquer all the land. Confidence is always a large element of success 
in any enterprise. 

Ch. 3:1. — And now the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were 
about to be fulfilled. The people break camp on the borders of the land, 
and begin to move toward the river. 

2-4. — On the ordinary march the ark was kept in the center, as it was 
also during camp. In the march it was carried by the Kohathites, but now 
it was to go before all the hosts and be carried by the priests. In the 
wilderness marches the guiding cloud was doubtless high up and far 
ahead, indicating only the general direction of the march, leaving them 
to choose for themselves the details of the route. Hence the pertinence of 
the statement by Moses to Hobab, "Thou mayst be to ns instead of eyes," 
that is, select for us the details of the way. Now as they proceed to 
cross the river the ark carried by the priests is to lead, and the people 
are to keep far enough behind (about one mile) to allow the ark to be 
clearly seen by the hosts, and so recognized as a guide. 

5-8. — Joshua calls on the people to set themselves apart for the work 
God has for them, and commands the priests to move toward Jordan. 
The priests bearing the ark were made subject to the directions of Joshua. 
He commanded the priests when they came down into the bed of the river 
to the water side to wait until the people came up, and further instruc- 
tions be given. 

9-13. — Joshua now tells the people what shall happen, and urges it as 
an evidence that God will drive before them the evil inhabitants of the 
land. There was to be taken for a witness a man from each tribe. The 
carriers of the ark were to walk into the water of the river, and as they; 



JOSHUA. 169 

did so the flow of the river was to cease and allow the people to go over 
dry shod. Faith then was necessary to operate the plan; the priests 
must dip their feet into the swollen stream and depend on God for results. 

14-17. — The carrying out of these orders was the most marked miracle 
since the passage of the Red Sea. The old warrior Moses had led them 
dry shod through the sea out of bondage; the young warrior Joshua 
through Jordan into Canaan. This "time of harvest" was about April, 
when the snows of Lebanon were melting and the stream swollen. The 
Jordan falls one thousand feet from Galilee to the Dead Sea, and so the 
current is very swift. 

Ch. 4:1-8. — It is supposed that the twelve men taken as witnesses of 
Joshua's promise of the miracle were the ones who took the stones from 
the bed of Jordan. It was customary to build a stone monument io 
commemorate any event of importance, and the object of such monument 
would be told and retold, and so without an inscription the history would 
be preserved. This monument was set up at Gilgal, where Israel 
encamped. 

9. — A monument built in the river would be preserved for an 
indefinitely long time. "This day mentioned in verse 9 refers to the 
time when this history was written, at least twenty years after the event, 
and probably much more. The knowledge of such a monument would 
be a constant reminder to the people of that picture of the priests 
standing with unfaltering faith immediately below the heaped up 
waters, while all the people passed below them over the pebbly bottom of 
the river bed. Possibly the top of this monument could ordinarly be seen 
above the water of the river. 

10-18. — Such an event would put Joshua very high in the estimation 
of the people. The high priest and his helpers were subject to the orders 
of God through Joshua, just as they had been through Moses. 

19. — The tenth day of the month was the time when the lamb was 
selected for the Passover. They were to keep this feast of the Passover 
in the land of Canaan, exactly forty years after the slaying of Egypt's 
first born and the Exodus. It was not God's intention, however, that 
they should spend all that time in the wilderness. Had their faith been 
as it ought, they would have gone immediately out of Egypt overland 
to Canaan, i. e., they would have stepped out of Egypt into the land of 
their inheritance. Gilgal was six and one-half miles from Jordan and 
one and one-quarter miles from Jericho. 

20-24. — The monument at Gilgal would be a lasting object lesson to 
this young nation. It kept fresh in mind the passage of Jordan and also 



170 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the first encampment in the land of promise; it taught young Israel, 
it inspired the heathen around with a sense of God's almightiness. 

Ch. 5 :1. — Those people in the west of the land by the sea were called 
Canaan ites. The drying up of a swollen stream would destroy the last 
ray of their hope that Israel's conquest would be delayed by the barrier 
of the high river. 

2-9. — The knives mentioned are supposed to have been made of flint. 
The people who had been born in the wilderness were left uncircumcised, 
and the force of verse 2 is, "take up again the delayed rite." Why it 
had been omitted does not appear clearly. There are some two or three 
opinions, but none of them are very weigh ty. Jamieson thinks the 
language warrants belief in a general circumcising perhaps of the mixed 
multitude which followed Israel at the time of the Passover celebrated 
at Mount Sinai. Keil says, "Taunts were industriously cast by the 
Egyptians upon Tsrael as nationally rejected of God by the cessation of 
circumcision, and the renewal of the rite was a practical announcement 
of the restoration of the covenant." The word Gilgal means rolling. 

10, 11. — At their first Passover feast in the land of promise they tasted 
the products of the earth in their new home. Whether they bought the 
grain or whether they found it in the abandoned granaries of the fleeing 
inhabitants of the land we are left to infer. The new grain which they 
would roast would likely be at that time shocked in the field. 

12. — And now that they are supplied with food, that continuous 
miracle, the fall of manna, ceases. 

13-15. — The appearance of this heavenly messenger to the leader 
Joshua was similar to the appearance to Moses at the burning bush. 
Joshua's reverence is prompt and emphatic, and he shows readiness to 
obey orders. Ready reverence and prompt obedience is our only hope 
of acceptably serving God. 

Ch. 6 :l-9. — Joshua recognizes the authority of the heavenly messenger, 
and awaits orders. Doubtless the order in verses 1-5 is given to Joshua 
by this messenger. Whether the event here described be a vision or a 
tangible reality matters nothing. The charge was an exceedingly impor- 
tant one, and it was necessary that Joshua be encouraged. This messenger 
gives orders to Joshua as the angel of the burning bush did to Moses. 
Moses saw God in the bush, burning but not consumed, typifying God's 
power to bring Israel unscathed out of the Egyptian furnace of affliction. 
Joshua saw God in the warrior typifying the power that was to drive 
Israel's enemies out of Canaan. 

10-14. — First went the warriors armed. Then the seven trumpeters, 



JOSHUA. 171 

then the priests carrying the ark, then the people. The circuit was made 
in silence save the blowing of trumpets by the priests, and Israel went 
into camp. This simple routine was followed for six days. There are 
those who believe that while the enemy had their attention held by the 
continuous prospect of attack, Israel had men stealthily destroying the 
bottom of the walls day by day. See whether or not you can find anything 
that will prove this view untenable. 

15, 16. — On the seventh day the city was gone around seven times. 
The frightened city would likely keep its warriors within the walls 
following around opposite the Israelite warriors without. "But they 
would not be able to see what might be going on immediately under the 
walls." 

17-19. — Everything of the city was to be devoted to God as the first 
fruits of Canaan. The lives were sacrificed to him, and the metals put 
into his treasury. No Israelite had any right to take any spoil from 
Jericho for his own use. 

20. — According to the above mentioned theory the weakened points in 
the wall would be by the end of the seventh day ready to fall when the 
tremendous vibrations of a great noise should shake them. It is con- 
tended, however, that there is nothing in the text to prohibit the 
conclusion that the workers beneath the walls had all things in readiness 
to pull down at that time great breaches in the wall. 

21-25. — It is evident that portions of the wall were left standing. 
Eahab's house was on the wall. Authorities cite the middle of verse 25 
as evidence that this book was written shortly after the events related. 
The family of Rahab was temporarily excluded from the camp of Israel 
until ceremonially cleansed from idolatry, and so fitted for admission 
into the family of God. 

26, 27. — Joshua imposed on his countrymen an oath binding them and 
their posterity never to rebuild Jericho. The terms were that the 
beginning of the task would cost the builder his eldest and the completion 
of it would cost him his last son. (See I Kings, five hundred and fifty 
years later.) 

Ch. 7 'A . — It had been distinctly stated in the charge to Joshua about 
the spoils that all were to go into the treasury of the Lord. Achan of 
course knew this, and so was guilty of robbing the sacred treasury.. 

2-5. — The defeat at Ai brought them suddenly to a realization of their 
being left alone of God. Israel forsaken of God was no more than any 
other roving band of that day and country, and without a sense of God 



172 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

with them would doubtless have iguominiously fled from Canaan back to 
the haunts of speechless misery in Egyptian bondage. 

6-9. — Joshua did not know what was the matter. He becomes desper- 
ately in earnest. A national crisis is at hand. In spite of all the teachings 
and the charges, Israel is fleeing before the enemy, and what hope has the 
nation ? Joshua's bitterness of soul must have been terrific. 

10-15. — God's orders to Joshua must have brought vividly before him 
the charge regarding spoils. There was sin in camp, and Joshua must 
take active measures to find it. God did not tell him directly who had 
sinned, but roused the whole nation to expectation, self-examination and 
a realization of the enormity of the offense and the fearful results of sin 
on the whole body of people. 

16-21. — It is scarcely to be wondered at that Achan, having endured 
the torture of seeing the process of lot taking slowly but surely point 
him out as a culprit, would, when the lot fell upon him individually, be 
brought up to the point where it must be confession or distraction. 

22, 23. — The sending of messengers to verify the confession by bringing 
the spoils was good legal conduct. Even confession was not allowed to 
convict a man without the weight of all other available evidence. 

24-26. — There is no proof that the family of Achan was put to death. 
If they were, it was because they were accomplices. They were probably 
taken to be spectators and take warning from Achan's fate. The "them" 
mentioned as burned (verse 25) was doubtless the immediate belongings 
of Achan, and the act of burning marked them as accursed with Achan. 
For the sake of the whole people it was necessary to make a marked 
example of this case. 

Ch. 8 :1, 2. — Xow that Israel has shown a disposition to do right and 
get right, God promises to Joshua perfect success in the fight against 
Ai. Israel, however, was to use every precaution to asssure their own 
success. The entire force was to go, partly, perhaps, to guard against 
panic or discouragement, and partly to enable all Israel through their 
representative warriors to share the spoils. By lying concealed the 
warriors who were to plunder the city could do so without loss of their 
number when the warriors of Ai were drawn out after the main force of 
Israel. The sight of the burning city was to be the signal to the main 
force, who were apparently fleeing before the enemy, to turn and smite 
them. 

3-8. — Joshua drew up his forces across the valley from Ai on the north 
side, and in sight of the city. The whole city would of course direct 
attention to his movements, and come against him. Those who were 



JOSHUA. 173 

concealed on the west of the city would therefore be unnoticed by people 
who sent out no scouts. 

9-17. — Joshua began to run, he and his warriors, to draw the warriors 
of Ai from their city. The words "or Bethel" (a city northwest from Ai) 
are rejected by many manuscripts as an interpolation. The city was 
left entirely unprotected. If the warriors of Bethel joined, they were 
probably in the city of Ai with the force of that city. 

18-29. — Joshua now gives a signal to the men in ambush, and they 
swarmed into the city and set it on fire. The sight of their city on fire 
utterly confused the pursuing warriors, and the turning of Joshua and 
his hosts against them made the rout complete. The warriors of Israel 
who had been concealed pouring out of the burning city against them as 
they returned put the men of Ai between two forces of Israelite warriors. 
The king was publicly hanged as the leader of the infamous city. His 
grave was put at the gate and a heap of stones raised over it to mark 
the spot with infamy, and after the slaughter of the inhabitants the city 
was made a heap of ruins to be a standing monument of God's penalties 
for sin. The destruction of these tribes from the earth was a blessing 
to all humanity, even to the culprits themselves. It is likely that the 
little ones were taken by Israel as part of the prey and adopted and 
absorbed in the chosen family. 

30-3"5. — Ebal is said to be twenty miles from Ai. The order of God 
to Moses was now to be carried out. An altar was built and sacrifices 
offered, and on the stones was written the law. Whether this writing 
was done on the stones of the altar or on other stones set up for the 
purpose is a question. Here the law was read and the blessings and 
curses pronounced as directed by Moses. 

Ch. 9:1, 2. — It is hardly to be wondered at that the kings would 
combine against Israel. The territory mentioned in verse 1 embraces 
nearly the whole of Canaan. They saw that their only hope of life (aside 
from repenting of their sins) lay in combining against Israel. Eepen- 
tance has always been unpopular with the human family, and is too often 
resorted to only when all other hopes fail, and then is usually found to be 
everlastingly too late. 

3-13. — The town of Gibeon was on a rocky height six miles northwest 
from Jerusalem. These men were skilful enough with their deception 
to omit all references to the battles of Israel in Canaan, so as to verify 
their claim to be foreigners by leading Israel to infer that they had not 
heard of the late conquests, and so were strangers there. Here again is 
evidence that men are averse to repentance. They were not willing to 



174 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

turn to God and become a part of the chosen family, but sought to retain 
their old conditions by adding a little more sin to it and catching Israel 
by guile. 

14, 15. — Their pretended religious motives and general appearance 
of them completely deceived Israel. The eating of their victuals wa« 
a declaration of peace. 

16-27. — But the covenant made could not be broken. Authorities 
claim that the rendering of verse 17 should be, "When the children of 
Israel journeyed, etc.," indicating that they found out this condition 
when they came to Gibeon. To make them bondmen and workers subject 
to this chosen ^nation was to bestow on them a great religious privilege. 
Probably the mass of the Israelites would have broken the covenant and 
slain them, but Joshua and the elders would not allow it. They were to 
be made to do the menial work about the altar, so filling their minds with 
religious rites of Israel, crowding out their idolatry, and by degrading 
them to an abject condition removing Israel from the liability to copy 
their former idolatry. 

Ch. 10 :l-5. — Five kings now combine against Gibeon when they hear 
of the league of the Gibeonites with Israel. The name of the king of 
Jerusalem meant "lord of righteousness." It seems to indicate that in 
bygone days the city had been the dominion of Melchizedec. 

6-9. — The Gibeonites now reap the benefit of their league with Israel. 
Joshua moves at once against their enemies, in answer to their appeal 
for his help. God assures Joshua that all will be well. 

10-15. — As these combined enemies fled before Israel a tremendous 
hail storm slew many of them. Hailstones in the Oriental storm are 
said to be as large as walnuts, often as large as two fists. "The light of 
the sun and moon was supernaturally prolonged by the same laws of 
refraction and reflection that ordinarily cause the sun to appear above 
the horizon when it is in reality below it." (Kiel. Bush.) The book 
of Jasher was a collection of national songs, recounting the deeds of 
national heroes. Verses 12-15 are supposed to be a quotation from that 
book. 

16-21. — While the enemy was being pursued the five kings hid in a 
cave at Makkedah. Joshua camped there and sealed up the kings in the 
cave while the enemy were being run down. 

22-27. — After the people were returned from the conquest these kings 
were brought out and the leaders of Israel put their feet on their necks 
as an indication of the complete dominion Israel was to have over all 



JOSHUA. 175 

their enemies. The kings were then publicly slain and hanged as an 
indication of their infamy. 

28-43. — Seven other kings are now mentioned as being conquered 
before Joshua returned to Gilgal, making fourteen kings conquered since 
coming across Jordan. 

Ch. 11:1-9. — Israel now moves from Gilgal northward. Merom is a 
little body of water north of the sea of Galilee. The word "Jabin" means 
"intelligent," and seems to have been a hereditary title. The tribes 
around him seem to have been tributary to Hazor. Josehus says the 
combined forces amounted to three hundred thousand infantry, ten 
thousand cavalry and twenty thousand war chariots. God again renews 
the promises to Joshua, because such an array against him would be likely 
to cause great anxiety to Joshua. "Houghing the horses is done by 
cutting the sinews and arteries of the hind legs, thus hopelessly crippling 
and bleeding them to death. Keeping horses out of the hands of the 
Israelites would discourage their traveling and make them an agricultural 
and not a trading people." (J. F. B.) 

10-14. — The utter destruction of the city which was the recognized 
head of all this northern country would thoroughly discourage the 
opposition. "The battle of Lake Merom was to the north what the 
battle of the five kings was to the south — the decisive conflict by which 
the whole northern region of Canaan fell into the hands of Israel." 
(Stanley.) 

15-20. — The summary of verses 15-20 sweeps over the entire land of 
Canaan. Halak is south of the Dead Sea, Lebanon is in the extreme 
north of the land. All the strongholds of the country were destroyed by 
Israel. 

21-23. — The "hill country" is that part of Palestine south of Jerusa- 
lem. Bethlehem, five miles south of Jerusalem, is mentioned in Luke 
as the "hill country" (Lukel:39). The chief inhabitants were Anakim, 
a race of giants of whom the people were so afraid in the days of Moses 
when the spies brought back their report. Their chief city was Hebron, 
which became the possession of Caleb, as will appear in chapter 15. 
After this the Anakim vanish from history. 

Ch. 12:1-6. — Already the conquests made east of the Jordan under 
Moses have been noticed. A few additional places are mentioned in 
verses 1-G. The country reached from the Arnon Eiver on the south to 
Mount Hermon on the north. 

7-24. — The west side conquered by Joshua contained six principal 



176 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

tribes, and has mentioned here thirty-one cities, the seats of as many 
kings of petty tribes. 

Ch, 13:1-6. — Here is a parenthesis noting certain powerful tribes not 
yet conquered, but which Israel was charged to drive out. The first 
named tribes were in the far south toward Egypt. The last named were 
in the far north and along the western border. God's promise to assist 
them in driving out the evil inhabitants of Palestine was conditioned 
on their good behavior. As a matter of fact they never did drive them 
all out, as will appear later, though the dominion of the great kings 
David and Solomon extended over these various peoples. 

7. — Joshua was ordered to divide the land west of the Jordan among 
the nine and one-half tribes. The division was to be by lot. By this 
plan none of the tribes would have any grounds of complaint in future. 
Here is evidence that God's hand was in the matter; each tribe received 
what was foretold by Jacob and Moses in the final blessing of each. 
(Gen. 49. Deut. 33.) 

8-14. — The writer here throws in another parenthesis giving the boun- 
daries of the possessions east of Jordan. This description would be an 
official record for future reference. The entire scope occupied by the two 
and one-half tribes was at first bounded in one body. 

15-23. — Now the possessions of Eeuben are particularly described. 
This was the lower part of the possessions named reaching from the 
river Arnon up to about opposite Jericho. 

24-28. — Gad's territory comes next, and reaches from the north line 
of Eeuben's to the sea of Galilee. 

29-31. — The territory of the half tribes of Manasseh extended north 
from the south end of Galilee to Mount Hermon. The line between 
it and the territory of Gad ran .from the southern end of the sea of 
Galilee in a southeasterly direction. 

32, 33. — The tribe of Levi was to receive no extended territory like the 
other tribes, but was scattered among the eleven tribes, to be religious 
leaders of them all, and to be supported by them all. It will be noticed 
that both the sons of Joseph received allotments of land, thus making 
twelve allotments of territory. 

Ch. 14 :l-5. — Now mention is made of the disposal of the land west of 
Jordan. The high priest, as the representative of God was first named, 
then Joshua, the recognized leader of the hosts, and associated with them 
were representatives of all the tribes. 

6-15. — Numbers 14:24 gives a promise of Moses to Caleb forty-five 
years before this division of the land. That promise is now made good, 



JOSHUA. 177 

and those same mountains of Hebron, dwelt in by the Anakims whom the 
ten spies were afraid of, was now given to Caleb for a personal possession, 
and he was to have the personal satisfaction of subduing these "giants." 
It must have been an impressive scene when those two true men — the 
only two remaining of those who were men when the people were turned 
back to the wilderness — now standing in the promise land, refer to that 
painful story of the spies, and Caleb claims the reward God had promised 
him at that time. Joshua blesses Caleb and gives him his inheritance. 

Ch. 15 :1-12. — The territory of Judah comes first on the south. It 
was bounded on the east by the Dead Sea. Toward the west the territory 
gradually ran toward a point, the northern boundary, after passing 
Jerusalem, running southwest and the southern boundary running north- 
west. 

13-19. — In the territory of Judah was Hebron, the inheritance of 
Caleb. Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, and was the great-grandson 
of Pharez (son of Judah and Tamar). It is probable that the incident 
here related was a part of the war related in chapter 11 :21-23, and that 
Caleb was set by Joshua to be the military leader in that campaign. This 
young Othniel here mentioned became the first judge in Israel. 

20-63. — The Jebusites were the inhabitants of Jebus (Jerusalem) and 
that city, while it lost its king in the day of battle in which the day was 
lengthened at Joshua's request, yet their city was not completely con- 
quered until David took it, and even then some Jebusites were spared. 
At the time when Joshua was dividing the land west of Jordan it had 
been some seven years since the siege of Jericho. 

Ch. 16:1-4. — The land of the two children of Joseph reached from 
Jericho north to Succoth. The north line ran northwesterly to near Mount 
Carmel. They had the seacoast south to a stream just north of Joppa. 
The southern boundary, leaving the river five miles from the coast, runs 
south to Gezer, east to Bethhoron, then northward to Hazor and southeast 
to Jericho. 

5-10. — Ephraim occupied the southern part of this territory and 
Manasseh the northern. The line between them ran just north of Tirziih. 

Ch. 17 :1-13. — The territory given here to Manasseh was for the half 
tribe. The other half, it will be remembered, was located east of Jordan. 
The daughters of Zelophehad received their inheritance in this tribe, as 
the Lord had commanded Moses. 

14-18. — The complaint which these two tribes laid before Joshua was 
a legitimate outgrowth of their indolent policy which neglected the divine 
command (Deut. 20:16-18). They were not to allow these nations to 



178 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

retain their place and identity amidst Israel. They were to be utterly 
destroyed as nations. Joshua's answer left no room for them to contend. 
They called themselves a great people. Then said Joshua, drive out the 
heathen from your country as the Lord commanded you. 

Ch. 18 :1. — Shiloh was about twenty-five miles north of Jerusalem, and 
about midway from Bethel to Shechem, in the southern part of the 
territory assigned to Ephraim. The headquarters had been at Gilgal 
until now, the place where Joshua had renewed the ceremony of circum- 
cision, and where the manna had ceased. The ark remained at Shiloh 
for more than three hundred years. It had been seven years at Gilgal. 
It is probable that representatives of all the tribes came together on the 
great occasion of moving the sacred tent. This is its first recorded move 
since its coming into Canaan. Now Shiloh becomes the place where 
the people must go to worship. 

2-9. — Five of the tribes had now been assigned possessions. The land 
in general had been conquered. The completion of that work must be 
done by each tribe in its own territory. They were slow to leave their 
pleasant headquarters and go to the unpleasant task of subduing all their 
enemies. Joshua stirs them out of their ease and sends out a committee 
to parcel the land into seven remaining portions. Josephus says that the 
survey was made by men expert in geometry. 

10. — It is supposed by some that there were two urns, one containing 
the names of the seven tribes, the other the names of the seven allotments 
of land, and that a lot was drawn out of each urn simultaneously. 

11-28. — The lot casting was to put upon the transaction the sanction 
of God. The lot of Benjamin fell between Judah and Ephraim, and 
reached from the Jordan river on the east to nearly thirty-five degrees 
longitude on the west. 

Ch. 19 :l-9. — Simeon's lot fell southwest* of Judah's, inside the territory 
originally assigned to Judah. It was found when the survey was made 
that Judah's territory was too large. The settling Simeon in a territory 
of another tribe and not bounding their possession, and the scattering of 
the Levites, accords with Gen. 49:7, which probably refers to Gen. 
34:25-31. 

10-16. — Zebulun was directly west of the sea of Galilee. 

17-23. — Issachar was immediately south of Zebulun (between Zebulun 
and Manasseh). 

24-31. — Asher was north of Zebulun next to the Mediterranean Sea. 
The territory was a long, narrow strip reaching far to the north. 



JOSHUA. 179 

32-39. — Naphtali was also north of Zebulun and directly east of Asher, 
extending east to the Jordan. 

40-48. — Dan was situated between Judah and Ephraim, west of Ben- 
jamin, reaching to the sea on the west. Later when the possession of 
Dan proved too small they conquered a territory in the extreme north. 

49-51. — Here Joshua was afterward buried. 

Ch. 20 :l-9. — Now are appointed six cities of refuge, Kadesh, Shechem 
and Hebron, west of Jordan, and Bezer, Eamoth and Golan, east of 
Jordan. This arrangement was made in agreement with directions given 
to Moses. 

Ch. 21 :l-3. — The land has now all been parceled out to the tribes, and 
the Levites, who are to be scattered among the tribes, ask for their cities 
to be assigned them. It is a peculiar fact that both Simeon and Levi 
were scattered among other tribes, Simeon's inheritance being inside 
Judah's. See Gen. 49 :7. 

4, 5. — Among the three families of the Levites the first was the Kohath- 
ites, among whom was the family of Aaron. The rest of the Kohathites 
were ranked in the common order of Levites. Judah, Simeon and Ben- 
jamin had the cities of the family of Aaron. Later, when the kingdom 
was divided under Jeroboam, the officiating priestly family was left in 
the family of Judah. Thirteen cities were given to the family of Aaron 
and ten to the remaining Kohathites. 

6. — The second lot gave to the Gershonites thirteen cities in the tribes 
of Tssachar, Asher, Napthali and the one-half tribe of Manasseh. 

7, 8. — The Merarites came third with twelve cities in the tribe of 
Reuben, Gad and Zebulun. 

9-26. — Caleb had the country about Hebron, and the sons of Aaron 
had the city. This city was the first of the cities of refuge. Shechem 
was a second of those six cities of refuge. 

27-33.— rGolan, a city of the Gershonites, was a third city of refuge, 
and Kadesh in Galilee a fourth. 

34-40. — Among the cities of the Merarites, Eamoth in Gilead was a 
fifth city of refuge. 

41, 42. — The sum of the cities mentioned amount to forty-eight. 

43-45. — Now appears the fulfillment of all the promises of God 
through Moses about the promise land. Compare their lot now with 
their condition in Egypt, yet they repeatedly had rebelled on their way 
to Canaan and wanted to return to bondage on the Nile. And the 
question is, How much better are we doing in the Christian way, with our 
added light? 



180 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 22 :l-9. — Among all the tribes there were remnants of the Canaan- 
ite dwellers of the land, but each tribe was now supposed to be able to 
suppress the outbreaks that would be likely to arise. So that now the 
two and one-half tribes who belonged east of Jordan are sent home with 
a blessing. Joshua commends them for their faithfulness to their 
promise, and gives them their share of the spoils of war. This was the 
warriors onty, for their families had been left in fortified towns east of 
Jordan. 

10. — The altar mentioned must have been on the east side of Jordan. 
It is thought that this was an immense pile of stones and earth, and to 
have -been similar to the altar at Shiloh built as a witness that they 
acknowledged the same God and practiced the same form of worship as 
their brethren in Canaan. 

11-20. — But the nine and one-half tribes misunderstood them, and 
thinking their act one of apostasy, gathered at Shiloh to discuss the 
matter and to take measures to punish them. First, however, they sent 
a committee consisting of nearly one hundred, headed by the son of the 
high priest, to hear from them their reason for the act of violating the 
law in building an altar when but one point in all Israel was to be used 
as an assembling place for worship. 

21-29. — The answer of the two and one-half tribes was prompt and 
decisive, and very satisfactory. Seeing they were separated from the rest 
of Israel by the Jordan, this altar was simply to be a witness to their 
children that they, too, had a part with their brethren of the west. Xo 
crime, no evil intention, only a perpetuation of the memory of their 
alliance with Israel. Their language in verse 25 seems to indicate that 
the altar stood east of the river. 

30, 31. — The committee being satisfied of the good intentions in 
building the altar, the son of the high priest made a speech of approval. 

32, 33. — On the committee's return and report the nine and one-half 
tribes were satisfied, and expressed joy and thankfulness. 

34. — The altar was named Ed (a witness), showing by its name that 
it was not intended to be a place of worship, but a monument of faith. 

Ch. 23 :l-4. — It is supposed that about seventeen years later (some say 
seven) the old warrior Joshua, feeling the end of life near, calls together 
the tribes and reminds them how God had helped them in the past. 

5-10. — He couples with the past history those promises which God has 
left on record for the future, conditioned on their keeping faith in God. 

11-16. — He warns them faithfully of the evil which shall follow if 



JOSHUA. 181 

in any wise they turn their backs on God. Every word of this address is 
applicable to the Christian of today. Learn it. 

Ch. 24:1-13. — In the final address Joshua runs back to the history of- 
Terah. He knows how ready the people are to conform to the surrounding 
nations, and so traces God's wonderful dealings with their fathers to 
show they ought to be a peculiar people. This address is at Shechem, a 
little north of Shiloh, and it is commonly supposed that on this occasion 
the ark was taken there. 

14, 15. — The expression "put away the gods, etc.," in verse 14, does not 
imply that Israel at that time was worshiping idols, but simply that they 
were to keep themselves free from idolatry in future. "The flood" in 
verse 1 5 means the great river Euphrates. 

16-18. — The answer of the people was very satisfactory. Had they 
held steadily on to that resolution they would have escaped much difficulty 
later. Many a good resolution is broken — to our everlasting hurt. 

19, 20. — Joshua's expression in verse 19 is meant to convey to the 
people an adequate idea of the serious nature of worship — the impos- 
sibility of worshiping God acceptably unless he be worshiped in spirit 
(not in form only), and in earnest. 

21. — The determination of verse 21 is the very point at which Joshua 
was aiming. The people were, I think, honest in this expression. They 
meant it. 

22-28. — Joshua now registers the determination in the roll of the law, 
a most solemn act, binding the people by their pledge, and sets up a stone 
pillar to bear witness to the agreement. It is suggested that this tree 
was the same one under which Jacob had long before buried the gods of 
his household. The tree was near to where on this occasion the ark of| 
the covenant was placed. 

29-31. — Lightfoot says Joshua died seventeen years after the entrance 
into Canaan. Others say twenty-seven years. 

32. — The bones of Joseph, brought from Egypt at the Exodus, were 
buried in Shechem. Ephraim, the son of Joseph, received this territory 
in the distribution. 

33. — Eleazar was the third son of Aaron. 



JUDGES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This book gets its name from the kind of rulers who governed the 
Hebrews from the days of Joshua to Samuel. The author is not known, 
but is thought to be Samuel, the last judge, though it is likely that each 
judge kept a record of his doings, and that afterward Samuel compiled 
this book from these various records. The book is valuable as giving a 
faithful picture of Israel's sinning and repentance, and God's dealing 
with them in both relations. The history of this book begins about 1425 
B. C, and covers a period of about three hundred years. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Military priority of Judah. 

3 Judah's invitation to Simeon. 
4-7 Conquest of Bezek. 
8 Notation about Jerusalem. 
9-15 Canaanites conquered. Incident of Othniel. 
16 Settlement of Kenites with Judah. 
17-20 Conquest of Judah and Simeon. 

21 Neglect of the Benjamites. 
22-26 Conquest of the Josephites. 
27, 28 Neglect of Manasseh. 

29 Neglect of Ephraim. 

30 Neglect of Zebulun. 
31, 32 Neglect of Asher. 

33 Neglect of Naphtali. 
34-36 Dwelling place of the Amorites. 

Chapter 2, 

1-5 Israel rebuked by an angel. 
6-10 The lesson of teaching and its neglect. 
11-15 Idolatry of Israel. Its penalty. 
16-19 God's grace. Israel's stubbornness. 
20-23 God's anger. 



JUDGES. 188 

Chapter 3. 

1-4 Catalogue of Israel's enemies. 
5-7 Israel's attitude toward them. 
8 Captivity to Mesopotamia. 8 years. 
9-11 First judge. Othniel. 40 years. 
12-14 Captivity to Moab. 18 years. 
15-30 Second judge. Ehud. 40 years. Eglon slain. 
31 Third judge. Shamgar. 

Chapter 4. 

1-3 Captivity to Canaanites. 21 years. 
4-5-31 Fourth judge. Deborah. 40 years. 
4-10 Her appointment of a general. 
11-13 Incident of Heber. 

14-16 Battle of Barak against Sisera. 4 

17-24 Sisera slain by Jael. Heber's wife. 

Chapter 5. 

1-31 Song of Deborah and Barak. 
1-3 Thanksgiving. 
4, 5 Scenes of the wilderness. 
6-8 Israel's oppression. Its cause. 
9-13 Their present freedom contrasted. 
14-18 Zeal of a part of the tribes. Recreance of others. 
19-23 Defeat of the kings of Canaan. 
24-27 Commendation of Jael. 
28-30 Anxiety of Sisera's mother. 
31 Prayer of the prophetess. 
Chapter 6. . 

1-6 Captivity to Midian. I 

7-10 Beproof of Israel by a prophet. 
11-8-32 Fifth judge. Gideon. 40 years. 1 

11-18 The angel's appearance to Gideon. 
19-21 Gideon's sacrifice. 
22-24 Gideon's altar. 
25-27 Destruction of Baal's altar. 
28-32 Wrath of Baal's worshipers. 
33-35 Gathering of Israel against the enemy. 
36-40 Test of Gideon's fleece. 



184 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK, 

Chapter 7. 

1-8 The army of Gideon. 
9-14 The soldier's dream. 
15-18 Gideon's battle orders. 
19-23 Defeat of the Midianites. 
24, 25 Slaying of the Midianites at the Jordan. 
Chapter 8. 

1-3 Complaint of the Ephraimites. 
4-9 Treatment of Gideon by Succoth and Penuel. 
10-12 Capture of the two kings of Midian. 
13-17 Punishment of Succoth and Penuel. 
18-21 Execution of the two kings. Eeason. 
22, 23 Israel's request to Gideon. Answer. 
24-26 Gideon's request to Israel. 

27 Gideon's ephod. 
28-32 Gideon's family. His death. 
33-35 Sin of Israel. 

Chapter 9. 

1-6 Conspiracy of Abimelech. 
7-21 Parable of Jotham. His curse. 
22-57 Fulfillment of the curse. 

22-25 Strife between Shechem and Abimelech. 
26-29 Conspiracy against Abimelech. 
30-49 Conquest of the conspirators. Eate of Shechem. 
50-57 Fate of Abimelech. 
Chapter 10. 

1, 2 Sixth judge. Tola. 23 years. 
3-5 Seventh judge. Jair. 22 }^ears. 
6-9 Sin of Israel. Captivity to Philistia and Ammon. 
10-14 Israel's cry of distress. God's answer. 
15-18 Israel's confession and repentance. 

Chapter 11. 

1-12-7 Eighth judge. Jephthah. 6 years. 
1-3 Expulsion of Jephthah. 
4-11 The elders of Gilead send for him. 
12-28 Correspondence between Jephthah and the Ammonites. 
29-31 Jephthah's vow. 
32, 33 His victory over the Ammonites. 
34-40 Execution of his vow. 



JUDGES. 185 

Chapter 12. 

1-6 Battle between Gilead and Ephraim. 
7 Death of Jephthah. 
8-10 Ninth judge. Ibzan. 7 years. 
11, 12 Tenth judge. Elon. 10 years. 
13-15 Eleventh judge. Abdon. 8 years. 

Chapter 13. 

1 Sin of Israel. Captivity to the Philistines. 
2-5 The angel's appearance to Manoah's wife. 
6-23 Second appearance. To the woman and her husband. 
24, 25 Birth of Samson. Twelfth judge. 

Chapter 14. 

1-4 Samson selects a Philistine wife. 

5-7 The betrothal. The lion slain. 

8-14 The wedding feast and riddle. 

15-18 Plan of the Philistines to learn the riddle. 

19 Samson's anger and revenge. 

20 His wife given to another. 

Chapter 15. 

1-5 Samson's revenge for the loss of his wife. 
6 The Philistines burn her and her father. 
7, 8 Samson's revenge after her destruction. 
9 The Philistine army in Judah. 
10-13 Delivery of Samson to the Philistine army. 
14-19 His defeat of the army. 

20 His judgeship in Israel. Twenty years. 

Chapter 16. 

1-3 Samson at Gaza. 

4 Samson's love for Delilah. 

5 The Philistines' offer to her. 
6-14 Her treachery. Three failures. 

15-20 Samson's fatal story of his secret. 

21 His captivity. 

22-30 His death. Destruction of the Philistines. 
31 The burial. 

Chapter 17. 

1-6 Micah's household gods. 
7-13 His Levite priest. 



186 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 18. 

1-6 The five spies of Dan consult this priest. 

7-10 Their errand and report. 
11-13 The colony from Dan. 
14-21 Their robbery of Micah. 
22-26 Micah's complaint. Their answer. 
27-29 Their conquest of Laish (Dan). 
30, 31 Their idolatry. 
Chapter 19. 

1, 2 The Levite's false wife. 

3-10 His effort to regain her. 
11-21 They lodge in Gibeah. 
22-27 Outrage of the Benjamites. 
28-30 The Levite's advertisement. 
Chapter 20. 

1-7 The assembly of Israel. The story related. 

8-11 Their decree about this case. 
12, 13 Their demand from Benjamin. 
14-17 Their reply. 

18-21 The first battle. Israel defeated. 
22-25 The second battle. Israel defeated. 
26-28 Humility and penitence of Israel at Shiloh. 
29-48 Third battle. Benjamites destroyed except six hundred men. 
Chapter 21. 

1-7 Israel bewails the loss of a tribe. 

8-11 Destruction of Jabesh-Gilead. 
12-15 Four hundred virgins of Jabesh-Gilead given to Benjamin. 
16-22 The plan of supplying wives for the other Benjamites. 
23-25 Carrying out the plan. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :1, 2. — Reuben was the eldest son. His tribe was east of Jordan. 
Simeon was located within the territory of Judah. Levi was scattered 
among the tribes. As already shown, the virtual blotting out of these two 
tribes in the allotment of distinct tribal territory is explained by the 
conduct of the two boys at Shechem, Gen. 34:25, and referred to by 
Jacob, Gen. 49 :5-7. Judah was the eldest of the tribes west of Jordan, 
and so it was natural and fitting that he should lead. Besides, from this 
tribe was to come the Messiah whose conquests should fill the earth. 



JUDGES. 187 

3. — Judah would properly invite Simeon to aid in the conquest of the 
enemy of their common territory, and would agree in return to aid 
Simeon within the territory allotted to him within that of Judah. It must 
be noticed now that each of these proper names of Jacob's sons' stand 
for a tribe, for the original twelve sons died in Egypt. 

4-7. — Bezek was a city. Adoni in Hebrew means Lord. So Adoni- 
bezek means lord or ruler of Bezek. The cutting off of the thumbs 
prevented warriors from holding weapons, and the cutting off of the 
large toe prevented speed in fleeing or pursuing. This man shows that 
he was a believer in God, and that he knew he had been doing wrong to 
others. There is no record as to how many of his remaining days he spent 
at Jerusalem. The kings whom he had conquered and treated with such 
indignity he appeared to be holding in the most brutal slavery. 

8. — Joshua had slain the king of Jerusalem among the five kings at 
the cave, but did not take the stronghold of the city. It is likely that 
they became strong enough to assert themselves again, and Judah con- 
quered their army and burned their city, but still, as we shall find later, 
did not take their stronghold. David afterward took it. 

9-15. — The incident of Othniel is repeated from Josh. 15 :13-19. This 
incident is a part of the history of the conquest of this tribe within whose 
territory lay the land given to righteous Caleb for his faithful conduct 
as a spy. 

16. — It is said that the descendants of Jethro accompanied Israel 
during their wanderings, and went with them into Canaan, living during 
the life of Joshua near Jericho in a place given them by lot called the 
City of Palm Trees. "At the time here mentioned they unite with Judah 
and conquer Arad, where they lived and mingled with the Amalekites 
until Saul was ordered to destroy those people. Saul sent them a message 
to withdraw from the Amalekites so that the Kenites would not be 
destroyed with them. From them came Hemath, the father of the house 
of Rechab and the Rechabites." (Clark.) Jer. 35:1-3. I Chron. 2:55. 

17-20. — Uzziel puts a period after mountain in verse 19. Then he 
inserts, "They could not drive him out," etc., which is probably the exact 
truth. 

21. — Verse 21 states what has already been referred to. The expression?, 
"This day," refers to the time of this writing, which was of course before 
David took that stronghold. Compare Josh. 15:63, and you find that 
Jerusalem, being on the line between Judah and Benjamin, was partly in 
Judah and partly in Benjamin. 



188 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

22-26. — Bethel was the place where Jacob saw the vision of the ladder. 
Here was a case similar to that of the spies at Jericho. The place of the 
Hittites, where this man went, is uncertain. 

27-33. — It is noticeable that the neglect of the various tribes mentioned 
was obscured in their minds by the fact that they put their enemies under 
tribute. Their great mistake was in allowing them to remain anywhere 
in the land. 

34-36. — The utter folly of permitting the presence of any menace to 
the public peace and prosperity, and be content simply by asserting 
supremacy over it and deriving a revenue from it, is illustrated in the fact 
that the Amorites soon forced Dan into the mountains, and held sway in 
the valleys. Ephraim and Manasseh did not drive them out of their 
strongholds among them, and soon we shall see all Israel shorn of their 
strength by contact with the evil they permitted in their body politic. 

Ch. 2 :l-5. — The "angel" here mentioned is regarded by many author- 
ities to be some human messenger, since the term "angel" (messenger) is 
often so used. There is nothing in the original to forbid that view. The 
people realized the truth of his words, and wept at the remembrance of 
their unfaithfulness in not obeying God's orders. Nevertheless, their 
sorrow was not the kind which produced a change in their manner of life, 
as subsequent history will show. 

6-10. — Now comes a historical summary going back to the division of 
the land by Joshua, and giving a glance at the general history of Israel 
down through the years to the time at which the messenger of the Lord 
spoke to them. This summary runs from verse 6 of chapter 2 to verse 7 
inclusive of chapter 3. The statement is very plain and clear that those 
people who had received the terrible schooling of the wilderness and who 
were diligently taught under the direction of Moses continued to faith- 
fully serve the Lord all their days; but they committed the frightful 
blunder of neglecting to teach their children, and so there arose a 
generation comparatively ignorant of what God had done for their 
fathers, and careless of God's claims upon themselves. 

11-15. — The result of such neglect was inevitable conformity to the 
evils in their midst. The spirit of prompt and heroic treatment of 
the evils would not be cultivated, and this new generation would be 
helplessly and hopelessly involved in deeds which, though known as evil, 
they had no moral courage to resist. The legitimate result quickly 
followed. Joined as they were in sin to the women of the heathen, they 
could not destroy them from their midst, dared not rebuke their licentious 
practices, and so could not teach them of their own pure God, nor with- 



JUDGES. 189 

stand their seductions to serve the idols of the land. The hand of the 
Lord then must be against them. 

16-19. — In spite of all this God was merciful. He appointed leaders 
(judges) to act under his orders. The government was a theocracy, and 
these judges were God's lieutenants. They were set to deliver Israel from 
their enemies. The expression, "It repented the Lord, etc.," might 
properly be rendered, "The Lord was grieved because of their groanings, 
etc." Yet after the Lord thus delivered them they stubbornly went on 
in their evil ways. 

20-23. — God's purpose not to drive out the heathen before them under 
such circumstances was reasonable and just. The apparent reason why 
Joshua's conquests before he died were not more specific and complete 
was that God intended the tribe to do that each for itself, and so cultivate 
that obedient aggressiveness which is the surest characteristic of a godly 
life. 

Ch, 3 :l-4. — The tribes named in verses 1-5 had mostly sprung up in 
the land since the call of Abram. ' 

5-7. — The joining of Israel to them in marriage would be both a 
political and religious union. It should be noted that, after all, this 
chosen nation of God was made up of the union of nearly all nations 
under heaven, and so Israel in its consummate flower, Jesus Christ, 
represented universal humanity. 

8. — Now the words of the angel come to pass, and for eight years Israel 
is bowed under the king of Mesopotamia, the land between the Euphrates 
and Tigris rivers. 

9-11. — No sooner did Israel own their sin and cry to God for deliver- 
ance than God appointed one to execute his will and deliver Israel from 
bondage. Othniel, the nephew of Caleb, who had married Caleb's daugh- 
ter, was God's appointed general, and having conquered the enemy, ruled 
Israel until his death (forty years). It is easy to understand that one 
who as a young man had the courage to win Caleb's admiration and 
sufficient affinity for him to marry his daughter would be likely to be 
a sterling man of God. 

12-14. — Again Israel fell into gross sins. The people are repeating 
here the history of their grandfathers in the wilderness. This time the 
king of Moab holds power over them. He is supported by Ammon and 
Amalek. Moab and Ammon, it will be remembered, were the two children 
of Lot by his two daughters after the destruction of Sodom. Amalek 
was the tribe which fought against Israel at Ehephidim, where Aaron 
and Hur stayed up the hands of Moses. (Ex. 17.) 



190 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

15-30. — Ehud was descended from Jacob's youngest son. His being 
left-handed made the right thigh the most convenient place to hang the 
dagger. The name Eglon means "a little calf." The ford of Jordan 
(verse 28) is supposed to be the place where Israel originally crossed into 
Canaan. The Moabite soldiers were probably stationed throughout the 
land of Israel, and hearing of the murder of their king hastened to the 
crossing of Jordan and were there slain as they came up in attempting 
to cross to their land east of Jordan. 

31. — The Philistines were on the southwest of Israel. Shamgar used 
a weapon very effective in those days, Mandrell says, eight feet long, two 
inches thick at the larger end, and having on that end an iron spade for 
cleaning the plow and on the small end a sharp iron prickle for driving 
the oxen. Some authorities understand the word to mean a coulter or 
plowshare. It is supposed by some that Shamgar lived at the same time 
as Ehud. Israel had been stripped of weapons by the Philistines, so that 
nothing remained to Shamgar but an agricultural implement. 

Ch: 4 :l-3. — After Ehud's death when the people again lapsed into evil, 
Jabin, king of Canaan, put them into slavery to him. Again their cry 
moved the Most High, and a fourth judge was appointed, a woman — 
Deborah. 

4-5-10.— This woman was recognized as a ruler. When she appointed 
Barak as a captain of the military forces both he and all the people 
recognized it as authoritative. Leadership that is appointed of God 
carries the unmistakable seal of its own authority. 

11-13. — Heber, the Kenite, seems to have been friendly to Jabin, king 
of the Syrians. Why, we are left to guess ; possibly that he might not be 
enslaved, as were the Israelites. 

14-16. — When the battle went against Sisera he abandoned his army 
and fled away on foot to seek his own personal safety. Barak made the 
rout complete by following and slaying the entire army of Sisera. 

17-24. — But Sisera reckoned wrongly when he went to Jael as a friend. 
Whether or not the family of Heber were simply enduring the encroach- 
ment of the Canaanites until they could throw off the yoke, we are not 
told. Possibly they feared the wrath of Israel if they should openly aid 
Sisera. 

Ch. 5 :l-5. — The song of Deborah refers back in verse 4 to the giving of 
the law from Mount Sinai. (Clark.) 

6. — Robbers so overran the ways of travel that people deserted them 
and took bypaths. 



JUDGES. 191 

7. — For the same reason the villages were deserted and people took to 
the cities for better protection. 

8. — The people had forsaken God for idols, hence their troubles, and 
they were helpless in these troubles. Their enemies had taken away their 
war weapons. 

9. — In this great national emergency the leaders among the people 
seem to have set a good example before the people as to volunteering for 
military service at the call of Deborah. 

10. — The ruler (the symbol of whose authority was the white ass), the 
elder^ and the travelers. The first two had their authority restored, and 
the last their safety assured. 

11. — Bobbers lurked especially by the springs where travelers stopped 
to drink. After this battle people might safely sit there and rehearse the 
goodness of God. 

12. — This battle made the captors of Israel the captives. 

13. — The rulers of Israel again exercised their functions, and Deborah 
had dominion over all. 

14. — Certain of the Ephraimites came from Mount Amalek. Probably 
they were most zealous. Next to them came the Benjamites. Princes 
and scribes joined the army. 

15, 16. — There was anxiety as to why Eeuben did not send their forces. 

17. — Certain of the tribes deserted the common cause from attachment 
to their own paltry concerns. 

18. — These two tribes were among the faithful. 

19. — The enemy did not get the plunder they expected from Israel. 

21. — Doubtless refers to a storm which assisted Israel. 

22. — The shoeless horses split their hoofs on the rocks. 

23. — Meroz was some city which would not assist in the war. 

Ch. 6 :l-6. — After the bitter experiences of the past Israel again falls 
into snares, of idolatry. They have not learned the lesson that the first 
step towards evil is familiar association with evil persons. They should 
have obeyed God's orders to destroy those vile enemies of purity from the 
face of the earth. Israel was first snared into their vile practices, and 
once guilty were dispirited beyond the point of resisting the evil practices, 
and thus it became easy for the idolaters to deny Israel not only religious 
privileges, but civil rights as well. The severity of the oppression is 
shown by the fact that Israel dared not live in the open country, but fitted 
up dens in the earth for their habitations. Sin always tends downward. 

7-10. — The Jews say that the prophet mentioned was Phinehas, the 
high priest after Eleazar. He was a grandson of Aaron. He traces 



192 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

fheir troubles directly to their cause — sin. The sinner's remembrance of 
God's kindness and his own heartless rebellion will be a future fire that 
will burn ever, but never consume. The lesson of this prophet probably 
produced the desired effect. The coming and direction of the angel 
indicated that the people had become truly repentant. 

11-18. — The angel appeared to a man who was busy. God never used 
an idler. Gideon belonged to the half tribe of Manasseh, west of the 
Jordan. He did not have much, and what little he had was hid from the 
enemy, but he was honest and brave, and therefore God had a work for 
him, and so came for him and made plain the way of duty. In this 
world of sin and groaning for deliverance God will find everyone who 
has a right spirit, and give him something to do. This angel was God 
manifesting himself in a way that a man could understand. It is very far 
fetched to assume, as many commentators do, that it was Jesus Christ. 

19-21. — The sacrifice of Gideon was the expression of a very old custom. 
When men made a covenant of peace they ate together to show their 
intimate confidence and friendship. So the worshiper who made a 
covenant with God ate a part of his offering and the remainder was 
burned on the altar, which was reckoned as God eating it. So on this 
occasion Gideon prepares a meal for the angel to see if he will consume 
it and thus demonstrate his friendliness and good intentions toward 
Gideon. The burning of the offering as the angel did was equivalent to 
eating it. 

22-24. — It was commonly supposed in those days that for one to see 
an angel meant death. When Gideon realized what had happened, that 
fear had to be quelled by assurance from God. 

25-27. — The word "even" in verse 25 I think ought to be rendered 
"and." The thought is, two bullocks — one seven years old — to be offered 
as a sin offering. It had been born about the time the Midianite oppres- 
sion began, and some think had been fattened by the Baalites as an 
offering to their idol; hence they were furious when it was offered to 
Jehovah. The other bullock was offered as a peace offering. The grove 
was a place where most fearful licentiousness was practised as a part of 
Baal worship. 

28-32. — Gideon's father, Joash, seems to have been a man of authority 
in that place. It is likely that as such he yielded to the demands of the 
Midianites for an altar to Baal, built it, and seemed to patronize it, while 
possibly secretly despising it. The language of Joash in verse 31 seems 
like the language of one in authority warning the mob that any attempt 
to take the law into their own hands would be fatal to themselves. 



JUDGES. 193 

Possibly the name Jerubaal, which means "let Baal contend," was put 
upon Gideon by his enemies as their expression of a curse upon him. It 
was equivalent to let Baal put a curse on him, and Gideon could proudly 
wear the name thus given and say, "So be it. Let Baal contend if he can." 

33-35. — The enemies of Israel, learning of this uprising in Israel, 
gathered to crush them. But Gideon gathers an army of Israelites in 
preparation for setting Israel free. Men must always make the best 
[preparation that they can so as to be co-workers with God in helping to 
answer their own prayers. 

36-40. — Now that Gideon has made his preparation he wants evidence 
that God will surely accept and use his offering. And the Lord grants 
him the evidence, reversing the sign at Gideon's request that his faith 
might be sufficiently grounded, and he put to work without worry. God 
works no miracles to satisfy curiosity, but he never fails to hear or answer 
an anxious spirit crying for help. Natural laws are God's habit, made 
clear to us that we may use and profit by them, but that is no proof that 
God may not if he chooses use some other plan than his ordinary one to 
accomplish any result. Origen has suggested, "The fleece is the Jewish 
nation, put on the threshing floor, winnowed, purged and fanned by the 
purifying breath of God's teaching. The dew upon it was the law and the 
prophets. The dew wrung out of the fleece into a bowl was the doctrine 
of Christianity extracted from Jewish writings. Then the fleece was left 
dry. The Jewish nation was cast off for rejecting the Gospel, while all 
around the ground was watered, the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles 
and they converted to God." 

Ch. 7 :l-8. — The army of Gideon, thirty-two thousand, is now at Mount 
Gilboa. It is contended by authorities that the clause "from Mount 
Gilead" should come after "whosoever." The bulk of the army was from 
Mount Gilead, east of the Jordan, and all who were afraid were allowed 
to go home. The second test reduced the army to three hundred, who 
dipped the water with the hand, and scooped it from the hand with the 
tongue, thus lapping the water as a dog. 

9-14. — Here is described a secret visit of Gideon to the enemy's camp 
at night. Gideon, with a servant of his, goes near enough to overhear a 
dream told by a Midianite soldier. Barley was the food of the poor. 
These plundered Israelites whose labors had furnished luxury to Midian 
were "barley eaters," but this soldier in his dream sees this same barley 
upsetting the powers of all Midian — rolling down that hill on which they 
were camped into the Midianite host in the valley. The language of 
verse 14 shows that they feared the Israelites. They doubtless thought 



194 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that an army of men who, like Gideon, dared to throw down an altar of 
Baal in the very midst of his worshipers would not be easily resisted. 

15-23. — Gideon's plan was to take advantage of that fear among the 
Midianites and throw them into confusion. The dividing into three 
companies made it appear to the enemy as if they were surrounded, and 
the sudden clang of the trumpets, the breaking of the pitchers, the flash 
of the concealed lights and the yell of that expression which by the dream 
of the Midianite soldier had come to be known and dreaded in all the 
Midianite camp, would arouse the half asleep soldiers to believe the 
enemies all in their midst and set them to thrusting each other at random. 
Here was a battle without arms, and a defeat without fighting on the 
part of Israel. 

24, 25. — In trying to cross Jordan into their own country the Israelites 
met and slew many of them at the Jordan, killing two of their generals. 
The men of Ephraim and others called together after the rout, had 
assembled at the Jordan to dispute the passage of the Midianites. They 
were commanded to get to the Jordan before the Midianites and slay 
them there. 

Ch. 8 :l-3.— The men of Ephraim took Gideon to task for not calling 
them at first when he assembled his army. But, answered Gideon, you 
have done more than I and my three hundred men. You took two princes 
(Oreb and Zeeb). We did nothing at Abiezer but scare the army with 
trumpets and lights and set them to flying and fighting one another. 

4-9. — Succoth was the place where Jacob stopped when he first came 
to this land from his uncle Laban's. Here he made booths for his stock. 
The word Succoth means booths. The answer of these men in verse 6 
indicates that they doubted that Gideon would catch his enemies. Pos- 
sibly they feared the result of aiding Gideon, when the enemy should 
gather strength and return. Penuel was equally mean in their treatment 
of Gideon's men, and he promised to scourge the first people with thorns 
and briars, and destroy the stronghold of the second. The person who 
won't aid a deserving cause because it is not yet won never ought to be 
allowed to have any benefit of it afterward. 

10-12. — Out of one hundred and thirty-five thousand only fifteen 
thousand of the enemy were left. They went into a stronghold somewhere 
in Assyria and thought themselves safe. Here Gideon attacks and routs 
them, and in the pursuit catches the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. 

13-17. — With these two captive kings Gideon returns to Succoth and 
scourges the elders of that place with thorns and briars and destroys the 
tower of Penuel and slays the men. If these men were Israelites and so 



JUDGES. 195 

treated those who were freeing their country, they deserved execution as 
a warning to others like them. If they were part of the heathen whose 
abominable idolatries were bringing God's curse upon the land, the only 
mistake was that they were not long before wiped off the face of the earth. 

18-21. — While the Midian army was at Tabor in the land of Israel they 
had 1 slain the brothers of Gideon. Gideon now orders his oldest son to 
slay these two kings. It was considered very disgraceful for people of 
rank to be slain by the children or servants. These kings asked Gideon 
to slay them, partly doubtless through pride in wanting to die by ihe 
hand of an equal, and partly because they dreaded the lingering torture 
of being hacked by a youth. The thought of verse 21 is, that the slaying 
of a man needs the strength of a man as executioner to make the act 
merciful — i. e., free from lingering torture. 

22, 23. — Israel's request to Gideon was very natural; Gideon's answer 
was very loyal to God. Had the people done right they would have had 
no desire for a king, and no need of even a person to deliver them from 
their enemies. 

24-26. — Gideon's request for the earnings taken from the Ishmaelite 
soldiers they had just conquered was readily granted. It was the custom 
for each soldier to take whatever of value he found on the bodies of those 
he conquered. The bodies of the kings would be richly decorated with 
gold ornaments, and their camels also covered with gold chains and huge 
gold trappings. 

27. — It is probable that the ephod which Gideon made was similar to 
the one made for Aaron in the wilderness. We are not informed as to 
whether or not the first ephod had disappeared, or why Gideon made this, 
but evidently it was very attractive and drew the attention of all Israel. 
Gideon doubtless intended it for a religious purpose, but it became so 
much admired, and his family made so prominent by it, that not only 
would attention be turned from God to it and them, but it would lead 
people to'assume the very thing Gideon had repudiated, viz: that Gideon 
was their acknowledged head, and that would give rise to jealousies in 
other tribes and cause conspiracies among his own sons. So the ephod 
became a snare to him and his house. 

28-32. — Gideon had seventy sons. The evils of polygamy will be very 
clearly seen in the history of his family. The woman of Shechem whose 
son by Gideon was Abimelech was of the tribe of Ephraim, a tribe jealous 
of the supremacy of Manasseh, to which Gideon belonged. 

33-35. — And so partly to show contempt for the family of Gideon, of 
whose supremacy they were jealous, and partly to serve their own lusts, 



196 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

this miserable Israel, ignorant of the law given them on Sinai, were led 
off again into the same accursed idolatry which had been their downfall 
so often before. Oh, that some prophet would rise to teach these people 
the law, fully and familiarly. 

Ch. 9 :l-6. — The abominable crime of this bastard son of Gideon, 
backed as it was by the men of Shechem, shows what depraved creatures 
they had become. Abimelech had stirred up his people against the other 
sons of Gideon by their tribe prejudice. The money to help this red- 
handed murderer was furnished by the idol worship element. The whole 
history shows that the matter of making Gideon's son king had been much 
talked of. Abimelech wanted to be first. To gain his end he said to his 
tribe of Ephraim, "Let our tribe be first." And they helped him to do 
his dirty work, supposing perhaps that once made king all the tribes 
would rally to his standard. 

7-21. — Gerezim, the mount of blessing, became the pulpit for Jotham's 
sermon and his curse. Shechem was so situated in the valley below that 
the people could hear him speaking from the mountain top. The point 
of the parable was, good and worthy people do not want to be put up to 
rule over their fellow beings. Nobody but a thorn scrub in the human 
family will try to make himself king; and that thorn scrub would start 
a fire (a train of evil) which would destroy its superiors. Now he calls 
them to remember what Gideon had done for them and how they had 
treated his family in return, and prays that Abimelech and the men of 
Shechem may destroy each other. Jotham did not go back to Ophrah, 
but ran away to Beer (near Jerusalem). 

22-25. — The curse was fulfilled. In three years the Shechem ites 
turned out public robbers. Any evil is sure to bear fruit. 

26-29. — Gaal was a heathen idolater. There were still dwelling in 
Shechem descendants of Hamor, whom Jacob's two sons slew (Gen. 34). 
Gaal stirred up these against the Israelites and raised a sedition. 

30-49. — Zebul was ruler of Shechem under Abimelech, who dwelt at 
Arumah. He sent word to his king, and Abimelech besieged the city, 
destroyed it, and sowed the site with salt so it would be rendered barren. 
The people took refuge in the house of their idol god. Abimelech set 
the place on fire and burned one thousand of them to death. 

50-57. — Now Abimelech goes to fight against Thebez. Here a piece of 
millstone thrown by a woman breaks his skull, and he calls his armor 
bearer to slay him to avoid the disgrace of being slain by a woman. 

Ch. 10:1, 2.— Tola was of the tribe of Issachar (the fifth son of Leah). 
He judged Israel twenty-three years. 



JUDGES. 197 

3-5. — Jair judged Israel twenty-two years. His thirty sons were thirty 
princes, each one set over a city, and riding an ass colt — the symbol of 
kingship. We are not told what enemies these judges delivered Israel 
from. 

6-9. — Now the Israelites fall into the worship of every heathen god 
around them. South towards Philistia, east toward Syria, west toward 
Zidon, as well as to the sickly puppet idols in their midst, they bow to 
false gods. But for the faithful ones in their midst God must have rained 
fire from heaven to destroy faithless Israel from the earth. For eighteen 
years the Philistines and Ammonites oppressed them. 

10-14. — The Israelites cried to God, We have sinned, and God replied, 
"You have, and you did it openly and brazenly, knowing better. I will 
not deliver you. Go and cry to your idol gods, and let them deliver you." 
We may think that God ought to have held to that, and cast off sinning 
Israel, but are we any better? Do we not do violence repeatedly to the 
light we have ? How long will God have mercy ? 

15-18. — Now Israel becomes desperately in earnest, and forsake their 
idols and turn to God. The Ammonites, who lived east of Jordan, 
gathered against Israel. Israel assembled themselves in Mizpeh, where 
Jacob and Laban reared their heap of stone for a witness (Gen. 31 :49), 
and call for some one to lead their forces. 

Ch. 11 :l-3. — The law of Israel did not give a full right of inheritance 
to anyone whose mother as well as father was not an Israelite. It cannot 
be determined whether the word vain here means profligate men or simply 
poor men, men without property and employment. The Hebrew word 
means simply "empty men." Evidently Jephthah had distinguished 
himself in some way as a brave man, and this may have aroused the 
jealousy of his brothers and led to this persecution against him. 

4-11. — When the Ammonites invaded the land and camped in Gilead 
these persecutors came to their senses. They needed a leader and had 
none. When they sent for Jephthah he very rightly reproved their 
former treatment of him, and exacts a promise that if he succeeds in 
driving out the enemy that his people shall recognize him as their head. 
When he returns the people confirm the choice, and elect him head and 
captain, and Jephthah calls the Lord to witness the agreement. 

12-28. — Now with full authority, this new leader demands of the 
enemy an explanation of their war against Israel. They charge Israel 
with taking the land of the Ammonites. You are mistaken, said Jephthah. 
When we came out of Egypt we passed around Edom and Moab because 
they would not consent to our passing through their territory. We 



198 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

camped north of Amon River in territory taken by the Amorites from 
Moab (and also from Ammon, for the Moabites were the fixed dwellers 
and the Ammonites the roving tribes of the land). But before doing so 
had sent messengers to the Amorites asking to pass peacefully through 
their regions to the country beyond. They answered Israel's request with 
an open declaration and act of war, and in the fight that followed the 
Amorites were dispossessed and Israel took their territory. Now, 
continues Jephthah, if the God you serve could not help you to hold 
that territory against the Amorites, you ought to be satisfied with your 
present possessions. Balak, king of Moab, never strove with Israel over 
these possessions, though the Moabites were the fixed dwellers driven out 
by the Amorites, and besides all this for three hundred years Israel had 
held these lands and the Ammonites had never before attempted to claim 
them. And so, he concludes, the Lord shall be judge between us by the 
issues of this war. 

29-31. — In the vow of Jephthah, verse 31, "and" should be rendered 
"or," that is, if it be a thing fit for a burnt offering, well, or if it be fit 
to be consecrated to the service of the Lord, so it should be. 

32, 33. — The victory over the Amorites was a most decisive one, and 
settled fully the dispute over the territory east of the Jordan River 
occupied by the two and one-half tribes. 

34-40. — The first to meet Jephthah on his return was his virgin 
daughter and only child. According to Hebrew law, persons thus 
dedicated to God should live in a state of unchanged celibacy. The last 
•clause of verse 31 may just as properly be rendered, And I will offer 
"him" (i. e., the Lord) a burnt offering. This, with the note above, will 
give two ways of construing the vow of Jephthah. Jephthah was sad 
because the fulfillment of this vow meant giving his virgin daughter to 
the service of the tabernacle, and cutting off hope of issue. After lament- 
ing for a time her virginity she was devoted according to the vow, but 
Jephthah could not have so devoted her without her own consent. The 
rendering of verse 40, according to Houbigant, is thus: "This custom 
prevailed in Israel that the virgins of Israel went at different times four 
days in a year to the daughter of Jephthah that they might comfort her" 
in her virginity. That reading I think preferable to our common version. 

Ch. 12:1-6. — The Ephraimites gathered themselves in battle against 
the men of Gilead, and crossed over Jordan to punish them. Xo reason 
appears for this act other than jealousy. Verse 2 seems to indicate that 
the tribes west of Jordan may have been appealed to previously to aid 
Gilead, and would not, a thing very probable. The last clause of verse 4 



JUDGES. 199 

indicates that there may have been some fend between Gileadites and 
Ephraimites, probably a tannt about the character of the men who 
gathered about Jephthah when he was driven from home. (Chapter 11 :3.) 
The ford of the Jordan, the only place the Ephraimites could cross to 
their land west of the Jordan, was taken by the army of Gilead; and 
each man desiring to cross was made to pronounce "Shibboleth." If he 
said "Sibboleth," it betrayed his western extraction, and he was slain. 
That is the way the word was pronounced west of the Jordan. 

7. — Jephthah died an honored death and was buried in his home land. 
His career shows what may be accomplished by a youth even under most 
adverse circumstances if he be religious and brave. 

8-15. — Ibzan was of the tribe of Judah. Elon of the tribe of Zebulon, 
and Abdon an Ephraimite. The family of the last, it seems, was kingly. 
The riding on ass colts in those days was the distinction of kings. 
Counting the six years of Jephthah's judgeship, the people of Israel 
have now had thirty-one }^ears of peace and prosperity. 

Ch. 13 :1. — Again they corrupt themselves, and again the old enemy, 
the Philistines, get the mastery over them. They do not recognize their 
obligations to God until the iron heel of despotism begins to grind against 
them. Israel here is a perfect picture of human nature. You may see 
precisely the same condition abroad today. In prosperity everything else 
is looked after before the claims of God are considered, but in trouble 
God is the only one to whom we may turn. We take a mean advantage 
of his forgiving nature. 

2-5. — The Danites had the west coast of Palestine next to the Philistine 
country. The angel's message to Manoah's wife about eating and 
drinking shows clearly the correctness of the theory that the mother's 
habits and temperament at conception and during the carrying and 
nursing of the child have a mighty influence on the child's life. This 
lesson well learned would quickly revolutionize human conditions. Care 
exercised here would foster care in every department of child rearing 
and training. For explanation of the Xazarite vow the student is 
referred to the notes on Num. 6 :l-9. The child promised was to begin 
the work of delivering Israel from Philistine oppression. 

6-23. — When his wife reported the case to Manoah he was anxious 
that the angel might return, and prayed that he might, and such was his 
faith and earnestness that the angel did return, and the woman called 
her husband, and the three talked together. When Manoah made his 
offering to God and the angel had ascended in the flame the man began 
to cherish the superstitious dread that the seeing of an angel meant 



200 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

their death; but his wife's view of the ease, says Clark, "is excellent 
reasoning, and may be of great nse to every truly religious mind in cloudy 
and dark dispensations of divine providence." 

24, 25. — The spirit of Samson's parents, and their training of him, 
especially in the midst of Philistine oppression, would move this young 
man early in life to intensely desire and plan for freedom from that 
bondage. 

Ch. 14:1-4. — With that in view Samson selects a woman of the Philis- 
tines for a wife. According to the custom in that day he asks his parents 
to get the consent of her parents. But he does not tell all that is surging 
through his mind relative to his great mission and how this marriage 
ma} 7 help it. 

5-7. — As Samson and his parents went down the incident of slaying 
the lion occurred. We are not informed about the details of this episode, 
but the parents knew nothing of the matter. Evidently the young man 
had a reserve force that the parents were not acquainted with. 

8-14. — It is said that about a year usually elapsed between engagement 
and wedding. When Samson returned to take his wife he went aside in 
the wild nook where he had slain the lion and found that a swarm of 
bees had stored honey inside the bony frame of the lion. He ate of the 
honey, and gave it to his parents, who ate of it without knowing the 
history of it. At the customary wedding feast which Samson made he 
proposed this riddle (verse 14) to the thirty friends of the bridegroom. 
It has been suggested that this may have been part of the amusement at 
the wedding feast, the proposer making a forfeit if the company solved 
it, the company making the same forfeit if they failed. The word sheets 
means skirts, so that what Samson offered was thirty suits of clothes. 
They accepted his proposition apparently in good faith. 

15-18. — Now appears their inherent and abominable meanness. It 
would have been no harder for each of them to furnish a suit for Samson 
than for Samson to have done the same for any one of them. He had 
risked thirty to one, since he stood alone against all. When they could 
not be fair winners the miserable thieves threatened the life of Samson's 
wife and her father unless she should entice Samson to tell her the 
secret and she tell them. There is not in all history record of more 
contemptible treatment of a friend. The Lord certainly knew they were 
capable of performing such deeds, and probably Samson knew it, and 
so gave them opportunity. 

19. — But Samson was justly angry. He keeps his pledge, though they 
have not merited reward, and at the same time shows his contempt for 



JUDGES. 201 

them by going a few miles southwest to Askelon and slaying thirty 
Philistines and giving their old garments to the "bridegroom friends," 
and goes in wrath to his father's house. Who these thirty slain persons 
were is an unsolved mystery, but they were doubtless persons with whom 
Samson had legal grounds for a redress of grievances, for the Philistines 
do not attempt to resent the killing. 

20. — After Samson went home his wife was given by her father to one 
of those same "friends of the groom." 

Ch. 15:1-5. — When the anger of Samson had cooled and he returned 
and was not allowed to have her, he meditates vengeance. We are not 
told how many people he employed in catching the foxes. Tying two 
together, tail to tail, would be the best possible way to insure great 
devastation, as being unable to take to cover and terrified by the fire, they 
would run hither and thither, pulling first this way and then that, so as 
to be likely to set fire to everything which would burn. How many days 
he spent at this work is pure conjecture and of no moment. 

6. — W r hen it was known that Samson had done this they burned his 
wife and her father, probably because they thought Samson had just 
cause for his work because of the way he had been treated. 

7, 8. — But Samson said, I am not satisfied, and so makes a great 
slaughter of the people who had so long been wronging and oppressing 
his people. 

9. — Xow the Philistines send an army into the land of Israel, and the 
men of Israel are thoroughly alarmed. 

10-13. — Etam seems to have been a fortified place on the borders 
between Simeon and Dan. A great force of Judeans went to take Samson, 
expecting reasonably that there would be great opposition to turning him 
over to the Philistine army. It must have been to them a matter of 
surprise that he was so willing to go. They did not know his strength, 
and the promise that Samson exacted of them was to the end that he 
might not have to fight his own people in his own defense. 

14-19. — When Samson was brought to Lehi, where the Philistine army 
was encamped, the enemy greeted him with a great shout of rejoicing. 
Had they known Samson that shout would have been a wail of despair. 
The word new in verse 15 is better rendered "moist," that is, "he found 
a dead ass in a state of putrefaction, and so could easily separate the bone. 
The word "jaw" in verse 19 may just as properly be rendered "Lehi," 
the idea being that God caused a spring to burst out for weary Samson 
after his noble battle for his life. The name Samson gave to that place 
means "the well of the implorer." 



202 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 16:1-3. — Gaza was a city of the Philistines. Samson should not 
have been there. The Gazites thought this time they had him secure. 
The gates were shut, and they would hold him prisoner until day. Great 
must have been their terror when they saw him pick up the city gate like 
a plaything, tear it from its fastenings, and go away with it. They did 
not venture to attack him. 

4. — Delilah was another Philistine woman. Did Samson expect to 
repeat his first marriage episode? He was certainly making a mistake, 
for love is too sacred to be trifled with for any cause whatsoever. If he 
sought to rid his country of Philistines, God could have shown him a 
better way. 

5. — The bribe of the Philistines shows the danger of committing your 
interest to another unless the other's interest be locked up with your own. 
And so, to make the basis of society (the family) secure, God has made 
conjugal love stronger even than the love of parents. But such love must 
be mutual. This woman seems to have had no love for Samson. She 
did not put him above parents, nor even above friends, or the love of 
money. Clark thinks that Samson could not have been larger in size 
of body than other men, for the Philistines thought his strength due not 
to his size, but to some charm. 

6-14. — If Samson did not know her treachery at first, he certainly 
knew it after she first tried to hand him to the Philistines bound with 
withes. Why he was fool enough to let her try it again is an unanswer- 
able question unless he thought to retain her good will and yet keep her 
out of the secret. Twice more she tried to deliver him to his enemies, and 
failed. The number seven among the Hebrews signified completeness. 
So the binding by seven withes or seven ropes meant a thorough binding, 
and the seven locks of hair showed a complete growth. 

15-20. — The language of verses 15 and 16 shows what a strong pressure 
was brought to bear on him. The spell of his love made him weak before 
his faithless companion, and she gained her end — he told her the fatal 
secret. What follows shows what a false wretch she was. As soon as 
she satisfied herself that his great strength was gone she called her people 
to take him. 

21. — In those days slaves were used to crack the grain by grinding it 
between two stones. Samson's eyes, which had led him captive by looking 
in the wrong direction, were put out. How different it might have been 
with him had he married a true woman of the Hebrews. 

22-30. — Samson's fatal lack was that he had no moral or spiritual 
powers to compare with his physical ones. He did not seek to God for 



JUDGES. 203 

direction and then use good judgment in planning his attacks on the 
Philistines. He looked to his own ways and desires. The strength he 
had was divine strength granted him in relation to his vow as a Nazarite. 
Doubtless after his eyes were put out he renewed his vow, and his 
strength began to come as his hair grew. But when he was brought into 
the temple the basis of his prayer was "vengeance." Nevertheless, 
because he had faith in God, and because the Philistines deserved their 
fate, God granted his prayer. 

31. — His relations seem to have met no hindrance in taking away 
his body for burial. 

Ch. 17:1-6. — What the graven image and molten image were is not 
known. Some authorities think these were not meant to be idols, but a 
representation of the tabernacle and its furniture. It would seem, 
however, that anyone knowing enough to make a pattern of the tabernacle 
would know that it was improper to make such things, and that his duty 
was to worship at the place prepared. The idolatries of the people 
showed that their ideas of worship had become badly mixed with the 
heathen ideas. 

7-13. — But whatever may have been Micah's ideas he evidently thought 
that his having a Levite priest would be an advantage. The word 
"father" (verse 10) is often used in the sense of "one revered," and so 
the idea is, "you will be reverenced by me." 

Ch. 18:1-6. — The country of the Danites, northwest of Judea, was 
too small for them. They sent five men north to find a place which they 
might colonize. On the way they stopped at the house of Micah. It 
has already been noticed that the Ephraimites had a peculiar dialect, and 
they knew by his speech that this young man was not one of them. These 
live spies asked counsel of this priest, and were encouraged in their 
errand. 

7-10. — When they came to Laish, in the extreme north of the land 
above Asher, they found an unprotected city which was situated in a fair 
country, promising abundant support of a colony. They went back and 
reported what they had found, and urged the Danites to go and take it. 

11-13. — Six hundred warriors went to possess it. It is possible that 
the oppression of the Philistines had hurried this colonization scheme 
by making hard times in the land of Dan. 

14-21. — As they passed the house of Micah the spies told them of the 
images and the priest. They turned aside and took these things, Levite 
and all, and with the Levite's consent. 

22-2G. — Micah and his friends overtook them and protested against 



204 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the robbery. They said, Be careful, or you will lose your life. And 
because they were too many for him he had to submit and turn back 
home. This picture shows how depraved and dishonest the people had 
become. 

27-29. — When they came to Laish they slew the inhabitants, burned 
the city, and built in its place another city, which they called Dan. So 
the expression Dan to Beersheba means the full length of the land from 
north to south, for Dan was in the extreme north and Beersheba in the 
extreme south. 

30, 31. — This Levite (Jonathan) was a priest in this tribe, probably 
mixing the worship of God with idolatry, and his sons continued it after 
him until the captivity. 

Ch. 19:1, 2. — The Levite mentioned in chapter 19 was of the same 
country as Micah (Ephraim). It is stoutly contended that the original 
of verse 2 does not say that the wife was untrue to her husband, but that 
they could not agree, and so separated. 

3-10. — When the husband went to be reconciled the father of the 
woman was glad, and detained him as long as possible. Clark thinks it 
was because he was joyful at the thought of their reconciliation. And 
it seems that a reconciliation was made, for on the fifth day she started 
back with him to h'3 home. 

11-21. — Night overtook them in the territory of Benjamin. The 
servant of the Levite wanted to lodge in the city of the Jebusites (Jeru- 
salem), but the Levite said, Let us lodge among the children of Israel. 
So they came to Gibeah. Little did he know what devils incarnate were 
there. An old man, also from Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah, took 
in the Levite and his company from off the street, where he would have 
lodged according to the custom of strangers. No one else seemed to care 
for them, and it is easily understood when we consider what wild brutes 
the men of the city were. The feet washing was the first mark of 
hospitality in that country, where sandals were worn and where the feet 
would become very dusty. 

22-27. — This picture of the Benjamite brutes shows how low they had 
fallen. They practised sodomy. The very thing for which Sodom had 
been wiped off the face of the earth, now practised by God's chosen people. 
They deserved utter destruction as much as any of the other heathen 
around them, and all. because Israel had failed to destroy the heathen 
around them and teach to the children God's law. The act of the old 
man in offering his daughter, though in conformity to the custom of that 
age, which would surrender anything, even life, to save a guest from 



JUDGES. 205 

dishonor, was a brutish offer. He should instead have run them through 
with a sword. The act of the Levite also in turning out his wife to save 
himself was abominable beyond description. 

28-30. — The next awful act in this tragedy was the cutting of the 
woman's body into twelve parts and sending a part to each tribe. Such 
an act would bring all Israel together and call for an explanation worthy 
of the ghastly deed. 

Ch. 20 :l-7. — Four hundred thousand warriors came together at Mizpeh, 
in the land of Benjamin. At this assembly the Levite told his story. 

8-11. — Now the assembly makes a mistake. Their indignation and 
their decree is just, but they do not publicly recognize the wrong against 
God, and turn to him for direction. They take things entirely into their 
own hands, and in many respects the other Israelites were as bad as 
Benjamin, but they do not recognize or confess it. God will teach them 
that they must first clear themselves, and then look to him for help. 

12, 13. — The demand that Benjamin deliver these wretches to be put 
to death was just, and by their refusal to do so the whole tribe of 
Benjamin became guilty of their despicable deed. 

14-17. — The gathering of all the Benjamites (twenty-six thousand) in 
battle was equivalent to saying, We endorse the act of those Gibeahites. 

18-21. — The Israelites ask of God, Who of us shall go first against 
Benjamin? But they do not confess their own sin, or ask forgiveness, 
or ask the help of the Lord that his honor and religion may be preserved 
in Israel. So in the first battle Israel is defeated with the loss of twenty- 
two thousand men. 

22-25. — The Israelites weep and ask counsel of the Lord, but still do 
not get themselves right, and in the second battle lose eighteen thousand 
more men. 

26-28. — Now Israel comes to her senses. The people went to the house 
of God — the tabernacle at Shiloh — and wept, fasted, and offered to God 
the offerings which the law required. We have no means of knowing 
how long it had been since the nation had last paid its regards to God. 
The true God had been shamefully neglected in the face of the heathen 
idolatries which had well nigh absorbed Israel among the heathen tribes. 
Phineas, the grandson of Aaron, was high priest. 

29-48. — In this third battle the Israelites use strategy. Now that they 
are right themselves God gives them assurance that they shall conquer. Ten 
thousand Israelites are drawn up against the city of Gibeah in which the 
Benjamites are assembled. They pretend to flee to draw Benjamin out 
of the city. Twenty-five thousand Benjamites were slain, and all the 



206 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

cities which belonged to them destroyed. Only six hundred men, who hid 
in the wilderness, were left. 

Ch. 21 :l-7. — Israel had taken a most solemn oath that no tribe should 
give a wife to a Benjamite. They now realize that a whole tribe is blotted 
out, and mourn mightily over it. They had taken another oath that any 
person failing to come to the assembly that had been called should be 
destroyed. 

8-15. — On examining the records it was found that none came to the 
assembly from Jabesh-gilead, east of Jordan. Twelve thousand men 
were sent to destroy it. There is no evidence that God approved this deed. 
The four hundred virgins who were saved and given to the Benjamites 
}'et left two hundred without wives. 

16-25. — The dance of the virgins in connection with the yearly feast 
mentioned at Shiloh was a religious service. According to the idea of 
that day the men and women always danced separately. The vineyards 
at that time were in leaf, and would serve as a hiding place. The fathers 
who complained were consoled by the saying, You were not a party to the 
plot, and so did not break your oath. By the above plan Benjamin again 
begins a tribal history with six hundred men. Behold what devastation 
sin works. That sorrowful history of the Levite and his night in Gibeah 
cost the tribes of Israel probably hundreds of thousands of lives. Sin 
alone was responsible. 



RUTH. 



INTRODUCTION". 

The events of this book took place under some of the judges. Here is 
a vivid picture of the domestic life of Israel, showing us the brighter side 
of their history and some of the faithful souls who stand out in such 
marked contrast with the thankless and abominable masses whose iniquity 
was constantly bringing the divine curse upon the nation. It is a love 
story romantic and beautiful, worthy of study and imitation, and 
teaching the lesson that the Heavenly Father is interested in the minutest 
details of his children's welfare. In Judges we read over and over how 
Israel by their sins became heathen. In Euth we read how one born 
heathen, by her righteousness became the truest and purest Israelite. 
Who wrote the book and when we do not know. 



RUTH. m 

ANALYSIS. 



Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Going of Elimelech and family to Moab. 

3 His death. 

4 Marriage of his two sons. 

5 Their death. 

6, 7 Start of Naomi to Canaan. 
8, 9 Her advice to Orpah and Ruth. 
10 Their answer. 
11-13 Naomi's urgency. 

14 Its effect on Orpah. 

15 Naomi's request to Ruth. 
16-18 Ruth's answer. 

19-22 Return of the two to Canaan. 
Chapter 2. 

1-3 Ruth's gleaning in the harvest field. 

4, 5 Inquiry of Boaz. 

6, 7 Answer of his servant. 

8, 9 Invitation of Boaz to Ruth. 
10-14 Their conversation. 

15. 16 Order of Boaz to his young men. 
17-22 Conversation between Ruth and Naomi. 

23 Ruth's faithfulness. 
Chapter 3. 

1-4 Naomi's plan for Ruth's welfare. 
5-7 Ruth's execution of the plan. 
8-13 Its result. Promise of Boaz. 

14 His charge of secrecy. 

15 His gift. 

16. 17 Her report to Naomi. 
18 Naomi's assurance. 

Chapter 4. 

1-5 Boaz presents the case to the nearer kinsman. 

6 His refusal to buy the inheritance. 

7, 8 Its purchase by Boaz. 

9-12 Witness of the elders. Their blessing. 

13 Marriage of Ruth. Her son. 
14-16 Blessing of the neighbor women. 

17 The name of the child- 
18-22 Genealogy of David. 



208 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1, 2. — No one knows under what judge the transactions here 
mentioned took place. The famine may have been one resulting from 
the oppression of some of Israel's enemies. The country of Moab is east 
of the southern half of the Dead Sea. Had the people served God as 
they ought there would have been no famine in the land of Israel. 

3. — It is supposed that Elimelech died shortly after arriving in Moab. 

4. — Jewish authorities call attention to the fact that these two sons 
transgressed God's law by marrying strange women who had not been 
converted to the Jewish faith. 

5. — The same authorities assign the foregoing transgression as a reason 
why the two sons died. 

6, 7. — The bereft widow became thoroughly homesick, and resolved to 
take her two daughters-in-law and go back to Canaan, especially since 
she had heard that the famine was over and Israel was enjoying plenty 
again. So together with them she starts for the land of Judah, probably 
going around the southern end of the Dead Sea. 

8, 9. — It was doubtless sober thinking on the part of Naomi that led 
her to change her mind. She sees that these two heathen girls will have 
no hope of marriage in Israel, and that to take them there will put them 
in great danger of becoming slaves. Her remembrance of what they had 
been to her would not permit of that, and she tenderly advises them to go 
back to their own people. Clark thinks that they were both at this time 
idolaters, and that Ruth's conversion began at this time. 

10. — Their answer showed that their affections for Naomi were very 
strong. 

11-13. — Their mother-in-law now becomes desperately in earnest. She 
shows Orpah and Ruth that according to the custom in Israel their 
chances of marriage there were reduced to despair, since custom made it 
the duty of a brother of a deceased husband to marry the widow and raise 
children for the dead brother, and she had no more sons, and there could 
be no reasonable hope of any more. 

14. — The appeal seemed to produce the desired effect on Orpah, and she 
turns sorrowfully back to her kindred and native land. 

15. — But any given experience does not effect all alike. What discour- 
aged Orpah made a heroine of Ruth. Naomi entreated her to go back 
also, but she bravely preferred to stay with Naomi. 

16-18. — The answer of Ruth is a gem of literature. Her self-surrender 
was complete. Home, friends, native land, religion, was all forsaken for 



RUTH. 209 

citizenship in Israel, and as one author remarks, she kept her pledge, for 
Naomi was nourished in her old age in the house of Ruth. Verses 16 and 
17 you can well afford to commit verbatim. 

19-22. — The concern of the people on the return of Naomi indicates 
that she and her family were well known and respected. "Naomi" means 
"beautiful." "Mara" means "bitter." 

Ch. 2 :l-3. — The beautiful character, Ruth, was not slow to find some 
work by which she could help Naomi, and in her willingness to do so she 
found the fortune of her own life. Here is another illustration of the 
fact that God always chooses busy people for exalted positions. 

4, 5. — The salutation between Boaz and his reapers was beautiful and 
suggestive, and his inquiry after the stranger timely and kind. Evidently 
he was a man accustomed to closely observe. 

6, 7. — The answer of the servant clearly shows that the story of this 
young stranger coming to Israel with Naomi was familiar to the whole 
neighborhood. 

8, 9. — Boaz of course knew that he was a near relative of hers, but Ruth 
did not know it yet. Hence his invitation to her was fitting and fatherly. 
His charges (verse 9) to the young men were also timely, seeing that 
Ruth was an unprotected stranger in a strange land. 

10-14. — That conversation of Ruth and Boaz is a thing of beauty. 
Though a stranger, she is thankful, and prompt to express her thanks. 
Boaz assigns her good fortune to her loving regard for her mother-in-law, 
every word of which was true. His pious wish expressed in verse 12 no 
doubt made this stranger girl feel that she had surely come to the proper 
place and people. Her answer shows that the speech of Boaz had put 
sunshine into her anxious soul. Now he invites her to dine with his 
company in the field at meal time. This kindly interest cost Boaz 
nothing perceptible, but it was the making of the beautiful and useful 
life of Ruth. 

15, 16. — The orders to the reapers indicated the interest of Boaz in his 
stranger relative, and gave her a great advantage in gathering grain. It 
seemed to be the business of the maidens who were with the reapers of 
Boaz to fix bands for the sheaves. Ruth, therefore, could gather the 
fallen straws dropped by the reapers and be constantly among the 
maidens employed by Boaz. 

17-22. — The ephah Ruth gathered that day was about three pecks. 
She carried it to Naomi, and the latter clause of verse 18 seems to indicate 
that Ruth carried home to Naomi also what had been given her at dinner 
more than she could oat. When Naomi finds that she has been in the field 



210 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

of Boaz she informs Ruth that he is a near kinsman to her. Ruth tells 
her that Boaz had invited her to glean in his fields all through barley and 
wheat harvest. 

23. — Ruth showed her faithfulness and her industry by applying 
herself to the work which came in her way, and by so doing found the way 
to the higher place. 

Ch. 3 :l-4. — The "rest" which Naomi sought for Ruth was an agreeable 
marriage. Too often it is forgotten that that is as legitimate a subject 
of pra} r er, research and effort as any other object in life. Did young 
people make marriage a matter of religion, as they ought, there would 
be far fewer marriages with regrets attached. The grain was usually 
tramped or beaten out in the day time, and when the sea breeze set in 
in the evening winnowed by holding it high and pouring it out, allowing 
the breeze to carry away the chaff. Ruth was not to make herself known 
until his work was done, supper eaten and he retired to bed. 

5-7. — Ruth followed instructions. The transaction was equivalent to 
a proposal of marriage. It is suggested that probably Naomi knew more 
of Boaz than she told Ruth. It was usual in threshing time for the 
farmer to sleep beside his grain on the threshing floor. 

8-13. — When Boaz learned who was there he instantly divined her 
purpose, and answered her with assurance. The latter clause of verse 10 
shows that Boaz esteems the piety of a woman who sufficiently appreciates 
the scheme of redeeming the name and posterity of her lost husband to 
seek Boaz for a husband rather than turn to a 3'oung man. Now Boaz 
informs her that there is a nearer kinsman than himself who has the 
first right to redeem the inheritance of Elimclech, and in case he refuse, 
Boaz himself will buy it and marry Ruth. Elimelech had probably sold 
out before he went to Moab. 

14. — Her leaving before daylight and keeping the matter secret from 
the public would prevent its becoming the subject of common remark or 
adverse comment. 

15. — He sends her back to Naomi with what grain she could com- 
fortably carry. 

16, 17. — Ruth now goes back to Naomi to report progress. 

18. — Naomi assures her that since Boaz has pledged himself in the 
matter he will at once push it to a consummation, so that she may now 
wait quietly and in confidence. 

Ch. 4 :l-5. — The place in the ancient city where business was transacted' 
was the gate, corresponding to our court house. Boaz called the nearer 
kinsman and ten elders of the city and stated the case, asking if the nearer 



I SAMUEL. 211 

kinsman would buy the estate of Elirnelech. He said yes. Then Boaz 
said, "Thou must buy also Ruth," etc. (the correct rendering of verse 5). 

6. — When the man heard this condition, he said, I cannot, and asked 
Eoaz to buy it. 

7, 8. — Boaz accepted the offer, and sealed it according to the custom of 
the times by pulling off his shoe. The origin of this custom was probably 
the removal of shoes as a sign of reverence attached to the transaction, as 
Moses removed his shoes on Mount Horeb in the presence of God at the 
burning bush. 

9-12. — The ten elders who were witnesses of the deed acknowledged it, 
and added their blessing upon the union. The house of the Bethlehemites 
came from Pharez, the son of Judah and Tamar. 

13. — The son of Boaz and Euth was Obed, the grandfather of David. 

14-17. — The neighbor women rejoiced with Xaomi, commended her 
daughter-in-law (Euth), named the child Obed, and gave it to Naomi, 
who became its nurse. 

18-22. — This short geneology is given to show that Euth, by her wise 
choice, became an ancestress of Christ. 



I S AMUE L. 

INTRODUCTION TO I AND II SAMUEL. 

The events of these two books open, it is thought, a little less than 
twelve hundred years before Christ (1171), while the high priest Eli was 
judge over Israel, and just before the birth of Samuel, the fifteenth and 
last judge. It is probable that the first part of the first book was arranged 
by Samuel, and that after his death some one continued the course of 
history which he began, calling it all by the name of the author of its first 
part. It introduces a new era of history in this chosen nation, that of 
their kings. The two books cover a period of nearly one hundred and 
fifty-five years, extending to about the time of David's death, 1016 B. C. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-3 Piety of Elkanah. 

4-8 Grief of Hannah. 

9-1 1 Her prayer and vow. 

12-18 Eli's mistake. Its correction. 

19-23 Birth and infancy of Samuel. 

24-28 Presentation of Samuel to the Lord. 



212 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 2. 
1-10 Hannah's song of thanksgiving. 
11 Samuel's employment. 
12-17 Sins of Eli's sons. 
18, 19 Ministrations of the child Samuel. 
20, 21 Eli's blessing upon the parents. 
22-25 Iniquity of Hophni and Phineas. Their disregard for Eli. 

26 Development of Samuel. 
27-36 A prophet's reproof of Eli. 

Chapter 3. 

1-10 Call of God to Samuel in the night. Four times. 
11-14 God's message to Samuel about Eli. 
15-18 Eli's charge to Samuel. The message delivered to Eli. 
19-21 Notoriety of Samuel. 

Chapter 4. 

1, 2 Defeat of Israel by the Philistines. Four thousand loss. 
3-5 The ark brought from Shiloh to Israel's camp. 
6-9 Fear of the Philistines. Their exhortation. 
10, 11 Defeat of Israel. Thirty thousand loss. Capture of the ark. 

Death of Eli's sous. 
12-18 The news carried to Eli. His death. 
19-22 Death of the wife of Phinehas. 

Chapter 5. 

1, 2 The ark taken to Ashdod. 
3-7 Calamity upon the idol and people of Ashdod. 
8, 9 The ark sent to Gath. Calamity there. 
10-12 The ark sent to Ekron. Calamity there. 

Chapter 6. 

1-9 Advice of the Philistine priests to their people. 
10-18 Sending of the ark back to Israel. 
19, 20 Punishment of Bethshemites. 
21 Their appeal to Kirjath-jearim. 

Chapter 7. 

1, 2 The ark in Kirjath-jearim. 

3 Appeal of Samuel against idolatry. 

4 Its effect. 

5, 6 Assembly of Israel at Mizpeh. 



I SAMUEL. 213 

7, 8 The Philistine incursion. 
9-11 The storm. Rout of the Philistines. 
12 Samuel's pillar. 
13, 14 Israel's conquest of the Philistines. 
15-17 Samuel's judicial circuit. 

Chapter 8. 

1-3 Perverseness of Samuel's sons. 
4, 5 Request of Israel for a king. 

6-9 Samuel's displeasure. The Lord's counsel. 
10-18 Samuel foretells the result of making a king. 
19, 20 Israel's persistence. 
21, 22 Their request granted. 

Chapter 9. 

1, 2 Description of Saul. 
3-10 His search for lost asses. 
11-14 His inquiry of Samuel. 
15-25 Saul's stay with Samuel. 
26-10-1 Samuel anoints Saul. 

2-8 Samuel foretells three events of Saul's journey home. 
9-13 Their fulfillment. 
14-16 Saul's meeting with his uncle. 
17-25 The assembly at Mizpeh. 
17-19 Samuel's address. 
20, 21 Selection of a king by lot. 
22-25 Search for Saul. 
26, 27 Saul's volunteer guard. 
Chapter 11. 

1-3 The Ammonites come against Jabesh-gilead. 
4-6 The news brought to Saul. 

7, 8 Saul calls together three hundred and thirty thousand warriors. 
9, 10 His message to Jabesh-gilead. 

11 Destruction of the Ammonites. 
12-15 The nation installs Saul as king. 
Chapter 12. 

1-5 Israel's testimony of Samuel's good character. 
6-15 Samuel reproves Israel for asking for a king. 
16-18 God sends thunder to confirm Samuel's words. 

19 Confession of the people. 
20-25 Samuel's assurance. 



214 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 13. 

1, 2 Saul's standing army. 

3, 4 Taking of Geba. Assembly of the people at Gilgal. 
5-7 Gathering of the Philistines to war. Fright of Israel. 
8-10 Saul's sacrifice. 
11-14 Samuel reproves Saul. 
15, 16 Encampment of Saul at Gibeah. 
17, 18 The Philistine spoilers. 
19-23 Israel's lack of weapons. 
Chapter 14. 

1-14 Military exploit of Jonathan. 
15, 16 Panic among the Philistines. 

17-23 Saul hastens to the support of Jonathan. Israel follows. 
24-46 Saul's charge about food. Story of Jonathan and the honey. 
47, 48 Saul's conquests. 
49-51 The family of Saul. 

52 Saul's selection of warriors. 
Chapter 15. 

1-5 Saul sent to destroy the Amalekites. 

6 Sparing of the Kenites. 
7-9 Destruction of Amalek. Saul's disobedience. 
10, 11 God's message to Samuel. 
12-23 Samuel's reproof of Saul. 
24-31 Saul's acknowledgments. 
32, 33 Samuel slays Agag. 
34, 35 Samuel's mourning. 
Chapter 16. 

1-3 God's order to Samuel about a new king. 
4-13 Anointing of David. 
14-23 David's appointment by Saul. 
Chapter 17. 

1-3 The Philistine war. 
4-11 Challenge of Goliath. 

12-22 Jesse sends David to his brothers in Saul's army. . 
23-31 David's speeches about Goliath. 
32-37 David's proposal to Saul to fight Goliath. 
38-51 Meeting of David and Goliath. The giant slain. 
52, 53 Rout of the Philistines. 

54 David's trophies. 
55-58 Saul's inquiry concerning David. 



I SAMUEL. 215 

Chapter 18. 

1-1 Love between Jonathan and David. 

5 David's promotion. 
6-9 Saul's jealousy of David. 
10, 11 Attempt to kill David. 
12-16 Saul lowers David in military rank. 
17-30 Saul's attempt to snare David. Result. David's marriage. 

Chapter 19. 

1-3 Jonathan's warning to David. 
4-7 Jonathan's plea for David. Saul's repentance. 
8-17 Return of Saul's jealousy. Two attempts to kill David. 
18-24 David with Samuel at Ramah. Saul prophesies. 

Chapter 20. 

1-10 Consultation between Jonathan and David. 
11-17 Their covenant in the field. 
18-23 Jonathan's plan for David's safety. 
24-40 Execution of the plan. 

24-34 Saul's anger at David's absence. 
35-40 Jonathan gives the message to David. 
41, 42 Parting of Jonathan and David. 

Chapter 21. 

1-6 David given the shewbread at Nob. 

7 The Edomite witness. 
8, 9 David takes the sword of Goliath. 
10-15 Flight of David to Gath. He pretends to be insane. 

i 
Chapter 22. 

1, 2 David goes to Adullam. His company. j 

3, 4 His provision for his parents in Moab. 
5 David goes to the forest of Judah. 

6-8 Saul's speech to his men about David. 
9, 10 The Edomite's story. 

11-16 Saul calls the priests. Explanation of the high priest. 
17-19 Slaughter of the priests. 
20-23 Escape of Abiathar to David. 



216 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 23. 

1-5 David saves the town of Keilah. 
6-13 Saul's plan. Inquiry of David. His escape. 
14, 15 David in the forest of Ziph. 
16-18 Meeting of Jonathan and David. 
19-26 Attempt of the Ziphites to deliver David to Saul. 
27, 28 Saul called against the Philistines. 
29 David at Engedi. 

Chapter 24. 

1-7 David's kindness to Saul in the cave. 
8-15 His speech to Saul. 
16-22 Saul's repentance. 

Chapter 25. 

1 Death of Samuel. 

2-9 Message of David to Nabal. 
10, 11 Nabal's answer. 

12-31 David's resolve. Abigail's kindness and plea. 
32-35 David's change of purpose. 
36, 37 Abigail tells the story to Nabal. 

38 Mahal's death. 
39-44 David's marriage of Abigail and Ahinoam. 

Chapter 26. 

1 Ziphites again show David's hiding place. 
2, 3 Saul's search for David. 
4-11 David again refuses to slay Saul. 
12-25 David's plan to shame Saul. 

Chapter 27. 

1-4 David goes to the Philistine country to live. 
5-7 His dwelling place. Ziklag. Sixteen months. 
8-12 His conquests south of Judah. 

Chapter 28. 

1, 2 Tne feeling of Achish toward David in the Philistine war. 
3-25 Saul and the witch of Endor. 

Chapter 29. 

1, 2 David and his men go with Achish against Israel. 
3-5 Disapproval of Philistine princes. 
6-11 David sent back to Ziklag. 



I SAMUEL. 217 

Chapter 30. 

l-o Their grief at its destruction by the Amalekites. 

6-8 David's inquiry of God. 
9-20 His pursuit. The Egyptian. The rescue. 
21-25 David's law of the spoil. 
26-31 David's present to his wilderness friends. 

Chapter 31. 

1-3 Battle between the Philistines and Israel. Death of Saul's sons. 
4-6 Suicide of Saul and his armor bearer. 
7 Flight of Israel. 
8-10 Dishonoring of the bodies of Saul and his sons. 
11-13 Their rescue by men of Jabesh-gilead. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-3. — Elkanah was a Levite, and lived in the territory of Eph- 
raim. Polygamy was prohibited by the law, yet it seemed to be so 
commonly practised in those days when the people did each man as he 
pleased that the enormity of the offense was not realized. The piety of 
Elkanah is evidenced by the fact that though the ministering priests 
(the sons of Eli) were wicked, yet this man looked beyond the priests 
and the ceremony to God who accepts the spirit of the giver. Shiloh, 
where the tabernacle was located, was in the territory of Ephraim. 

4-8. — The grief of Hannah is evidence of the strong desire of the 
Hebrew women for children. The evils of polygamy are also very 
apparent in this continuous domestic hell growing out of it. Had God 
so constituted man's heart as to ever admit of more than one wife at any 
given time he would doubtless have started so with Adam, whose oppor- 
tunity for the tranquil practice of polygamy was ideal, if such a practice 
were ever allowable. 

9-11. — Yerse 10 indicates the intensity of her grief. Her vow was the 
outgrowth of immeasurable desire and earnestness, the kind that precedes 
all the good gifts of God. 

12-18. — So much in earnest was Hannah that she, like Jacob, would 
not let go without the assurance of God's blessing upon her. It would 
seem from verses 13 and 14 that drunkenness must have been common in 
that day, else Eli would not likely have drawn such a conclusion. Her 
answer to Eli was prompt, respectful and earnest. Eli saw at once that 
he had misjudged her, and catching the spirit of her earnest desire he 



218 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

comforted her with the assurance of God's answer, and she departed 
happy. 

19-23. — The name Samuel means "asked of God." Only the men were 
obliged to go to the feasts. Women might if they chose. Hannah was in 
the habit of attending, but now she waits until she can fulfill her vow by 
taking young Samuel along and leave him at the tabernacle. This 
arrangement must have had the concurrence of the father to make it 
legal. (Num. 30;6-8.) 

24-28. — The expression in verse 24, "three bullocks/' were better 
rendered "a bullock of three years." An ephah was three pecks. When 
the child was presented to the high priest in Shiloh, Hannah reminded 
him of the prayer she had offered in that place, and says, "Therefore I 
have returned him whom I have obtained by petition to the Lord," a 
better rendering than the common version. 

Ch. 2 :1-10. — "In Hannah's song of thanksgiving allusion is made to 
a peculiarity in the dress of Eastern females about Lebanon, which seems 
to have obtained anciently among the Israelite women, that of wearing 
a tin or silver horn on the forehead on which the veil is suspended. Wives 
who have no children wear it projecting in an oblique direction, while 
those who became mothers forthwith raise it a few inches higher, 
inclining toward the perpendicular, and by this slight but observable 
change in their head dress make known wherever they go the maternal 
character which they now bear." (J. F. B.) The enlarging of the mouth 
[probably refers to the ability to now successfully answer the taunts and 
flings of the former persecutors. In verse 4 she uses the figure of war to 
indicate that those who prided themselves on being triumphant over her 
are now humbled in presence of her greater exaltation. The same thought 
is voiced in verse 5. The hungry one ceased from hunger. The number 
seven signifies a complete number, equivalent to "many." 

11. — Samuel was employed about the temple in his very infancy to do 
such things as he could. That is the proper time to begin religious 
training, and if not begun then it is not likely to succeed later. 

12-17.— The law (Ex. 29 :27 ; Lev. 7 :28-34) of the peace offerings gave 
the priest the breast and shoulder. The Lord's part was burned; and the 
priest's part, and also the part returned to the worshiper, was boiled. It 
seems that it had become a custom for the priests to take also a part of 
the portion to be returned to the worshiper by sticking a fork into the 
cooking mass and appropriating all that they could tear out at a forkful. 
But they went still further in their unlawful demands, and took by force 
from the worshiper raw flesh, which they could roast, because they 



I SAMUEL. 219 

preferred that to boiled flesh, and would not make the offering until they 
received it. It was pure robbery, and made the whole scheme of worship 
utterly disgusting to the people. 

18, 19. — The quiet and religious ministrations of the child Samuel was 
a striking contrast with the reckless impudence of Eli's sons. How much 
depends on generation and parental training few people seem to consider. 

20, 21. — In giving Samuel to the Lord, Hannah did the best possible 
thing for herself also. She had three other sons and two daughters by 
means of her faith in the Lord, to whom she dedicated Samuel. 

22-25. — The reprimand of Eli was good, but he erred by his miserable 
weakness. In the first place he should have trained them in the way they 
should go, and if for any reason they failed to follow his lead he should 
not have committed the crime of over-indulgence, but have compelled 
prompt obedience under the severest penalties. The word because in 
verse 25 should be rendered "therefore." Undue parental indulgence is 
always a calamity. 

26. — He who grows in favor with God is sure to grow in favor with the 
class of men whose favor is to be desired. 

27-36. — It does not appear who this prophet was who pictured calamity 
on the family of Eli, but the prophecy was fulfilled, as will be seen later. 
The men of that family were cut off before they had lived out their days, 
and their descendants reduced to want. It is never wise to disregard the 
Lord, no matter how prosperous the conditions of life. A person of good 
judgment will always acknowledge dependence upon him, and be thankful 
accordingly. Our greatest danger lies in forgetting God in our prosperity. 

Ch. 3:1-10. — Tt is supposed that Samuel was about twelve years old 
when God called him in the night. Three times he ran to Eli, feeling 
sure that Eli had called him. The thought of verse 7 is that young 
Samuel had up to this time had no experience of a direct revelation of 
the Lord to him. But he follows Eli's direction, and receives a message 
direct from the Lord. 

11-14. — The message was burdened with pain to Eli. The judgment 
was to be appalling. It was to be sudden and complete. It was announced 
as the fault of Eli. It was to be irreversible. 

15-18. — Samuel naturally feared to tell Eli these things, but Eli 
assured him and questioned it out of him. Eli received the news with 
quiet resignation. 

19-21. — Naturally the fame of the child Samuel would spread. Shiloh 
was the religious center of the nation, and so his face and name would 
soon be familiar to all the tribes. 



220 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Cli. 4 :1, 2. — Ebenezer is in the north part of the territory of Judah, 
just east of meridian thirty-five, and Aphek is a little south, just west of 
meridian thirty-five. Since Samson died the Philistines had been 
oppressing Israel, and one authority suggests that it is the growing 
influence of Samuel which is now stirring up the Philistines lest Israel 
gain their independence again. There is no evidence that Israel consulted 
the Lord in regard to this battle, and so had to learn by experience that 
they must trust the Lord for help. 

3-5.; — Now Israel commits the blunder of assuming that the presence 
of the ark would give them victory. They did not repent of their sins and 
turn to God and aim to reform the corrupt condition of morals which was 
accountable for their defeat, but trusted solely in outward ceremonies. 
An evidence of the influence of heathen practises over them is in this fact, 
that like the heathen, they were dropping into forms without spirit. It is 
very evident now that they should have entirely dispossessed the heathen 
when they first entered Canaan. 

6-9. — The shout with which Israel received the ark filled the Philistines 
with fear. In desperation they said among themselves, now it is either 
victory or slavery to us. That would account partly for the good fighting 
which the Philistines did on that day. 

10, 11. — On the other hand, the over-confidence of Israel would be a 
great element in their defeat. They shouted more than they fought, and 
learned by sad experience that the conditions were very different from 
those of the siege of Jericho. Nothing more quickly and certainly spoils 
the average man than to be carried when he ought to exert all his own 
powers to make progress. The defeat was a most crushing one. 

12-18. — Now Eli's troubles had begun. The death of his two sons 
troubled him not so much as the news that the ark was taken by the 
Philistines. His sad death is a mighty comment on laxity in child 
training, which had cost the nation thirty-four thousand men, the loss of 
the ark, and national disgrace, with a high priest dying in grief, with 
dishonor and a broken neck. 

19-22. — The third calamity to his family quickly follows. The wife of 
Phineas, Eli's second son, hearing of the calamity of war and her 
husband's death, is thrown into premature labor pains, which cause her 
death. 

Ch. 5:1, 2. — Ashdod is on the coast about thirty-one degrees north 
latitude. The Philistines put the ark in the house of their god, and no 
doubt thought that the complete subjugation of the Israelites would now 
be easy. 



I SAMUEL. 221 

3-7. — Alas for their confidence. The conditions are now reversed. 
Israel is humiliated, repentant, dependent upon God. The Philistines 
are proud, haughty and over-confident, filled with self-sufficiency. They 
now unexpectedly have a little private war with Israel's God, and the 
results are very painful, and before it ends they very much want somebody 
to help them let go of the prize they so eagerly clutched. Both their idols 
and themselves suffer. 

8, 9. — They send the ark eastward again toward the land of Israel to 
Gath, another Philistine city. Emerods are bleeding piles. 

10-12. — Ekron is a few miles directly north of Gath. Everywhere the 
ark goes the story is the same. Disease and death fill the Philistines 
with terror, and they have no time to think of further conquest of Israel. 
How to get rid of that ark fills their thoughts. 

Ch. 6 :l-9. — After seven months' affliction the Philistines can stand it 
no longer. They call for their advisers to tell them what to do with that 
troublesome ark. Doubtless by their contact with the Israelites the 
Philistines knew enough of their law to know that a trespass offering 
would be required. Perhaps their own religious customs also demanded 
similar offerings to their own gods. The priests said in substance, If 
when you make an offering to the God of Israel the plague is removed, 
you shall know that the plague is from God. According to the custom of 
that day they make a golden image of the plagues and offered it to 
their deities. One of each was sent for each of the five rulers of the 
Philistines. Evidently they knew of the history of Israel in Egypt. 
Such a trial as that of verse 7 would leave no doubt. No milch cow not 
broken to the yoke, much less with a young calf, would leave her calf and 
go to the land of Israel unless supernaturally directed. 

10-18. — The five Philistine rulers will see this thing with their own 
eyes. Bethshemesh is in the land of Judah, near the line of Dan and 
Judah. It would not be allowable to use either the cart or cows for any 
other purpose after their being thus dedicated to the transfer of the ark, 
so the cows were sacrificed and the cart burned to consume the sacrifice. 
Joshua, the Bethshemite, was probably a Levite. 

19, 20. — It seems reasonably certain that there has been a corruption 
of the text in verse 19. The different versions of the Bible differ greatly 
in their rendering of that text. Josephus differs from most of these by 
saying seventy men were smitten. Some very reputable manuscripts 
agree with this. No such a number as fifty thousand and seventy would 
be in or near the village mentioned. Nor is it a likely interpretation that 
others give the text by rendering the word "even" "and," and so make it 



222 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

appear that in addition to some smitten of Bethshemesh, that fifty 
thousand and seventy other pilgrims to the place in the course of a few- 
weeks were similarly smitten. I think with Josephus that seventy men 
would be a great slaughter for a village, and a fearful warning to others., 
The mistake probably occurs from an addition or omission in copying the 
ancient texts. 

21. — Kirjath-jearim was also in Judah, and was most likely a Levitical 
city. 

Ch. 7:1, 2. — No reason is assigned why the ark w T as not returned to 
Shiloh. Possibly it was feared that, since the Philistines were exercising 
authority over Israel, unless the ark was hidden away in a private house 
it might again be captured. For twenty years the ark remained in this 
private place, during which time Samuel had grown to manhood. The 
oppression of the Philistines makes the Israelites cry out for the past 
days when God manifested his presence in their midst. 

3. — Now Samuel, about whom we have heard nothing since his talk 
with Eli, begins his active prophetic work. He tells Israel if they really 
want to be delivered from the Philistines to show it by their actions — put 
away their idols and worship the Lord. 

4. — Israel resolves to act on this suggestion, and again forsake their 
abominable idolatry. Clark thinks that Baalim and Ashtaroth are two 
classes of idols, the first masculine and the other feminine. Both words 
are plural. 

5, 6. — Samuel now gathers an assembly of all Israel in Mizpeh in the 
territory of Benjamin, a short distance from Jerusalem. The pouring 
out of water was a religious ceremony expressive of deep sorrow. 

7, 8. — When the Philistines heard that Israel was assembled, immedi- 
ately they came up against them with an army. Doubtless Israel had 
come with their weapons and the Philistines took it as a declaration 
of war. 

9-11. — The sincerity of Israel in crying to the Lord and depending on 
him for help is evidenced by the fact that God heard and answered them. 
The location of Bethcar is unknown. 

12. — Ebenezer means "the stone of help," i. e., a pillar set up to keep 
in remembrance the help God had given. 

13, 14. — After this victory Israel would go right on taking back from 
the Philistines the cities which they had taken from Israel in the days 
of Philistine rule. How many years were spent in this no one knows. The 
Amorites were the other inhabitants of Canaan. We are not informed 



I SAMUEL. 223 

how old Samuel was when he died, but he is thought to have been ninety 
years of age, and if so must have judged Israel nearly fifty years. 

15-17. — Ramah, the home of Samuel, was about six miles from Jeru- 
salem. Here we have the first record of a circuit court, and a circuit 
rider. Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpeh and Ramah were all in the territory of 
Benjamin. Ramah was no doubt the religious headquarters of the nation 
now since the ark was practically hidden away, and the people came to 
Samuel for religious instruction. 

Ch. 8 :l-3. — But simple goodness of heart can never train a child. The 
lamentable failure of the good Samuel and Eli and thousands more are 
an all-sufficient justification of the "chastening and scourging" which 
the Lord visits upon his beloved that they may yield the peaceable fruit 
of righteousness after being thus exercised. Children do not know as 
much as older people. Their immature judgment must be corrected, 
their wills overruled and changed. The child overseer who fails to do 
this commits a crime against humanity, government and God, and 
deserves to be immediately divested of the right to deal with children. 
There must be restraint at whatever cost. These sons were only associated 
with Samuel in his judgship. 

4, 5. — This deplorable outlook hastened the people to ask for a king. 
It was wrong. But in their condition the lack of positive leadership and 
positive training was likely to end in just such a request. The people 
were responsible for their condition, and Samuel was responsible for the 
circumstances which precipitated the crisis. 

6-9. — Samuel was displeased at the request. When he carried the 
burden to the Lord, God showed him that the people must bear the 
accountability of turning from God and asking the government of a king. 
The light and leading Israel had enjoyed in the past was enough to teach 
them a better way, yet they were allowed to have their desire, since they 
would accept nothing else. 

10-18. — Samuel now tells Israel what they may expect of incon- 
venience, expense and humility in having to maintain a king. Their 
sons, their daughters, their fields, their grain, their servants, their flocks, 
all must be drawn upon to support the machinery of a kingdom. What 
an immense saving it would be if no sin was in the world, and no govern- 
ment machinery necessary. 

19, 20. — But the people were determined to have a king. Persistence, 
even in a bad cause, is likely to bring the desired end, just as God has 
promised it shall be in matters of good desires. 



224 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

21, 22. — God tells Samuel to grant their request. Samuel now sends 
them home with the assurance that all will be made right. 

Ch, 9 :1, 2. — Kish, a man of Benjamin, was a large and powerful man. 
His son, Saul, was like him, a strong man who stood head and shoulders 
above the people. Saul was a modest young man, and so his selection 
was good for two reasons — he had the right spirit, and his strength and 
towering form would impress the people with his presence and give 
confidence in him as a leader. 

3-10. — The lost asses seemed an accident to be regretted. Yet who but 
God knew what was to be the outcome of that search. That young man, 
fit to be a king, was an obedient son, cheerfully doing what he could for 
his father. And in that act of honoring his father he received his first 
call to promotion. When he failed to find them his servant suggested 
inquiring of Samuel. He was not above taking a good suggestion even 
from a servant. Evidently the family, servant and all, was pious, else 
the thought of consulting the Lord's prophet in such a matter would 
never have occurred. 

11-14. — When they came to Kamah, the home of Samuel, by inquiry 
from the maidens of the village, who were going to draw water, they 
learned that Samuel was about to go up to the place of the altar for a 
religious service. 

15-25. — Now develops the mystery which shows how Saul's inquiry of 
Samuel developed the unexpected. The Lord had told Samuel about 
Saul, and when Saul appeared God said to Samuel, This is the man. 
The prophet, without waiting for any questions, invites Saul to his 
private feast, tells him that the asses are found, and the important fact 
that Saul is to be the head of Israel. Saul pleads his obscurity and the 
humble position of his tribe, but Samuel put him at the chief place at the 
feast and gave him the honored portion of food. After this Samuel takes 
Saul to his private home and has a long secret talk with him. 

26-10-1. — Next morning Samuel called Saul, who probably slept on 
the roof of Samuel's house, and sent him home. And, going a little ways 
with Saul, he had the servant sent on ahead, and poured oil on the head 
of Saul, anointing him captain of Israel's hosts. That anointing did not 
of necessity imply more than that of a military leader of Israel, and 
perhaps never would have been more had Israel been willing to have 
stopped at that. 

2-8. — The three events which Samuel now foretells are doubtless 
mentioned to strengthen Saul's faith. They came to pass as Samuel 



I SAMUEL. 225 

said. Whether verse 8 refers to an event soon after or to one long after- 
ward is a question. 

9-13. — As he left the prophet Saul was conscious of a new experience. 
No doubt he began to feel the honor and responsibility of his new relation 
to the people, and being religious, looked to the Lord for guidance and 
help. I think verses 9-12 are thrown in parenthetically to note that 
these things came to pass as foretold, while verse 13 refers to Samuel 
going back to his place after Saul left him. 

14-16. — The conversation between Saul and his uncle indicates that 
Saul kept a discreet silence about being anointed by Samuel. It was 
likely a part of God's plan to keep this event from the people, and so lay 
upon them all the responsibility of making a king. The matter was 
likely understood between Samuel and Saul. 

17-19. — When the assembly was called Samuel again referred to the 
people's disloyalty to God in asking, but ordered them to cast a lot of the 
tribes to see whom the Lord would select. 

20, 21. — Saul was selected, but when the test came his courage failed, 
and he shrunk away and hid himself. 

22-25. — When Saul had been sought out the people received him 
joyfully. They approved the choice, and by their assent to it publicly 
added the formalities necessary to legally inaugurate him into his office. 
The writing of Samuel relating to the kingdom was probably a sort of 
charter of rights by which the duties and rights of the king and people 
were denned. Such a document would be of inestimable value, and be 
worthy a place with the ark of the covenant. 

26, 27. — And now, as was fitting, a volunteer guard attached itself to 
Saul. May be Samuel had suggested this. Israel's self-respect demanded 
it, and it was necessary for the safety of the king. The loyal subjects 
showed their loyalty and good will by their £>resents. But those of evil 
minds and hearts not only refused to do their duty as subjects, but would 
doubtless have slain him if they dared. Every good movement is violently 
opposed by evil. 

Ch. 11:1-3. — It is supposed to be about ninety years since Jephthah 
had repelled the Ammonites from Gilead. The word Xahash means 
"a serpent," and was probably the name of the office rather than of any 
individual. The Ammonites claimed the right of original possession of 
that country. Jephthah in his speech had corrected their false claim, but 
they now set up the claim again, and by their threatening of Israel had 
hastened their demand for a king (12:12). It seems from verse 1 and 
also by what follows that these men of Gilead either did not know that 



226 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

Saul was king, or else did not trust him. But the demand of the Am- 
monites stirred them up to ask aid of their brethren. 

4-6. — As the messengers from Gilead went through Israel they came 
into the territory of Benjamin; and Saul, who was waiting for a call of 
God to the duties of his office, heard the news as he came from 
following the flocks. Indignation filled him when he heard the terms 
of the Amorites, and he determined upon their destruction. 

7, 8. — His method of calling together was one common to 'kings, only 
that usually disobedience to a king in such a matter was punished by 
death. Here he proposes only to destroy their oxen. His use of the 
name of Samuel would show that Samuel was agreed to this plan, and 
further, that this prophet whom all the people knew and respected was 
the authority for Saul's kingly right. The figures of verse 8 would 
indicate that about the whole fighting population of Israel came together. 

9, 10. — Saul sends a messenger promptly to Jabesh-gilead assuring 
them that help is on the way. So the men of Jabesh assured the Am- 
monites that they would come out to the Ammonites next day, leaving 
the Ammonites to suppose that they might entertain themselves putting 
out the eyes of Israel. 

11. — When the three companies of Saul appeared next morning the 
enemy were completely surprised. Probably Saul had crossed the Jordan 
and marched all night, attacking the Ammonites at three different points. 

12-15. — Samuel was doubtless along with the army. The conclusion 
of verse 13, whether it first came from Samuel or Saul, was a correct one. 
There had been some of Israel who despised Saul. May.be some of these 
very men of Gilead were of the number. But the king could afford to 
be generous and settle that matter in a better way than to kill his enemies. 
While the tide of indignation is high against these despisers of Saul, wise 
old Samuel gives it a safe outlet. He has the united nation ot warriors 
go to Gilgal and with religious service solemnly acknowledge Saul king, 
thus confirming what had been done before. It is possible, some think, 
that before this time the people did not generally know that Saul had 
been made king. 

Ch. 12 :l-5. — Xow before the warriors separate at Gilgal Samuel takes 
the opportunity to make a most important address. And first of all he 
makes the people own that he had been a just judge. 

6-15. — The second point he makes is that though the Lord has cared 
for them first by raising up Moses and Aaron (representing civil and 
religious government), and even after coming into Canaan, and having 
sinned and been delivered into the hands of their enemies, when they 



I SAMUEL. 227 

turned again to God he had raised up judges to deliver them, yet in spite 
of all that they had demanded a king, and so without just cause had cast 
reflections on the government of God and his servant Samuel. Verse 12 
indicates that the threatenings of the Ammonites had stirred up the 
people to clamor for a king. Bedan in verse 11 is thought by Calmet to 
mean Jair. The Targum renders it Samson, and the Septuagint Barak. 
But, says Samuel, if you and your king will serve the Lord all will be 
well. If not, you will be afflicted as your fathers were. 

16-18. — Wheat harvest, about the beginning of July, was a time when 
it did not rain in Judea, so that what happened here was as much of a 
wonder as snow would be with us in mid-summer. 

19. — The people took the storm as an evidence that the Lord was with 
Samuel in this reproof, and owned their wrong, yet do not seem to have 
made any effort to undo their wrong and get right. 

20-25. — Samuel in answer to their cry.exhorts them to follow diligently 
after God, assuring them that he will certainly pray for them to the end 
of his life, and that wickedness on their part would be the destruction 
both of themselves and their king. 

Ch. 13:1, 2. — It seems a matter of small importance, yet authorities 
call attention to the fact that the first clause of chapter 13 should be 
annexed to chapter 12, making that statement of the first year of SauPs 
reign cover the events of chapters 11 and 12, and putting the events about 
to be related into the second year of his reign. In their language one 
3'ear and a part of another would be called two years. Some authorities 
omit verse 1 altogether. Saul took two-thirds of the standing army and 
gave the other third (one thousand men) to his son Jonathan. 

3, 4. — Jonathan took one of the points where the Philistines had set up 
their authority, Geba, a town of Benjamin, close to Gibeah. When the 
Philistines heard of it they took it as open rebellion of Israel against 
their authority. Saul could see that this meant war, so he assembled the 
warriors of Israel again at Gilgal, the old camping ground. " 

5-7. — The Philistine hosts now gather. It is contended that a mere 
mistake in copying has put "thirty" in verse 3 instead of "three/' the 
word in Hebrew being the same except the ending shelosh (three), 
sheloshim (thirty). Three thousand is a better proportion than thirty 
thousand, a number never seen in the largest armies of the world. Prob- 
ably the correct account is three thousand chariots. The fright and 
flight of the people showed how cowardly men can be if they have not a 
consciousness of God with them. What a confirmation of the words of 
the angel to Israel at Bochim (Judges 2:1-3) was this picture of God's 



228 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

chosen people hiding themselves away from their enemies in Canaan. 
The broken ridges of that country were full of caves and holes and pits. 

8-10. — It would seem that Samuel had promised to come to Saul in 
seven days and offer sacrifice. He waited until the last day, some think 
to test Saul. Saul unwisely took it on himself to perform this sacred 
act belonging to the office of the priest. It showed both lack of faith in 
God and presumption. Later developments show that on that rock of 
headstrong presumption Saul was finally wrecked. 

11-14. — In spite of Saul's excuses Samuel reproves him and shows 
that the command of the Lord should have been Saul's rule of action. 
Verse 14 seems to indicate that Samuel saw in Saul that disposition 
which would prove his ruin. Clark says very properly, that to be a man 
after God's own heart meant that he should be these four things: 
1. Strict in his attention to the law and worship of God. 2. Admitting 
in all his conduct that God was king and he only God's agent. 3. Pre- 
serving unaltered the constitution of Israel. 4. Acting in all official 
conduct according to the divine mind. In this sense David was spoken 
of as a man after God's own heart. (Not in his private moral conduct.) 

15, 16. — Saul betook himself with his army to Gibeah. This seemed 
to be Saul's old home. Samuel had gone there. The three thousand 
warriors had melted away to six hundred, only one out of five remaining, 
and these were all unarmed. Probably the fact that they were unarmed 
induced the others to slink away. 

17, 18. — The Philistine bands were spoiling the land. Eight over 
the territory where the day had been lengthened for Joshua to conquer 
Israel's enemies other enemies were now hunting Israel in dens and caves. 
Behold what sin hath wrought ! 

19-23. — The policy of the Philistine oppressors was to keep everything 
out of the hands of Israel by which they might make anything to be used 
as war weapons. Their insolence was prodigious. 

Ch. 14:1-14. — Both Gibeah and Michmash were in Benjamin and near 
together. Without the knowledge of Saul, Jonathan and his trusted 
servant slipped away to the Philistine camp. Doubtless he knew the 
condition of things there. As they recalled that mighty rock which 
separated the two camps, the Philistines said to them just what Jonathan 
and his companions had agreed should be divine evidence of their success. 
Jonathan had evidently had an understanding with God in this matter. 
The confidence of the Philistines, seeing as they did the panic of the 
Israelites, would make them very careless in their defenses. 

15, 16. — Without knowing the condition it would be impossible to 



I SAMUEL. 229 

understand what made the panic among the enemy. Possibly the slaying 
was done in such a way that the Philistines could not tell how many 
Israelites were present. The words "earth quake" of verse 15 may be 
understood to stand for an exceeding great panic in the host of the 
Philistines. 

17-23. — The Israelites could see from their heights the camp of the 
Philistines. When the panic was discovered by Israel, Saul, by counting 
the people, discovered who was absent. Some contend that the "ark" 
was not present, but that the rendering should be, "the ephod," which 
the priest wore. Ahiah, the great-grandson of Eli, was present at the 
camp. The ark was at Kirjath-jearim, but Ahiah wore the ephod. The 
increase of the confusion while Saul was consulting the priest led him to 
hastily stop the consultation and hurry against the enemy, who were in 
their panic fighting each other. I have no difficulty in seeing how these 
two men could, among the crags, set the Philistines to fighting each his 
neighbor. We have no evidence that Jonathan's attack did not take place 
at night. When the skulking Israelites learned what was going on they 
came out of their hiding and hurried after Saul against the Philistines. 

24-46. — SauFs order in verse 24 was very foolish. As if for the 
occasion God had in readiness the wild bees and their stores of honey in 
the woods. Clark says, "Hunger and fatigue dim the sight. On taking 
food this affection is immediately removed. This most people know to 
be a fact." Aijalon is in the territory of Dan. Verse 32 shows how 
hungry the people had become. Saul probably wanted the stone for an 
altar on which to slay and properly bleed the animals. In verses 36 and 
37 God did not see fit to answer and send Saul after the Philistines that 
night. That, however, was no proof that any one had sinned, but when 
the lot was taken God guided it to show who had transgressed Saul's 
order, and then prevented his carrying out his oath to show how foolish 
the oath had been. 

47, 48. — The wars of verses 47 and 48 must have been long continued, 
but no particulars are given. Saul seems to have been very successful. 
Had Saul continued to behave himself properly the warning of chapter 
13 :14 would never have been fulfilled most likely. 

49-51. — This list of Saul's family and relatives is valuable, as these 
names will figure prominently hereafter. 

52. — Saul's plan of selecting warriors of good physical development 
was a plan common to all rulers. How the words of Samuel were being 
fulfilled regarding Israel's king. (I Sam. 8 :16.) 

Ch. 15:1-5. — It was now about four hundred vears since the exodus. 



230 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Saul had warred some with the Amalekites, and now God by the word of 
Samuel sends him to utterly destroy that people who had so cruelly 
attacked the faint and struggling rear of Israel when they came out of 
Egypt. (Ex. 17:8-16.) 

6. — The Kenites were of the family of Jethro, the father-in-law of 
Moses, and were at this time dwelling in the Amalekite territory, but 
probably only temporarily. 

7-9. — The way in which Saul disregarded the command of God showed 
whither he was drifting. 

10, 11. — God's message to Samuel set the old prophet into an^gony 
of supplication. It was very proper to go to God with such trouble. 

12-23. — Samuel's reproof of Saul showed that Saul was responsible for 
the act with which he blamed the people, and that Saul, having lost the 
modesty he possessed when he was made king, had become a headstrong 
sinner. So in verse 23 the threat made in chapter 13 :14 was confirmed. 

24-31. — Samuel may have acted as he did in verse 26 to awaken Saul 
to a consciousness of his condition. Saul became desperately in earnest, 
and as he tore the clothes of the prophet, Samuel used the tear as an 
object lesson to show Saul's fall from the throne. Yet for the kingdom's 
sake, if not for Saul's, the prophet finally went with Saul. 

32, 33. — Samuel's course with Agag was perfectly justifiable, consid- 
ering the circumstances and the wickedness of the man. Had Agag been 
a just man he need not have trembled as he came to that just prophet of 
the Lord, Samuel. 

34, 35. — It is not to be wondered at that Samuel, remembering the past 
and the promise of the useful king of a few years before, should mourn 
the way Saul had turned from God. 

Ch. 16:1-3. — The old prophet Samuel was grieved above measure at 
the direction Saul's career had taken. Seeing that the Lord through 
him has selected and anointed Saul, who had now become such a 
miserable failure, it would tend to greatly discourage Samuel from any 
further attempts. Even this old prophet fears the result of carrying out 
God's expressed will, forgetting that if God ordered it he would provide 
for the safe execution of the plan. Samuel, it seems, had instituted the 
plan of sacrifice in circuits so as to encourage the act, and of course in 
the social feast which followed the peace offering had a right to invite 
whom he wished. 

4-13. — The elders of the little town of Bethlehem would naturally 
think that some circumstance had happened to bring evil upon their 
town. The sacrifice was offered publicly. Seven sons of Jesse passed 



I SAMUEL. 231 

before Samuel and were all rejected. Samuel at first fell into the error 
of judging by the outward appearance. The Lord corrected him in this. 
David had not" been brought in with his brothers, and so had to be sent 
for. It is supposed that at the time he was ten or fifteen years of age. 

14-23. — The king had gloomy forebodings concerning the future. 
Samuel had prophesied against him. His servants advised a skilful 
harpist to drive away Saul's melancholy. One of these servants knew of 
David, and Saul sent for him and was so pleased with him that he made 
him his armor bearer, and asked Jqsse that David might be allowed to 
stay with him for a time. David had employed his spare moments in a 
useful pastime, and it was now the means of bringing him in contact with 
the king and occupying his mind with some of the problems of the 
government of Israel with which David should afterward deal. There is 
a hint here of the power of music to soothe the restless spirit. It is 
evident that after a space of time David returned again to his father's 
house and his shepherd employment. 

Ch. 17:1-3. — It is said to be about twenty-seven years since the Phil- 
istines had been defeated at Michmash, when Jonathan and his armor 
bearer climbed up the rocks after them. They came up to this town in 
Judah and encamped in hope of getting Israel back again into bondage 
to them. 

4-11. — If we count a cubit as eighteen inches, the height of Goliath 
was about nine feet four inches. It was a frequent occurrence that armies 
drawn up against each other would each choose a man and let the duel 
between them decide the issue instead of a battle. 

12-22. — Some authorities omit verses 12-32, regarding them as not 
belonging to the original. There is, however, no proof that they were 
inserted by any later writer. David had probably not stayed in Saul's 
service long, and being a youth at the time had since grown into manhood. 
Verse 15 speaks of his return. It was customary in those days for people 
at home to carry victuals to their friends in the army. Verses 20 and 21 
mean nothing more than that both armies were drawn up in battle line. 
Both armies seemed to be afraid to begin the fight. 

23-31. — When David saw the giant, the fright of Israel, and heard the 
language of verse 25, he inquired of several men to be sure that such an 
offer had been made. This would be likely to stir up the jealousy of his 
older brothers in the army, hence the language of verse 28. When the 
king heard that there was an Israelite in camp willing to meet the giant 
he sent for him. 

32-37. — Of course Saul could see at once that David was only a young 



232 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

man. When David related his adventure with the wild beasts it inspired 
Saul with David's bravery, and when he further showed that his trust 
was in God it convinced the king that David was a safe man to whom to 
commit the contest. 

38-51. — At first David consented to put on Saul's armor. But he 
quickly discovered that it would only hinder his quick movements. He 
must fight in the way in which he was learned. The giant's confidence 
w r as so great that he waxed profane that Israel had sent such a youth 
against him. David's answer to the Philistine showed the character of 
the young man. He depended on God, and gave God the credit. It is 
plain that David had long been a praying youth. As he tended his flocks 
under the open sky he lifted his thoughts and his confidence to the God 
of the clouds and the stars. Such a one will invariably become great 
among men. And God is able to make him great with very common tools. 

52, 53. — When the Philistines saw the fate of their champion they did 
not stay to try any battle. As they fled toward their own country west- 
ward Israel followed and slew as many as possible of them. 

54. — The head of Goliath was brought as a trophy to Israel's king, but 
his armor belonged to David who slew him. 

55-58. — It is not surprising that Abner did not know David. He may 
not even have been present when David played before Saul. Nor is it to 
be wondered at that Saul did not know him. A mere boy playing a harp 
for his king, at a respectful distance, so pleasing Saul that he was 
appointed indeed his armor bearer, but staying only a short time and 
returning to his shepherd life, now T grown to a larger size, bearded, and 
most likely speaking with Saul on this occasion through one of the king's 
officers — Saul would have no chance to recognize David. But when 
Saul's chief officer brought David into the king's immediate presence 
and David tells who he is, Saul of course would remember him. 

Ch. 18:1-4. — Jonathan was a brave and pious young man. The 
bravery of David and his piety would form a most lasting attachment 
between the two young men. It was the highest possible honor to be 
clothed with the garments of a king or his oldest son, the king's heir. 

5. — David's careful faithfulness lifted him steadily into prominence 
and favor. This verse most likely refers to events which happened before 
the return of the army from this Philistine campaign. It would seem 
that David w T as made higher in authority than Abner. 

6-9. — As the army returned the w T omen came out to pay their customary 
respects to the deliverer of their country. Doubtless they meant no 
disrespect to Saul, but one has well remarked that, "It was indiscreet to 



I SAMUEL. 233 

praise a subject at the expense of his king." The result shows that it was 
doing David himself an injustice. 

10, 11. — It had been some time now since Saul had given way to those 
fits of despondency which were first occasioned by Samuel's prophecy 
that his kingdom should be taken away from him. Xow this praising of 
David so indiscreetly tore open the old wound, and again the harpist 
David of other years was called to play before him. But now Saul sees 
the very man in whom his fears are all centered, and so attempts to kill 
him. 

12-16. — Saul's conscious failure to succeed in his attempts against 
David made him more than ever fearful that Samuel's prophecy was 
coming true. Saul now took away David's commission as general and 
reduced him to a regiment commander. But it w T as no drawback to 
David's advancement, for God was advancing David as fast as he saw fit. 

17-30. — It is evident from verses 17-19 that David w 7 as sent against 
the Philistines repeatedly. The false king offered David his daughter 
for a wife and even exhorted him to fight the Lord's battles, when all 
the while he cared neither for David nor God, but meant only that David 
should be killed in battle. Perhaps by the act of verse 19 he meant to 
provoke David to vengeance so that Saul might have a chance to openly 
kill him, but David's piety made him too wise to be caught. He could 
return good for evil. When David formed an affection for the second 
daughter of Saul (Michal), Saul used that fact as a means by which to 
kill David. It was custom for those who married to give some gift 
to the woman's father. Saul says slay one hundred Philistines and bring 
me evidence that you have done so, and I will ask no other gift of you. 
David brought the evidence that he had slain double the number, and the 
false king, angered to find that David w T as not slain by the Philistines, 
was obliged to give his daughter to David in marriage. All this only 
increased the fear of Saul. 

Ch. 19:1-3. — The sinful king now openly advises his servants to kill 
David. But the agreement which David and Jonathan had made was 
very useful now, and David's friend at court, Jonathan, hid David, and 
in the morning, after Saul became more reasonable, took his father out 
where David could hear their conversation, and reasoned with him in 
David's favor. 

4-7. — The result of it was that the king repented of that order, and 
promised that David should be safe. So David was again brought into 
Saul's presence, and for a time was safe. Jonathan's quiet, private talk 
with his father had done the king much good. 



234 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

8-17. — But when war came again and David gained fresh victories the 
old temper of Saul was more violent than ever. David tried, as in the 
past, to charm Saul with music, but a weapon was hurled at David with 
such fury as to bury itself in the wall. David must go now, no disguising 
the fact. The king sends messengers to David's house to watch it and 
kill him in the morning before he could escape, but David's wife let him 
out through a window and deceived the messengers with a dummy. This 
ill took place at Gibeah (then the capital) in the territory of Benjamin. 
Psa. 59 is supposed to have been written on this occasion. 

18-24. — Ramah was not far away, and was the home of Samuel. David 
went to Samuel, perhaps for advice. Xaioth seems to have been a sort 
of college in the town of Ramah, of which school Samuel was president. 
Three times Saul sent messengers after David, but every time the 
religious services produced such an effect on them that they joined in 
the services and left David undisturbed. Saul now becomes desperate 
and goes after David, but the spirit of the exercises overcomes his rage, 
and he also joins in the services and omits the carrying out of his plan. 

Ch. 20:1-10. — But David leaves that place and seeks Jonathan. Pos- 
sibly he does this while Saul is still at Ramah. David pours out his 
complaint to Jonathan. He mentions a plan to Jonathan by which 
Jonathan may learn how much the king is determined to slay him, and 
asks Jonathan to somehow get him the word. 

11-17. — The two go into the field together and solemnly renew the 
covenant between them. Jonathan's language here indicates that he 
expects David to become king, and asks of David that himself and his 
posterity be kindly dealt with. 

18-23. — Now Jonathan appoints a hiding place for David, and shows 
how that with a bow and arrows and a lad he will give David a sign, 
showing whether or not he needs to flee. If T say to the lad, "The arrows 
are this side of you," then you can come back. If I say, "The arrows 
are beyond you," then flee for your life. 

24-34. — The plan was carried out. David waited three days. The 
first day the king took no account of David's absence from the feast. 
The second day he asked Jonathan about David. When Jonathan 
answered, as he and David had planned, Saul's anger burst out against 
Jonathan. When the son attempted to reason with the king, Saul 
attempts an act of violence against Jonathan. There is no evidence that 
Saul meant to kill Jonathan, but probably only meant to chastise him 
for a fancied insolence. But Jonathan leaves the table in fierce and 
just anger. 



I SAMUEL. 235 

35-40. — Jonathan went in the morning to the field with the lad, shot 
the arrows, and as the lad ran he cried after him, "The arrow is beyond 
you, make speed, haste, stay not." The boy thought he spoke only to him. 
So he gathered up the arrows and sent the boy home with the bow and 
arrows ; but David well knew what the cry meant. 

41, 42. — When the boy was gone David came out of his hiding place, 
and the two young men wept together. The last clause of verse 41 
indicates that David's demonstration of affection must -have been greatest. 
Doubtless he felt more grateful than he could express to Jonathan for 
being David's friend at court and helping to save his life. 

Ch. 21 :l-6. — It is supposed that this was the 'Nob near Gibeah in 
Benjamin, about twelve miles from Jerusalem. The high priest evidently 
knew nothing of this meanness of Saul toward David, and as he knew 
that David was the king's son-in-law as well as a chief officer, he could 
not understand why he came unattended. There is no proof that David 
told a falsehood here. He had himself been anointed king, and if he 
chose to speak of himself in the third person he had a right to do so. He 
told the truth so far as he went, but was under no obligation to tell the 
priest what at this time he ought not to know. 

7. — The Edomite Doeg was likely sent there with some offering from 
the king. His business would indicate that he likely had charge of 
animals for sacrifice. The Edomites were descendants of Esau. 

8, 9. — Verse 8 does not indicate any falsity. David must have had 
some individual weapons, but in his hasty flight from Saul he may have 
left them behind. Be that as it may, he wanted the sword of Goliath, 
and had a right to it. He of course knew it was there. 

10-15. — Why David went to Gath, the city of the giant Goliath, does 
not seem clear. He had to go somewhere, however, and quickly, and may 
be he thought he would not be recognized, or may be he thought the 
Philistines would welcome him if they had hopes of getting him on their 
side against Israel, and so for the time he would be safe. When he found, 
however, that they knew him and remembered keenly the praise that 
David had received when he slew Goliath, David seemed to think he 
would have to play the insanity dodge to save his life. 

Ch. 22:1, 2. — The cave of Adullam was in the territory of Judah 
somewhere between Bethlehem and Hebron, west of thirty-five degrees 
longitude. All the family of Jesse now came to David for safety, for 
doubtless Saul was furious because David had escaped his wrath. It 
cannot be shown that the men who gathered to David were evil or 



236 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

worthless men. They may have been of the best of Israel, men who like 
David's father and brothers were mistreated by Saul. 

3, 4. — It was a proper respect on the part of David that he find for 
his parents a comfortable and safe home while he was hiding away in the 
wilderness. The Moabites, being descendants of Lot, were related dis- 
tantly to Israel, and a home with their king would be a desirable place 
for David's parents. They would be well provided for, and be safe 
from Saul. 

5. — The hold mentioned here was probably in the land of Moab. 
David's place was in the land of Judah, for if there the number of his 
followers would be constantly increasing, and he would be able to watch 
closely the trend of events in Israel. 

6-8. — Saul in his speech tries to prejudice the people against David, 
and also to arouse the sympathies of Israel in his own behalf as one being 
imposed upon. He, however, was the sinner, and not the one sinned 
against. His charge in the last clause of verse 8 was the farthest possible 
from the truth. 

9, 10. — This same Edomite now tells what he had seen at Nob, and the 
same incident cost the life of every priest except the one who escaped to 
David. 

11-1G. — The charge of Saul against the priests was a false one. There 
was no probability that the priests knew of the trouble.between Saul and 
David, and the view expressed in verse 14 was a most natural one. But 
the wretched tyrant Saul would not reason, and his merciless slaughter 
put the priesthood on the side of David, and left Saul without a repre- 
sentative to stand between him and God. 

17-19. — The Israelite soldiers would not slay the priests even at the 
command of their king ; but the wretched descendant of Esau was capable 
of any act of villainy. Saul could have done nothing so harmful to his 
cause as this act of sacrilege. 

20-23. — David receives Abiathar with open arms and promises him 
protection, knowing as he did that he had been the innocent cause of the 
slaughter. 

Ch. 23:1-5. — Keilah was a town of Judah, not far from Hebron. 
David now having the high priest (for Abiathar would succeed his 
murdered father) begins rightly to govern his acts by the commands of 
God as expressed through the high priest. It was that zeal to do what 
pleased God that made David so successful as a king. He was holding 
on to the piety of his boyhood. 

6-13. — When Saul heard that David and his company was in Keilah 



I SAMUEL. 237 

he rejoiced at the prospect of being able to catch David in that walled 
town, and at once planned to send an army after him. David very wisely 
inquired of the Lord, and got all the information he needed. So he 
escaped from the place, and when Saul heard that he was gone he did not 
go down to Keilah. 

14, 15. — Ziph is south of Hebron. The rough country and the forest 
would make a good hiding place for David and his men, so that Saul 
would search for them in vain. 

16-18. — It is thought that there was a secret communication constantly 
between Jonathan and David. By this means David would be warned 
of Saul's plans against him. Now Jonathan comes to David with 
religious encouragement. The young man's piety and his knowledge of 
David's piety gave him clear visions of the future, and he acknowledges 
the ultimate success of David. 

19-26. — When the Ziphites learned that David was in their country 
they thought to turn him over into the power of Saul. Saul sent them 
ahead to find the exact location of David. David moved southward some 
five miles to Maon. Being posted as to Saul's movements David avoided 
him like wild game. So near, however, did Saul succeed in overtaking 
David that when Saul's army was on one side of the mountain David and 
his men were fleeing on the other side. Some of those very expressive 
Psalms of David were written in these trying days. 

27, 28. — The Lord seems to interfere in David's behalf, and the coming 
of the Philistines into the land of Israel called Saul away from hunting 
David. The last word in verse 28 r meaning "rock of divisions/' indicates 
the perplexity of Saul as to whether he should pursue David or the 
Philistines. Probably Saul's army was divided in their opinions about it. 

29. — Engedi is on the west coast of the Dead Sea. The territory is 
said to be filled with caverns in which numbers of men could hide. 

Ch. 24:1-7. — A Jewish legend says that before Saul went into this 
cave a spider had woven a web over the mouth, so that Saul took for 
granted that no one had lately been there. The true character of David 
is here shown in that he might easily have killed Saul and taken the 
kingdom, but he did not desire to dopso. But the cutting off of the skirts 
of Saul would prove even to Saul that David might if he chose have killed 
him. Probably the cloak of Saul was thrown aside when David cut.it. 
The language of verses 4, 5 and 6 indicate that the temptation must 
have been strong to David to free himself from one who was unjustly 
seeking his life. But David's victory over himself here was the key to 
his later victories. 



238 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

8-15. — The speech of David did that for which it was intended. It 
made Saul own what could be clearly seen, that David did not desire to 
slay Saul or take his throne. It showed David an honest, trustworthy 
man. 

16-22. — The spirit of the hour overcame Saul. He was conscience 
smitten when he thought of the honest young David whom he was 
treating so shamefully, and overcome by this act of kindness, Saul 
acknowledged David a better man than himself, blessed him, owned that 
David should be king, begged David to show favor to Saul's descendants, 
and went home. The wonder is that Saul could not behave himself after 
this, but David knew him too well to trust him. So David remained in 
the wilderness and probably enjoyed peace for a time. 

Ch. 25 :1. — It is supposed that Samuel was, when he died, ninety-eight 
years old. The word "house" is taken to mean "tomb" by some author- 
ities. Paran is the region of country still farther south than Maon. It 
is likely that David thinks that after Samuel is gone Saul will be more 
reckless and determined to take David's life. Samuel had the respect 
and love of all Israel. 

2-9. — The name "Nabal" means "fool." Possibly his manner of life 
fixed on him this name. Clark says, "This woman of sense and beauty 
was married to this hog, probably because he was rich." The last part of 
verse 3 might be translated "he was a Calebite," i. e., "a doggish man," 
since Caleb means a dog. While David was in the wilderness of Maon, 
where Xabal was pasturing his flocks, he had evidently helped to guard 
those flocks. Carmel was in the territory of Judah between Ziph and 
Maon. David sends to him a friendly greeting, reminds him of services 
rendered, and suggests a gift of what Xabal sees fit to help sustain 
David's company. Just after the flocks were sheared was a suitable time 
to kill mutton, and Nabal was now gathering his wool crop and making 
a great feast at home. 

10, 11. — The answer of Nabal showed the character of the man. He 
had no sense of justice, he took the services that David and his men had 
rendered as so much clear to him, pocketed the proceeds, gave no thanks, 
filled his stomach, and went on in hit swinish ways. Such an animal has 
no just claim to either society or to pure air. 

1 2-31. — That treatment was more than David could bear. He resolved 
to make short work of the old churl. David would not have been justified 
in taking his life, but he was thoroughly mad, and his wrath called him 
to vengeance, and with the chances David had it is not to be wondered at 
that he gave way to his passions and started on an errand of death. One 



I SAMUEL. 239 

of Nabal's servants told the story to Nabal's wife Abigail. She could see 
at once the condition, and made haste to prevent the trouble. Her 
present would tend to cool David's anger, and her speech to him (verses 
25-31 ) was a marvel of good judgment, ready wit and religious ballast 
to David. "Consider the character of Nabal, do not seek vengeance on 
your enemies, take my present, forgive the trespass, remember your life 
is united with the life of God. He will make you ruler of Israel, and by 
keeping from resentment you will have nothing to regret when you 
become king/*' 

32-35. — David appreciated that speech, took the present, blessed the 
■woman and turned back. 

36-38. — When the old churl got over his drunken stupor and his wife 
told him of what he had escaped, he was overcome, and shortly after died. 

39-44. — By marrying Abigail David probably received all the property 
of Xabal. So by taking sound advice and waiting God's time he received 
peacefully what would have been to his discredit to have taken by force. 
Saul had given Michal, David's wife, to another. It is probable that 
before he took Abigail he had married Ahinoam, for she. is mentioned 
first in the list of his wives, and was the mother of David's eldest son, 
Amnon. Had David acted strictly according to law he would not have 
been a polygamist, but in this he followed heathen custom. 

Ch. 2G:i. — Again the Ziphites came to King Saul to show David's 
hiding place. Probably they thought they were doing the right thing by 
telling Saul all they knew about David, since Saul proclaimed that David 
was his enemy and sought to take the life of Saul. 

2, 3. — Saul betra}'ed his secret regard for David's character, and owned 
his superior ability by the number of men he took to hunt David. David 
had but six hundred men, but Saul took five times that number of chosen 
warriors. Common men would not do. They must be picked men of 
Israel, the bravest and best. They placed their camp as near as possible 
to David's haunts, and then made excursions after him into the wilds 
where he was hiding. David's wisdom is now apparent in that he did not 
trust Saul when he seemed penitent for mistreating David (chapter 
24:17-22). David knew very well that the spirit of evil would return to 
Saul, and so wisely kept himself out of Saul's way. 

4-11. — When David learned that Saul was in his vicinity looking for 
him he waited his opportunity, and while Saul and his army were asleep 
one night (doubtless feeling very safe) David and his nephew Abishai, 
brother of Joab (the mother of these two boys, Zeruiah, was David's 
sister), went slyly to Saul's camp and took Saul's canteen and spear. 



240 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Abishai wanted to kill Saul, but noble David would not allow it. With 
all the provocation he had, and in spite of all the deceitful dealing of 
Saul with David, this religious young man was too true to God to slay 
one whom the Lord had exalted, however unworthy Saul had become. 
Truly David was a pious man. No wonder God chose him to be king of 
Israel. 

12-25. — The taking of those two things from the very spot where SauPs 
head lay would prove beyond question that David had it in his power to 
slay Saul had he desired to do so. David argues, God can smite him in a 
moment if he desires, or he will die a natural death, or perish in battle; 
and so David wisely left Saul's case with God. But when he gets away 
to a safe distance he calls Saul and Abner, the captain of Saul's host, and 
with cutting sarcasm shames Abner for his carelessness, telling him that 
such stupidity ought to cost him his life. Saul knows the voice of David, 
and when he speaks to David this upright young man again demands 
an explanation of Saul's treatment of him. No doubt he makes Saul 
think of that broken promise of a short while before (verse 19). If the 
Lord sends you against me, if I have done any wrong to merit the Lord's 
anger, let him accept from me a sin offering as the law provides; but if 
men have sent yoa against me, let them be accursed, for they are accusing 
me falsely. Xo doubt the last clause of this verse had often been said to 
David by his enemies. Again Saul had to own that he had played the 
fool and treated David meanly, and promised to do so no more. David 
sends back to him his cruse and spear, and laid upon Saul a strong 
religious exhortation as to his conduct toward David. 

Ch. 27 :l-4. — It is supposed that this next event occurs some two years 
later. No doubt Saul has again forgotten his promise and David's 
kindness, and is again talking and planning for David's death. David 
concludes to leave the country. Probably this conclusion was wise. It 
is not stated whether God approved or disapproved of that course,<and so 
we are justified in leaving it to the good sense of David. Verse 4 
indicates that Saul, when he heard it, ceased to hunt him. God often 
uses his enemies to protect or punish his people as he sees necessary. 

5-7. — Ziklag was a town in the territory originally assigned to Judah. 
Afterward it fell within the bounds of Reuben. At this time it had 
fallen into the kands of the Philistines, and their king, Achish, assigned 
it to David as a dwelling place. 

8-12, — The conquests which David made against those old enemies of 
Israel mentioned in verse 8 were in perfect accord with the orders of God 
when Israel entered the land, and were just as legitimate now. David 



I SAMUEL. 241 

was not yet set publicly as king of Israel, but any tribe or part of a tribe 
both had a right and it was their duty to conquer the land and subdue 
the tribes who had originally occupied it. Some authorities think the 
language of verse 10 shows that David told a falsehood about his conquest. 
Possibly if we knew all the facts it would seem different. David may 
have had trouble with those people in the very same campaign here 
mentioned. If he did the answer he here makes is proper. He was under 
no obligation to tell the Philistines what he had done beside to other 
tribes. It was none of their business. If David had no such dealings 
with these people of whom he spoke he was guilty of lying, and for that 
offense he could give no satisfactory excuse. I should not charge him 
with that offense in the absence of proof. Certainly David had grounds 
for saying, and the Philistines for believing, that Israel in general and 
Saul in particular abhorred David. 

Ch. 28:1, 2. — No doubt King Achish reasoned that David would have 
no alternative but to stay with him, and even had he known David's 
faith that he would one day be king of Israel he would have regarded it 
as a craze of a deluded brain. I have no doubt that in going with the 
Philistines against Israel David intended simply to act as bodyguard to 
the king and preserve him from death in case of the defeat of the 
Philistines. I do not believe that he would have taken any other part 
in the contest; and what is more, David may have learned by inquiry 
from the Lord that the Philistines would send him back as they did. 

3-25. — There appears to be nothing in the story of the witch of Endor 
difficult to explain. Samuel was dead. The school of prophets he had 
left at Xaioth could give Saul no encouragement. Saul had some time 
before destroyed all the family of the high priests except Abiathar, who 
had escaped to David. In desperation Saul finally turns to a witch, who 
was afraid to practise her art because Saul, as the law demanded, had 
been destroying them from the land — frauds that they were. Saul tried 
to disguise himself, but any mortal with good penetrating judgment 
would be likely to surmise under the circumstances that this stranger 
was the anxious king. Hence her language of verse 9. His request for 
Samuel would confirm that belief in her mind. Xow to be sure of her 
surmise the woman had only to pretend to see Samuel, and with assumed 
astonishment the woman charged her applicant with being King Saul, 
which he did not deny. This encouraged the woman to go on with her 
story. Thus assured, she described Samuel as she had known him in 
life, and so, as in verse 14, Saul perceived that it was Samuel she was 
describing, and bowed to the supposed apparition. The rest is easy. The 



242 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

conversation between Saul and the supposed Samuel is carried on through 
the woman, who answers for Samuel what anybody with a grain of sense 
would know that Samuel would answer, she being as she must have been, 
familiar with the character of Samuel and his prophesies about Saul. 
The words of verse 19 were most easy to predict, at which the already 
crazed mind of the king swooned away into a temporary fit of helpless 
despair. But the whole pretended interview was a fraud. 

Ch. 29 :1, 2. — Verses 1 and 2 indicate what had already been suggested, 
viz., that David and his company go simply as the bodyguard of the king, 
with no intention of doing more than to protect him in case of an 
emergency. 

3-5. — It is probable that there were many in the great host of the 
Philistines who did not know for a long time that David and his men 
were along. When they learned it they violently disapproved of their 
going, and said, David can in no surer way reconcile himself to Saul 
than by betraying us in battle. 

6-11. — King Achish therefore sends back David and his men to Ziklag, 
but expresses to David his utmost confidence in him, and there is no 
proof whatever that that confidence was misplaced, for had David con- 
tinued with them and the Philistines been defeated David would doubtless 
have seen that Achish escaped in safety. 

Ch. 30 :l-5. — When David discovers that his home has been burned he 
sees clearly why the Lord has sent him back. Their grief was unspeakable. 

6-8. — Some of his men cherished murder in their hearts, but David, 
as was his custom, took the matter to the Lord and inquired by the priest, 
and so received directions which enabled him to regain all he had lost, 
and more. These Amalekites were a part of the people with whom David 
had been at war lately, and may have been watching opportunity to 
avenge themselves. 

9-20. — In the pursuit two hundred men gave out and stayed at the 
brook Besor and kept the baggage, while four hundred men under David 
continued the march. The Egyptian they found had been meanly 
deserted, and the mean act was fatal to the actors. On the other hand, 
David paused in his urgent haste to do a kindness to a needy stranger;, 
and in so doing found the fortune he sought. 

21-25. — David's law of the spoil was in accord with the law of Moses 
on that same subject. (Num. 31 :27 ; Josh. 22 :8) . It was just and right, 
and David here enforces that law and makes it a custom in Israel. 

26-31. — David took at this time an immense amount of spoil, and in 
his abundance he now remembers those wilderness friends who were 



I SAMUEL. 243 

friends to him in time of need. This brings out another most creditable 
phase of David's character. 

Ch. 31 :l-3. — And now after this digression from the main issue comes 
the account of the battle for which the Philistines had gathered. They 
were gathered at Aphek, and the Israelites by a fountain in Jezreel. 
Aphek is just east of the sea of Galilee in the territory of the half tribe 
of Manasseh. Jezreel is a little northwest of Mount Gilboa in the ter- 
ritory of Issachar and west of the Jordan. Endor, the home of the witch, 
is just north of Mount Gilboa. The Philistines seem to have come around 
on the east of Israel's country with a view of carrying the war into the 
heart of the Israelite nation. They crossed the Jordan near the sea of 
Galilee and engaged Israel in a battle near Gilboa. On that mountain 
the three sons of Saul were slain and Saul himself wounded. 

4-6. — When Saul saw how the battle was going he ordered his armor 
bearer (Doeg most likely) to kill him. Doeg would not. Delaney thinks 
that Saul took Doeg^s sword and killed himself with it. Then Doeg took 
the same sword and killed himself. So both Saul and Doeg fell by the 
same sword that killed the priests of Nob. 

7. — The Israelites in the neighborhood of the Philistine camp and the 
scene of battle fled from their cities, and the Philistines took possession 
of them. 

8-10. — When the Philistines came to strip the dead they took the 
armor of Saul to Ashtaroth, east of the sea of Galilee, and fastened his 
body and those of his sons to a wall at Bethshan, just east of Gilboa. It 
is probable that Saul's head and his armor were carried through the 
Philistine cities to publish the defeat of Israel, and at last the armor was 
lodged at Ashtaroth, just as Goliath's sword had been put by David at 
the tabernacle. 

11-13. — The people of Jabesh-gilead, in the land of Gad, east of 
Jordan, had been rescued by Saul (chapter 11) as his first official act. 
They remember this, and so show gratitude. The bodies were probably 
much decomposed, and so burning would be the best way to dispose of 
them, and further would keep the Philistines from regaining their 
remains. 



II SAMUEL. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-12 The messenger to David from Saul's last battle. 
13-16 His execution ordered by David. 
17-27 David's lamentation for Saul and Jonathan. 

Chapter 2. 

1 David's inquiry of the Lord. 
2-4 His anointing over Judah at Hebron. 
5-7 His message to Jabesh-gilead. 
8-10 Ish-bosheth made king by Abncr. 
11 David's reign in Hebron. 
12-32 Battle between the forces of Joab and Abner. 

Chapter 3. 

1 War between David and the house of Saul. 
2-5 The children of David. 
6-11 Quarrel between Ish-bosheth and Abner. 
12, 13 Abner's message to David. Answer. 
14-16 David's demand to Ish-bosheth for Michal. 
17-19 Abner's messages to the elders of Israel. 
20, 21 Abner's interview with David. 
22-27 Abner murdered by Joab. 
28-30 David's curse upon Joab. 
31-39 Abner's burial. David's lamentation. 

Chapter 4. 

1-8 Murder of Ish-bosheth. 
9-12 Execution of the murderers by David. 

Chapter 5. 

1-3 Anointing of David over all Israel. 

4, 5 Statement of his reign. 

6-10 David's capture of Jerusalem. 
11, 12 Hiram's gift to David. David's prosperity. 
13-16 Increase of David's family at Jerusalem. 
17-25 Attack of the Philistines. Their crushing defeat. 



II SAMUEL. 246 

Chapter 6. 

1-8 Removal of the ark by David. Death of Uzzah. 
9-11 The ark in the house of Obed-edom. 
12-19 The ark brought to Jerusalem. 
20-23 Michal's reproof. Eetort of David. 

Chapter 7. 

1-3 David's desire to build a temple. Xathan's encouragment. 
4-17 God's message to David through Nathan. 
18-29 David's confession and prayer. 

Chapter 8. 
1-14 The conquests of David. 

1 Philistine. 

2 Moab. 

3-8 Zobah and its allies. 
9, 10 Message of Toi to David. His present. 
11, 12 David's disposal of it, and the spoil of his enemies. 

13 Syria. 

14 Edom. 

15 Character of David's reign. 
16-18 His chief officers. 

Chapter 9. 

1-13 David's kindness to the house of Saul. 

Chapter 10. 

1-5 David's message to Hanun. Their treatment of David's servants. 
6 Gathering of the Ammonites and allies against Israel. 
7-14 The battle. Bout. 
15, 16 The second gathering. 
17-19 David's decisive victory. 

Chapter 11. j 

1 Joab's campaign against Ammon. I 

2-5 David's sin with Bathsheba. 
6-13 His attempt to conceal it. 
14-17 David's murder of Uriah. 
18-25 Joab's message to David. 

18-21 Charge of the messenger. 
22-25 Delivery of the message. David's answer. 
26, 27 David's marriage of Bathsheba. Displeasure of the Lord. 



246 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 12. 

1-4 Parable of Nathan. 

5, 6 David's judgment. 

7-9 Nathan's conviction of David. 
10-12 Divine judgment pronounced upon David. 
13, 14 David's confession. Nathan's assurance. 
15-17 The child's sickness. David's agonizing prayer. 
18-23 Death of the child. David's worship and expression of faith. 
24, 25 Birth of Solomon. 
2G-31 David's conquest of Rabbah. 



Chapter 13. 

1, 2 Amnon's love for Tamar. 

3-5 Advice of Jonadab. 

6-18 Amnon's violent sin. 

19, 20 Tamar's grief. 

21, 22 Anger of David and Absalom. 

23-29 Absalom's murder of Amnon. 

30-36 David's great grief for Amnon. 

37-39 His longing for Absalom. 



Chapter 14. 
1-17 Joab's parable to David by the widow of Tekoah. 
18-20 David's discernment of Joab in the scheme. 

21 The king's order to Joab. 
22-24 Joab's thanks. Absalom's return. David's refusal to see him. 
25-27 Personal appearance of Absalom. His family. 
28-32 Absalom forces an interview with Joab. 

33 Reconciliation of David and Absalom. 



Chapter 15. 

1-18-17 Absalom's attempt to steal the throne. 
1-6 Flattery of Israel. 
7-9 His request to worship in Hebron. 
10-12 Absalom's message to Israel and Ahithophel. 
13-30 Flight of David from Jerusalem. His company. 
31-37 David's counsel to Hushai. 



II SAMUEL. 247 

Chapter 16. 

1-4 Ziba's present to David and story about Mephibosheth. 
5-14 Paving of Shimei against David. David's forbearance. 
15-19 Hushai's conference with Absalom. 
20-17-4 Ahithophel's advice to Absalom. 

5-14 Hushai's advice to Absalom. 
15-22 Hushai's message to David. 

23 Suicide of Ahithophel. 
24-26 Absalom's chief captain. Camp of the two armies. 
27-29 David's three friends at Mahanaim. 

Chapter 18. 

1-4 David's battle array and commanders. 

5 His charge about Absalom. 
6-8 Battle between the forces of David and Absalom. 
9-17 Death of Absalom. 
18 The pillar of Absalom. 
19-33 The tidings brought to David. His grief. 

Chapter 19. 

1 -8 Joab rebukes David's violent public grief for Absalom. 
9, 10 Desire of Israel for David's return. 
11-15 David's message to the tribe of Judah and Amasa. 
16-23 Shimei's repentance. 

24-30 Mephibosheth brands Ziba's story as false. 
31-40 Parting of Barzillai and David. 
41-20-2 Quarrel of the Israelites with Judah. 

3 Imprisonment of the false wives of David. 

4, 5 David's order to Amasa to assemble Judah. 

6, 7 David sends Abishai to pursue Sheba. 

8-13 Murder of Amasa by Joab. 
14-22 Death of Sheba. 
23-26 Officers of David. 

Chapter 21. 

1, 2 The famine in the land of Israel. Its cause. 
3-14 The offering on its account. 
15-22 War with the Philistines. Four battles. 



248 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 22. 
1-51 David's song of deliverance. 
1-4 The ascription. 
5-25 Why the as-Qjiption. 

5-7 DavSPs distress and prayer. 
8-25 God's intervention toward him. 
26-31 The divine character as manifested toward David. 
32-44 God's method of helping David. 
45-51 David's confidence in God. 

Chapter 23. 

1-7 The everlasting convenant of God to David. 
8-39 The catalogue of David's chief officers. 

Chapter 24. 

1 Anger of God against Israel. 
2-4 David's order to number Israel. Joab's protest. 
5-9 The number taken. One million three hundred thousand warriors. 
10 David's remorse and prayer. 
11-14 God's message to David. David's choice. 
15, 16 The plague. 
17-25 David's altar on the threshing floor bought of Araunah. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Oh. 1 :1-12. — David had recaptured what had been taken from Ziklag, 
and no doubt was camping amid the ruined houses of the place, thinking 
to rebuild, when this news came from the battlefield, which changed his 
whole course of action. This man who pretended to be grieving knew 
that David would likely be king after Saul's death, and wanted to do 
something to bring him into David's favor. He was even willing to lie 
to gain this supposed favor, but that he greatly mistook David's character 
is shown by the fact that David slew him for representing himself as 
the murderer of David's greatest enemy. This stranger's story proved 
that, if he was not the real murderer of Saul, he was capable of being so, 
and David would likely have met such a fate at his hands had he put 
him in any place affording the opportunity. Evidently he had been 
plundering the dead bodies. Verse 12 shows that David was a true 
Israelite, even though in exile. 

13-16. — That severe lesson to strangers from David would greatly 
discourage vile men from attempting violence with which to commend 



II SAMUEL. 249 

themselves to David. From David's standpoint the penalty was not too 
severe considering the gravity of the offense. 

17-27. — Dear Jonathan, who had been so true to David, could not be 
forgotten now. And David honored Jonathan's father, partly, doubtless, 
for Jonathan's sake, and partly, I think, because aside from their 
contention about David, Saul and his son must have been most agreeable 
companions. The three words, "the use of," in verse 18 are not in the 
original, and it is supposed that the song of lamentation was entitled 
"The Bow/' and was written in a book called Jasher. Such a title would 
l<? a fitting one for a lamentation over fallen warriors, since in that day 
the bow was the principal weapon of war. It is said by observers that 
these mountains of Gilboa are barren. There was a beaut}'' to David in 
the lives of these two men. Doubtless in days when Saul was not troubled 
with fits of jealousy, David had seen pleasant days in their home. There 
he experienced his first love, and he would not forget the bow of Jonathan 
which in the time of trouble sent the arrow beyond the lad. (I Sam. 
20:36.) Verse 24 indicates that, aside from his acts of disobedience 
toward God, Saul was a good king to his people. 

Ch. 2:1. — David had the only surviving high priest, Abiathar, with 
him. It is pleasing to note that he continually consulted God about all 
questions that arose. That was the secret of his success. 

2-4. — Hebron was the richest and best city in Judah. Judah was the 
tribe to which David belonged, and it was proper that this man so long 
driven in exile should return and be welcomed home by his own tribe. 
They would be strongly in favor of his claim to the throne. 

5-7. — David learned here what the men of Jabesh-gilead had done to 
Saul. So he sends them a message commending them warmly, asking 
the Lord's blessing on them, and promising them reward from himself. 
Such a message would make them think well of David. 

8-10. — Abner, Saul's general, took Saul's son east of the Jordan and 
made him king. It is suggested that after the defeat of Israel by the 
Philistines the enemy took many of the cities of Israel, and Abner 
did not wish to call up another battle with them by making Ish-bosheth 
king near to their dwelling place. Possibly, too, Abner knew the message 
David had sent to Jabesh-gilead, and wanted to counteract the influence 
of it. Ish-bosheth was king all the time that David reigned in Hebron, 
seven and one-half years. The most probable solution of verse ten is that 
after two years there began the rupture with David. 

11. — David for seven and one-half years was king of only one tribe, 
and had his capital at Hebron. By God's orders and Samuel's anointing 



250 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

David had a right to the whole kingdom, but he was willing to wait the 
Lord's time. 

12-32. — It is not stated why Abner and his force came to Gibeon. 
There may have been a conflict in view possibly under the guise of a 
peaceful interview, for the play they mentioned turned out to be a mortal 
combat. It is not unlikely that the intention was to find out by wrestling 
which party was strongest, but from the very nature of the circumstances 
when once begun they became very quickly in earnest. Ashel, it seems, 
wanted to get the armor of Abner. Verse 26 seems to be an appeal to 
Joab for mercy. Already three hundred and sixty of Abner's forces were 
slain, and verse 27 says in substance, If you had not acknowledged 
yourself beaten I would have followed you all night. 

Ch. 3 :1. — Some think that Abner's language in verse 26 implies a 
threat that Abner would gather forces to avenge himself. Be that as it 
may, a long war did follow, but Abner was out-generaled by Joab. 

2-5. — The six sons of David born in Hebron are here mentioned in 
their order. The first, third and fourth will be mentioned again in 
infamous notoriety. 

6-11. — According to the custom of those days the act with which 
Ish-bosheth charged Abner was equivalent to Abner making himself king. 
Whether or not the charge is true, Abner was very mad, and at once went 
over to the side of David. 

12, 13. — David availed himself of the first opportunity to get back 
peaceably his wife, Michal. David knew that the kingdom belonged to 
him, and had a right to make this agreement with Abner, as also he had 
a right to Michal. But if he wanted to take her back again he should not 
meanwhile have married anyone else. 

14-16. — David's message to Tsh-bosheth was probably made to open 
the way for Abner's taking Michal to David. The order of Ish-bosheth 
about this matter gave the act of taking the woman all necessary legal 
sanction. Phaltiel should not have married her knowing that she was 
David's wife. 

17-19. — Now that Abner had turned to David he was very zealous in 
furthering David's interest. It is not clear why Abner had not sooner 
favored David if he knew these things so well. Perhaps he was too much 
absorbed in his oWn interests. But he seemed very successful in turning 
the Israelite elders to David. 

20, 21. — The feast David made to Abner and his men was a token of 
the good will with which Abner was received. Had Abner not been slain 
he would probably have kept his word in verse 21. 



II SAMUEL. 251 

22-27. — Whether or not Joab believed what he said in verse 25 he 
doubtless longed to kill Abner because Abner had slain Joab's brother, 
and because he may have feared that Abner would be a dangerous rival 
of his in the confidence of David. Nevertheless, his act was diabolical 
and deserved death. 

28-30. — David at once disclaims all connection with the contemptible 
deed. The anathema he put upon the head of Joab was terrible to 
contemplate — always to be in the family of Joab some diseased or 
crippled unfortunate to remind him of his villainy. 

31-39. — "David commanded Joab to act the part of chief mourner." 
(Clark.) Considering Joab's part in this death the commands of the 
king about the funeral must have been very galling to him, and David's 
public assertion of his innocence and his public heaping of the blame on 
Joab would publicly fix the guilt where it belonged, and call attention 
to all his misfortunes as deserved punishment for his sins. 

Ch. 4:1-8. — Now that it is plain that Ish-bosheth is playing a losing 
game his generals not only desert, but basely murder him, thinking thus 
to commend themselves to David. Humanity is not to be depended upon 
unless God is in the heart, never. 

9-12. — Just as in the case of the one who claimed to have slain Saul, 
so here David rewards these miserable murderers according to their deed. 
This was perfect justice. 

Ch. 5 :l-3. — Now the elders of all Israel come to Hebron, and the third 
time David is anointed king, once by Samuel, once by the men of Judah, 
and now by the representatives of all Israel. He was now nearly thirty- 
seven years of age. 

4, 5. — His first public act after being put over all the kingdom was to 
take Jerusalem, which he made his capital for the remaining thirty-three 
years of his reign. 

6-10. — Jerusalem had been in possession of the Israelites before, but 
they had probably lost it while engaged in war which turned their 
attention elsewhere. Some think that all the while a fortress was held 
by the Jebusites, and that verse 6 was a taunt that the blind and lame 
could defend it against David. Nevertheless, David took it and made it 
his capital. 

11, 12. — The king of Tyre, wanting to establish friendly relations with 
this growing young king, David, knew of no better way to do so than to 
build David a beautiful cedar house. 

13-16. — The great blot on David's life was polygamy. Had he kept 
free from that heathenish custom he would have avoided the distressing, 



252 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

family troubles he afterward had, and also would not have committed 
his great sin against Bathsheba and her husband. Xearly all the trouble 
David ever had after this time grew out of his polygamy. Eleven sons 
are here mentioned as born in Jerusalem, which with the six born in 
Hebron make seventeen sons. 

17-25. — Now the Philistines become alarmed at the prosperity of 
David and gather to crush him. As of old, David inquires of the Lord 
and receives directions. In the first engagement the enemy fled and the 
Israelites burned their idols which they left behind. In the second 
instance David was instructed to surround them and so prevent their 
escape. The sound of the trees was probably a rustling of the leaves set 
by the Lord as a sign to David when to attack the enemy. This victory 
completely subdued the Philistines for the time. 

Ch. 6:1-8. — For this great national event of removing the ark David 
gathers a vast army of representative men of Israel. The city mentioned 
in verse 2 is supposed to be Kirjath-jearim, where the ark was left after 
bringing it back from the land of the Philistines. The law required that 
the ark should be carried by the priests. David may have thought that 
the plan of moving the ark mattered little at that late day, but the mistake 
cost the life of Uzzah. Little respect would have been paid to the ark 
had anyone been allowed to handle it. The men of Beth-shemesh had 
suffered severely for trying to look into the ark about one hundred years 
before. (I Sam. 6:19-21.) 

9-1 1. — The distressing accident cut short the merriment with which' 
David was taking the ark to Jerusalem, and he turned it aside into the 
house of a friend and left it there for three months. Doubtless he 
realized that his own neglect of the law was responsible for Uzzah ? s 
death. Uzzah also must have known that he was doing an unlawful 
thing. Verse 11 suggests how blessed a thing it is to be a friend of the 
Lord's work. 

12-19. — After the story of Uzzah's painful death had been somewhat 
forgotten and the blessing of the Lord had become apparent on the house 
of Obed-edom, David completes the carrying of the ark to Jerusalem, the 
capital. This time he has it carried as the law demanded. He sacrificed 
to the Lord as the ark started, and in the journey to Jerusalem, probably 
only a short way, he danced before the ark as a religious ceremony. It 
is supposed that the old tabernacle was still at Gibeon. David had a 
temporary tent pitched for the ark, probably with a view to building a 
magnificent temple for it. There is no warrant in the original for 



II SAMUEL. 253 

supposing that the word translated "flagon" refers to wine. "It means 
a eake of dried grapes or raisins." (J. F. B.) 

20-23. — It does not appear why Michal reproved David. Perhaps she 
thought he acted silly, beneath the dignity of a king. And perhaps he 
did. Still he thought himself justified, and it is fair to presume that 
with the Lord he was judged according to his intention. He seems to 
have thought Michal was unreasonable in her criticism, and so probably 
ceased to be a husband to her. The student must draw his own conclusions 
as to whether or not David treated Michal justly in this. 

Ch. 7:1-3. — When David became established in his new beautiful 
dwelling, and the hush of peace came after his first decisive victories, he 
planned and announced his intention to build a temple. Nathan, on 
his own judgment, approved the plan. 

4-17. — But the time was not yet ripe for that step. God has reasons 
why it shall not be carried out. He at once sends Nathan to David, 
saying in substance, All my former leadings of Israel have been done 
from a tent. It has been thought good enough. I have not given orders 
for any other building as yet. I have appointed David over my people 
to make conquest and establish the nation. After his throne is established 
a descendant of his shall build me a house. Chronicles tell us that David 
being a man of war was therefore not to build the temple. David's 
descendants continued on the throne of Israel as long as a throne 
remained to them. Verse 16 is beautifully fulfilled in the everlasting 
rule of Christ, who was of the house of David. 

18-29. — David confesses to the Lord that the wonderful leadings in his 
career prove that they are of God, not of man. He pleads that God will 
certainly establish his promise regarding the house of David, and use 
him and his to carry out the divine plans. The prayer is a pious and 
beautiful one, full of faith and well worthy of individual imitation. The 
word revealed in verse 27 is better rendered "opened thine ear." David 
rested satisfied since God had sent an answer to his prayer, even though 
that answer was not in accord with David's wishes and plans. 

Ch. 8:1. — Metheg means a bridle. Gath and her near towns was the 
center of Philistine power, and had been holding as with a bridle the 
dominion of Israel in check ever since the entrance into Canaan. David 
now gives them a severe crushing. 

Verse 2 refers to a practice among Eastern kings of putting to death 
a certain per cent of war captives, making them lie on the ground and 
counting (or measuring) the rows so as to be accurate as to number. 
Here it seems that David slew two-thirds of the captives of Moab, and 



254 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jewish writers say he did so because the Moabites had slain the parents 
of David, whom he had left with them for their protection during his 
exile. The Septuagint version of the Bible makes the per cent of the 
slain one-half. 

3-8. — The kingdom of Zobah lay between the Euphrates Eiver and 
Damascus. It was perhaps the chief kingdom of Syria, and would of 
course be backed by all the others in its warfare. The latter part of verse 
3 refers to God's promise in Gen. 15 :18. To cut the leader of the horse's 
hind leg at the hough joint would totally unfit the horse for service in 
war, though the horse might still be used for domestic purposes. Israel 
made little use of horses, but the Assyrians depended much on them for 
war service. The original, however, contains no proof that David houghed 
the horses. The word "houghed" appears to refer only to the destruction 
of the chariots, except a hundred. 

9, 10. — Hamath, the capital of Toi's kingdom, was on the Orontes 
River nearly three hundred miles north of Jerusalem. His kingdom 
bounded the kingdom of Zobah on the north. The Orentes River rises 
in Mount Lebanon and flows northward, emptying into the sea at 
Antioch. Toi was glad that his enemy, the kingdom of Zobah, was 
conquered, and he sends congratulations and gifts to David, and wishes 
to make an alliance with him. 

11, 12. — David dedicates these gifts and the spoil taken in battle with 
the surrounding heathen to the Lord, probably with a view to collecting 
the necessary material for the proposed temple which the Lord told him 
his son was to build. 

In verse 13 the Septuagint version of the Bible has Edomites instead 
of S}Tians. Probably this is correct and better fits verse 14. 

14. — The Edomites were descendants of Esau. They come under the 
jurisdiction of David by conquest. Thus the elder, Esau, begins to serve 
the younger, Jacob. 

15. — The very best of all the good things of David's reign is that he 
was generally pious, and was just and upright in his administration of 
government. 

16-18. — Chapter 5 :8 shows why Joab was chief of the men of war. He 
was without doubt an able military man. Authorities claim that in 
verse 17 the proper names are transposed, and that Abiathar was the son 
of Ahimolech. Abiathar was of the family of Ithmar, the fourth son of 
Aaron. When the family was massacred by Saul he escaped to David, 
and was made high priest by David. Zadok (of the family of Eleazer, 
third son of Aaron) was made high priest by Saul. When David became 



II SAMUEL. 255 

king over all Israel Abiathar ministered at Jerusalem, and Zadokat 
Gibeon. David's sons were set to command certain charges under David's 
direction. 

Ch. 9:1-13.— The kindness of God mentioned in verse 3 means the 
very greatest kindness that could be conceived or executed. This chapter 
furnishes a most refreshing picture. Amid all the haste and business of 
a public life crowded with the most pressing duties David finds time to 
keep the religious covenant of his boyhqod love. The words of verse 8 
doubtless refer to his physical deformity by which he was unfitted for 
any public duty. 

Ch. 10:1-5. — There is nothing recorded to show what service Nahash 
had rendered to David. In some way no doubt he had befriended him in 
his struggle against Saul, whom of course the Ammonites would hate as 
king of Israel, just as they now hate David in that capacity. Because 
of the respect in which the beard was held by the Orientals the cutting 
of it was the highest disrespect that could possibly have been shown, 
while the cutting of the garments was an equally great indignity added. 
Together the two acts made the insult complete. When the messengers 
returned David told them to wait at Jericho until their beards grew again. 

6. — There would be no hope of reconciliation now between Ammon and 
Israel. They foresaw what would be the result of their act, and no 
doubt wished to hasten a crisis before Israel could prepare. So they hire 
the Assyrians to aid them against Israel. *■ 

7-14. — Joab was put between two fires. The Assyrians were in the 
field, the Ammonites in their city. Joab divided his forces, and selecting 
his best warriors went against the Assyrians, and sent his brother,, 
Abishai, against the city, each promising to help the other if necessary. 
When the Assyrians fled the Ammonites withdrew into their city. 

15, 16. — Now Hadarezer (Hadadezer), the same whom David had 
conquered, chapter 8:3-8, again calls together his hosts and goes against 
Israel, hoping with the aid of Ammon to crush his old enemy. 

17-19. — David thinks this combination sufficient to call him in person 
to the field. This Helam was somewhere on the east coast of Manasseh. 
So the scene of these two battles between Israel and Ammon and his 
allies was somewhere near the point of Jephthah's former victories over 
Ammon. 

Ch. 11 :1. — The Syrian allies of Israel had been sorely smitten. Now 
Joab is sent against the country of the Ammonites on an aggressive 
campaign. How much better it would have been had David also been at 
this time in the field rather than at home studying mischief. Eabbah 



256 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

was the capital and chief city of the Amorites, situated in Gilead near 
the source of the Arnon River. 

2-5. — As was the custom in that warm climate, the king had taken a 
sleep about the heat of the day, probably upon the housetop in the open 
air. At evening time from the top of his house he sees Bathsheba, and 
failing to restrain himself at the first temptation he soon commits a 
whole drove of sins. The only safety for a good man is to resist the first 
temptation. 

6-13. — After the first sin David must either manfully own his guilt 
or continue to do wrong in order to cover the first sin. And when will 
men ever own their guilt unless driven to it? When David found he 
could not cover his crimes by bringing home Bathsheba's husband he 
conceives the most awful crime of murdering an innocent and faithful 
man. 

14-17. — Notice the list of David's crimes. 1. Adultery. 2. Attempt to 
fix on Uriah a false charge. 3. Drunkenness; he made Uriah drunk. 
4. Conspiracy ; he writes a letter involving Joab in the crime, and sends 
it by the much sinned against and innocent victim, Uriah. 5. Murder ; 
he has Uriah killed. Because David could not restrain himself four 
people are involved in ruinous crime, the fourth, Uriah, an innocent 
victim of it, cheerfully and bravely dying for his king who was his 
murderer. 

18-21. — In the message Joab sends to David he clearly shows that he 
knew that he was doing wrong by conducting the battle as he did. He 
evidently expected that when the news was first broken to David that 
he would flame out in anger at the abominable method of warfare, but 
he well knew that the mention of Uriah's death would seal David's lips. 
Who can tell how many other innocent and brave soldiers were sacrificed 
in that battle to shield David's devilish lust. Certainly the king, and 
probably Bathsheba as well, richly deserved to be stoned to death as the 
law demanded. 

22-25. — The answer of David to this message was one of abominable 
hypocrisy, another result of this sin. The mean Joab had no doubt a 
little secret joy, since David publicly blamed him with the killing of 
Abner. Now he knew that for the evil he has done or may do David 
will not dare speak a word against him. 

26, 27. — David now marries Bathsheba in indecent haste, another 
necessity to cover his deviltry. This account shows how low a man may 
fall, even though as generous and pious as David had been, if he forsake 
God and neglect his warnings. David had no business in polygamy in 



II SAMUEL. 257 

the first place, but following heathen custom rather than seeking and 
following God's directions, he found himself in a way in which it became 
infinitely easier as a king to have his own way than to own his guilt and 
get right. David could conquer kingdoms easier than he could conquer 
himself. There is proof here of the divine in this story. Had man's 
wisdom constructed it this distressing fault of the hero would have been 
omitted, but here it is held up to all the ages with the statement, "It 
displeased the Lord." 

Ch. 12:1-4. — Who Nathan is no man knows. Some suppose him to 
have been one of the last of Samuel's school of the prophets. The 
parable of the ewe lamb so stirred David's indignation that without 
thinking of his own evil David passed sentence on himself. And who 
shall say but that in the future every sinner will pronounce his own doom. 

5, 6. — The sentence of David was severe beyond what the law allowed. 
When he found it applied to himself he was very willing that that harsh 
sentence be softened. The most competent judge is the one who can put 
himself in the prisoner's place. 

7-9. — Nathan's "Thou art the man" must have struck David with 
indescribable terror. The wives of a conquered king were commonly 
taken by the conqueror. Probably those of Saul were reckoned the 
property of David, but there is no proof that he ever married any of them. 

10-12. — The judgment of verses 10-12 were carried out in a most 
terrible way. We shall see it verified in the history of this very book. 

13, 14. — The former character of David is evidenced by the fact that 
he here owns his sin when it became public, and truly repents. To keep 
away from sin is better than to repent, but repentance is better than 
wilful persistence. Verse 14 voices a great truth. 

15-17. — David, now brought to his senses, doubtless feels that he would 
be inexcusable if he left a stone unturned to save the child's life. He 
knew it was "suffering on account of his sin. 

18-23. — When he knew it was dead he saw it was clearly the Lord's 
will, and made no protest. And in its sickness and death the child 
suffered far less than it would have done to live under the odium of its 
birth. 

24, 25. — It is noticed by commentators that Bathsheba's activity in 
gaining the throne for her child proves her to have been a woman of more 
than ordinary ability. "Solomon" means "peaceable," symbolical of the 
character of his reign. Jedediah means "beloved of the Lord," probably 
a legitimate outcome of the union of this aforetime guilty pair. God is 



258 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

able to bring good out of any evil when repentance, prayer and faith are 
present. 

26-31. — Joab in the past two years in which the foregoing events are 
supposed to have transpired had conquered the Ammonites, and, as the 
original here indicates, had cut off the water supply of their capital, 
Rabbah. It was customary that when the chief citadel of an enemy 
was taken that the king himself should command the assault in person, 
and have the city called after him. Verse 31 means that the captive 
Amorites were put to work with the instruments mentioned. There 
is no proof in the original that they were put to death. 

Ch. 13 :1, 2. — Now begins that awful visitation threatened to the house 
of David. David's unlawful affections are being reflected in the boy. 
Nothing counts like the example of a father. 

3-5. — David's nephew, Jonadab, thinks out a plan by which Amnon 
could have a private interview with Tamar. It is not clear that he 
expected any violence. 

6-18. — David's hypocrisy crops out in his son. His pretended sickness 
and his request to the king, calling her "my sister," both show it. His 
bold, outrageous sin was also like that of David, stealing and shamelessly 
trampling into the dirt all that "his sister" possessed and then kicking 
her into the street. 

19, 20. — Absalom was her full brother, and in polygamous families 
where each set of children live by themselves the elder brother is more 
the sister's protector than the father. Absalom counsels Tamar to say 
nothing for the family's sake, but he meditates vengeance and waits his 
chance. 

21, 22. — David was angry, but what could he say? Absalom is angry, 
but for policy's sake he keeps quiet. But trouble is coming. 

23-29. — The arrangement for the murder of Amnon was coolly made, 
and it would seem that Jonadab was a party to it. Here is the second 
act in David's domestic drama. 

30-36. — David at first had an exaggerated report brought to him. But 
at best it plunged him into deep mourning. How he must be thinking 
now of that violent murder of Uriah. What would he not give could that 
history be undone. The sword was entering into David's own bones and 
flesh. 

37-39. — According to the Jewish law Absalom could not be sheltered 
in any city of refuge, so he had to flee from the kingdom of Israel. After 
the keen edge of the murder wore away David longed to bring back 
Absalom. Better that he had never done so. Possiblv Absalom while 



II SAMUEL. 269 

there concealed the real object of his exile, and posed as the coming king 
of Israel, and may be he was incited to his rebellion while under the 
influence and flattery of this king. 

Ch. 14:1-17. — Joab's parable was very ingenious. He espied Xathan's 
plan. It is suggested that possibly this aged widow living at a distance 
irom Jerusalem (about twelve miles) had some facts in her case resem- 
bling what Joab wished to present, but her case could not readily be 
investigated. She gets her request passed upon, and then tells whom she 
means in her request. 

18-20. — The king's request of the woman would seem to indicate that 
Joab had been known by the king to be interested in Absalom's return. 

21. — David gives order that Absalom may return, but he refuses to see 
him out of respect for justice. 

22-24. — Joab with a great show of pleasure now owns that this scheme 
was his own. Probably he had before made the request of David. 

25-27. — The weight of the hair cut off was thought to be something 
over six pounds. 

28-32. — Xow Absalom practices a trick to get an interview with Joab. 

33. — Joab was successful in reconciling the two, probably because 
David was powerfully under the influence of Joab because of Joab's 
connection with Uriah's death, about which probably the masses of Israel 
did not know. 

Ch. 15:1-6. — Absalom in his bold attempt to steal the throne first 
flatters the people. A heathen writer says that the most dangerous tame 
beast is the flatterer. His plans were much the same as many of the 
politicians of today. 

7-9. — It is thought by authorities that an error has crept in here, and 
instead of forty it should be four years. Absalom plotted his father's 
ruin under the guise of religion. 

1 0-1 2. — Absalom had been preparing Israel for this revolt. Ahithophel 
was the grandfather of Bathsheba, and Jewish writers claim he joined 
Absalom through disgust and revenge against David. 

13-30. — When David fled he wanted his foreign guards to return to 
their own country. They showed their loyalty by staying with him. 
David did not want Jerusalem to be attacked. He expected that the 
rebels would not harm the ark, so he sends it back. 

31-37. — Hushai was a particular friend of David in whom David had 
grent confidence. His distress would only cause David additional sorrow, 
so the king advises him to be of some use in this crisis by pretending to 



260 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

be a friend of Absalom and by getting information from Absalom and 
work with the priests to tell David of Absalom's plans. 

Ch. 16:1-4. — As David left the city Ziba took opportunity to send a 
present to David, and by telling a story which his master Mephibosheth 
afterward branded as false, induced David to give to Ziba the inheritance 
of Saul, which David had restored to Mephibosheth. If there was no 
truth in the story the trick was most infamous and deserved the severest 
penalty. If his master had declared what Ziba said the judgment which 
David gave was deserved. Chapter 9 :2 tells who Ziba was. 

5-14. — Shimei evidently had much malice in his heart against David. 
He belonged to the deposed house of Saul, and evidently wanted place 
and influence in the kingdom. His profane reviling showed how utterly 
unfit he was for any position of honor and trust, and even his unworthi- 
ness of freedom. Yet David felt that personally he deserved the 
execration which this evil man was heaping upon him. The Hebrew 
language makes no distinction between "commanding" and permitting. 
The true concept of verse 10 is that the Lord permitted it, and David's 
self-condemnation for his evil deeds led him to accept the anathema as 
one who consciously deserved worse things than here uttered. Perhaps 
all the while David was thinking of Uriah, whom he had murdered in 
cold blood and unprovoked that his adultery with his wife might not be 
discovered. Consciousness of one's own failings tends to great patience 
with those of others. 

15-19. — The conference which Hushai had with Absalom utterly misled 
the young man. The words he used applied doubtless to David, but 
Absalom understood them to apply to him. Strictly speaking, there was 
nothing in his language to Absalom which was false, for he did desire 
to be in Absalom's presence with a purpose in view, though he was under 
no obligations to make that purpose known. 

20-17-4. — It is evident from verse 23 that Ahithophel was a man of 
sound judgment, whose advice was held in high esteem. This abominable 
advice he gave to Absalom, carried out, would cut off all hope of recon- 
ciliation between Absalom and David, and would visit upon David a 
fearful reminder of his sin and the prophecy concerning its results, 
found in chapter 12:11. Such conduct, according to the law of Moses, 
however, demanded Absalom's death. That advice, too, would forever 
estrange Ahithophel from David. He also advises Absalom to let him 
pursue David at once. Some think this would have insured David's 
defeat, but that is by no means certain. Evidently Ahithophel wanted 
to be chief military man of the kingdom. 



II SAMUEL. 261 

5-14. — Hushai's advice to Absalom was regarded as a better reasoning 
than that of Ahithophel. And who can say that Absalom would have 
succeeded even had he followed David immediately or remained at 
Jerusalem and sent Ahithophel after him. 

15-22. — Immediately Hushai sends a secret message to David of what 
counsel had been given Absalom, and charges David to escape quickly 
lest the first advice be taken and David pursued at once. It was of 
exceeding great advantage to David to have a friend to keep him posted 
as to the movements of Absalom. David's company, fleeing as they were, 
were not organized into an army. Enrogel was near Jerusalem. Bahurim 
was the residence place of Shimei, who cursed David. David's messengers 
were the high priests, for it was necessary on this most important occasion 
to have the most trustworthy messengers possible. 

23. — Ahithophel, seeing his advice not followed, has no hope left. 
Even if Absalom should succeed he thinks Hushai likely to be made the 
chief counsellor, since his advice is being acted upon, and if Absalom 
fail Ahithophel would surely be slain by David. Hence his suicide. 

24-26. — Mahanaim is in Gilead, where Ish-bosheth had the seat of his 
government. It is situated northeast of the ford of the Jordan, by 
Jericho. Amasa was Absalom's cousin, a nephew of David. The two 
hostile armies are now camping in the highlands of Gilead, east of Jordan. 

27-29. — The Ammonite here referred to was probably the one whom 
David set over the country when he conquered it. The story of these 
loyal subjects in the time of David's adversity is very refreshing. Friends 
in time of need show who the real friends are. 

Ch. 13 :l-4. — David now thoroughly organizes his army. He puts over 
the Hebrew force Joab and his brother Abishai, and over the divisions of 
foreign guards he places Ittai, the loyal foreigner. (Chapter 15:19-22.) 
The people thought not best to allow David to go to the battle, since it 
would subject him to unnecessary danger. 

5. — David's charge about Absalom would be natural for several reasons. 
1. He was David's son. 2. David felt responsible for Absalom's train- 
ing. 3. He remembered his own sins. 

6-8. — The wood of Ephraim was in the land of Gilead, east of Jordan. 
It is said to have received its name from being the place where Jephthah 
slew the Ephraimites. (Judges 12.) The thick growth of timber so 
impeded the flight of Absalom's men that most of the twenty thousand 
were slain in the rout, because they could not flee to advantage. 

9-17. — The story of Absalom's death is plain, striking and very 
suggestive. Joab's bold self-assertion is very prominent here as usual. 



262 • BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

He disregarded utterly what others think, and does as he pleases himself. 
But Absalom deserved all he suffered. 

18. — News was carried in those days by runners. Why Joab preferred 
Cushi to go with the news rather than Ahimaaz is a question at whose 
answer we can only guess. Possibly it was because it did not become the 
son of the high priest to bear evil tidings of the death of the king's son. 
Walled cities had a place on the wall over the gate for watchmen, who 
in any time of danger stood there to watch the approach of any enemy 
or runner having news. David's grief for a dead son was very natural, 
even though that son be violently wicked. 

19-33. — It is difficult to say why the grief of David for Absalom was 
so violent, unless David intended Absalom to be his successor, and so 
felt that while Absalom did a great wrong in seizing the throne violently, 
yet David desired him to have it, and would himself rather die than have 
Absalom slain. Possibly this accounts for David's hasty flight from 
Jerusalem. 

Ch. 19 :l-8. — But so violently did the king mourn that the people stole 
away in shame, and the stern old Joab reminded David that he owes 
something to his people as king, and had no right to shame those who 
had upheld law and government at the expense of their lives, even though 
the miserable conspirator they had slain be the king's son. Doubtless 
David strongly hoped the conspiracy would be crushed out and Absalom 
saved. But of all those connected with the movement the one most richly 
deserving of death was Absalom. And he was responsible for the death 
of all others who died in the battle. In this matter Joab is right, eveu 
though his way of putting it may have been haughty and overbearing. 

9, 10. — When Israel realizes that Absalom and his cause is lost they 
begin at once to think of their dilemma, and reason about bringing back 
David into their midst. David will of course wait until they make the 
first advances, since they conspired against him in favor of Absalom. 

11-15. — But David's own tribe, in the midst of which Absalom's capital 
had been at first set up, seemed slowest of all to move in the matter, 
especially because Absalom's chief captain, Amasa, was a Judaitc, and 
had powerful influence in the tribe. David sends the priests to stir up 
the tribe of Judah on the subject, and promises that Amasa should be 
made his secretary of war in place of Joab, whom David so despised. 
Verse 14 shows that Amasa brought the people of Judah to David's 
standard completely, and they came in a body to Jordan to meet and 
bring home the king. 

16-23. — At the Jordan Shimei, who had so bitterly cursed David as he 



II SAMUEL. 263 

fled from Jerusalem, was among the first to greet David and apologizo 
and beg pardon for his conduct. He brings with him fifteen hundred men 
of his own tribe (Benjamin), expecting that this will have great weight 
with David by showing Shimei's power to turn the hearts of his tribe to 
their old king. Doubtless the mam made genuine effort to get at peace 
with- David, by seeing his life depended upon it, and he could not have 
chosen a more opportune time nor a more effective way to do so. 

.24-30. — Ziba was there also, with his servants, to avow his loyalty, and 
he needed to be, for Mephibosheth came to the king declaring that Ziba 
had played him false and slandered him, and bearing evidences that his 
story was true and Ziba's false. David now orders the inheritance 
divided between Ziba and Mephibosheth. 

31-40. — The righteous old Gileadite, Barzillai, came to escort the king 
on his way over Jordan. David pleads with him to attach himself to the 
king's household in consideration of those services to David and his army 
in their time of need, but the unselfish old man prefers to return to his 
home to spend the rest of his days. Doubtless he was the originator of 
the plan to care for David and his army. Such pure devotion to the 
principles of right is worthy a place in history and song. The parting 
scene must have been truly affecting. 

41-20-2. — But the heartiness with which Judah entered the schemes 
of bringing back David and the royal escort they furnished roused the 
bitter jealousy of the other tribes. Judah's claim that they had greater 
rights because of their nearer relationship to the king was very unwise, 
and roused a bitter fight of factions, making a fracture which finally led 
to the disruption of the kingdom. The break, which was manifested by 
Sheba's action, was at the very place where the kingdom was afterward 
divided under Eehoboam. 

3. — David on coming to Jerusalem shuts up in prison his wives whom 
Absalom had dishonored. Evidently they were as responsible for their 
acts as was Absalom, and deserved their fate. 

4, 5. — David now orders Amasa to assemble Judah to put down the 
rebellion of Sheba. We are not told why he took longer than the three 
days, but probably because he found more time necessary. 

6, 7. — Meanwhile David becomes fearful of the result, and sends 
Abishai with the royal guard to pursue Sheba. Joab went along. 

8-13. — It seems that Amasa caught up with them at Gibeon, probably 
with what force he had gathered. Here Joab treacherously murders him, 
probably contending that he was a rebel against David, and calling 
Amasa's followers if they were for David to go after Joab. Seeing that 



264 ilBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

their commander was dead they obeyed. Here is a striking example of 
Joab's influence over the people. 

14-22. — When they besieged the city in which Sheba had taken refuge 
the burden of the woman's question in verse 18 is, Why do you destroy 
this city without giving it a chance to vindicate itself? Joab was wise 
enough to shed no unnecessary blood, and having evidence that the lebel 
leader was dead he returned to Jerusalem. 

23-26. — Joab was retained at the head of David's military force. He 
was probably the ablest commander in Israel, though guilty of some 
monstrous crimes. Unfortunately, David's hands were powerless to 
punish him, because David was also guilty of black crimes, crimes in 
which Joab had a string on David which David dared not disregard, and 
he must endure Joab, distasteful as he might be. Joab was conscious of 
this, and so probably was all the more independent. He who would not 
be shorn of his strength must avoid sin. 

Ch. 21 :1, 2. — The famine had to be continued for three years before 
the people could be aroused to inquire of the Lord for a reason. Men are 
slow to recognize the claims of God, and are slower still to render up 
what they demand. We are not told when or why Saul slew these people, 
but Josh. 9 gives their history, and verse 23 of that chapter tells how 
they were employed about the tabernacle, and it may be Saul slew them 
when he slew the priests. At all events the promise with them had been 
broken, and the whole nation of Israel must answer for it when the 
affairs of the nation were settled, so that they might give the matter 
attention. God demanded that Israel should render satisfaction to this 
outraged people. 

3-14. — David calls what remained of them to know their desire. They 
ask that seven sons of Saul's immediate family be put to death. It would 
be difficult to say whether or not these seven men were directly concerned 
in the plot to slay the Gibeonites. If they were they richly deserved their 
fate, and Israel was in duty bound to deliver them. It was the custom 
of the heathen to offer the objects of their wrath to their gods and let 
them remain in that position until their prayers were answered. Author- 
ities suppose that they hung there from March until time for the fall 
rains in October, during which time Eizpah watched them. It is also 
contended that by some mistake in copying, the word Michal has been 
put into verse 8 instead of Merab, Saul's eldest daughter, who married 
Adriel (I Sam. 18:19). By such retaliation Israel would be taught to 
respect treaties and oaths. If these mpn hanged were not actually guilty, 
then I believe with Clark that there was no call for executing them, but 



II SAMUEL. 265 

that by humiliation and prayer Israel might have had the curse removed. 
After the fall rains began, thus insuring against famine, David had these 
bodies, and also those of Saul and Jonathan, who had been buried in 
Jabesh-gilead, all buried in the sepulcher of Kish in the land of Ben- 
jamin. 

15-22. — Four memorable battles are here described in which four giants 
are slain. The Philistines had been conquered by David, but when these 
giants grew up they had hopes of again conquering Israel. After the 
incident of verses 16 and 17 David was not again allowed to go out to 
battle. But again the Philistines were crushed and subdued. 

Ch. 22:1-4. — This song of deliverance is the 18th Psalm, showing 
the occasion on which that Psalm was written. The small points of 
difference are accounted for by the supposition that David revised it 
somewhat in preparing it to be sung in the sanctuary service. In the first 
four verses David ascribes to God the supremacy which he holds in 
David's affections. 

Verses 5-7 plainly answer why God holds that place in David's affec- 
tions. There had been parts of David's life when trouble threatened to 
swallow him up forever and destroy him from among men. Then he 
called upon God. 

Verses 8-25 describe the impressions made upon David's mind by the 
success into which God led him. It was answer to David's prayer for 
protection. Let it be noticed from the history of David's life that God 
uses simple and natural means to answer the prayers of his servants. 

26-31. — We judge a tree by its fruits. We judge the divine character 
by its manifestations. What God is to those who trust him, and the 
feeling toward him of those who hate the truth, are the proofs of his 
character. 

32-44. — It should be noticed that God's plan of helping David was in 
causing to prosper David's attempt to help himself. Thus the warrior 
by his efforts grew mighty, and so God has ordered in his natural law 
(God's habits) that a faithful use of that which we have shall increase 
our possession. ^ 

45-51. — The confidence that asserts itself when nothing but failure is 
visible to other eyes is the faith that most honors God, and he who 
endured with such inspiration is willing to go forward at God's command 
is the one whom the Lord can best use. 

Suggestions on chapter 22: Verse 2, the first work rock means "a 
place of concealment/' Verse 3, the word rock here means "firmness/ 5 



266 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

a different Hebrew word from the first. The "horn" of an animal was 
its weapon of aggression and defense. 

David's wanderings in the wilderness and flights for his life are filling 
his mind doubtless when he writes verses 5-7. The word "hell" means 
place of departed spirits, and the word "sorrows" was better rendered 
"cords ;" i. e., death was seemingly making a great effort to catch David. 
Verses 8 and 9 indicate that human conditions were mightily disturbed 
and earth governments mightily shaken. Verse 10, God manifested 
himself so mightily that the dark clouds about David proved to be only 
God's way of approach to better things for David. Verse 11, and God's 
manifestations to David were swift like the flight of winged creatures 
and the winds. Verse 12, who can tell how often the darkness and the 
waters and the mists aided David in his flights. Verse 15, arrows may 
refer to any pestilence. Verse 16, "The removing of the waters of the sea 
so that the bottom is visible may be a general description of any earthly 
disorder" (J. F. B.) Verse 26, God renders to each according to his 
work. Verse 27, With the fro ward thou wilt wrestle, i. e., God resists the 
one who takes undue liberties, and helps the righteous, as illustrated by 
his help of David. Verse 34, the hind was noted for its powers of flight 
up inaccessible heights; so God had helped David when pursued to fly 
swiftly into places where he could not be found. Verse 35, he also made 
David a mighty warrior. Verse 36, gentleness here means the kindness 
of a superior to an inferior. Verse 37, David had been given a broader 
and safer path in which to walk. Verse 40, the ancient warrior girded 
himself with a belt to hold out of the way his loose garments, and also 
as a belt in which to carry his weapons. Verse 42, most people are willing 
when trouble comes from which their gods cannot save them to turn to 
the true God. But God will not deliver from trouble those who will not 
regard him in their prosperity. 

Ch. 23 :l-7. — Tn the covenant of God to David, David is made to clearly 
understand how a ruler should conduct himself. David was conscious 
(verses 5-7) that he had not always done that, yet he rejoices in the faith 
that God would keep his posterity on the throne of Judah (as long as 
there was any throne to be occupied), and out of his house bring the 
everlasting Savior King. Of course this would involve the cutting off 
(verse 6) sometimes by violence (verse 7) of such as would not rule 
justly. Subsequent history of Israel verifies this. 

8-39. — The incident of verses 15-17 evidently occurred when David 
was in exile. He probably never dreamed when he uttered that wish that 
three of his followers would risk their lives to get him a drink from the 



II SAMUEL. 267 

well from which in his youth he had been accustomed to drink. So 
he refused to gratify his taste with that water which meant so much, and 
made it an offering to the Lord. This catalogue is valuable only as a list 
for reference. 

Ch. 24:1. — There can be little doubt that Israel was in some way 
provoking God's anger against them. From their earliest history they 
had been almost continually doing so. Probably they were now priding 
themselves on their power and security, and neglecting God's laws. 

2-4. — David may have become a partaker of that spirit, and possibly 
in agreement to suggestions of some of the people forced Joab to do what 
he did not approve, as shown by his sensible protest. 

5-9. — The one million three hundred thousand does not include two 
or three hundred thousands who were already in military service in the 
country. 

10. — David sees his mistake, and grievously repents of the part he has 
taken in the matter. 

11-14.— When the choice of these evils was extended to David through 
Gad the prophet he chose the third one, in which it would seem would be 
offered the easiest way for God to specify and punish the ones most 
deserving of punishment in the matter. In either of the first two ways 
the innocent would of necessity suffer with the guilty. The last alterna- 
tive would reduce to the lowest possible degree the necessity of the 
innocent suffering with the guilty. Hence David says, It is better to 
make God the judge of the man. 

15, 16. — The death of seventy thousand people would be a great 
national calamity, equal to that of a great war. The word repent in verse 
16 means that God ceased to pursue his course, or "changed his course of 
operation." 

17-25. — David realizes that had he exercised his authority as a king 
he might have averted this national calamity, and so pleads that the 
people may not be made to suffer in any degree for any fault of David's. 
Arunah was one of the ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem who had, it is 
thought, become a convert of Judaism. David would not take the ground 
as a gift, but rightly bought it, thus sacrificing to God at his own cost. 



I KINGS. 



INTRODUCTION TO I AND II KINGS. 

These two books continue what is begun in the books of Samuel. In 
the original Hebrew the two books were one, and there is no apparent 
reason why they should have ever been divided into two books. The 
Scptuagint and Vulgate call these books III and IV Kings, making the 
books of Samuel I and II Kings. These books detail the story of God's 
effort by his law and his prophets to keep his people from sin and its 
fearful consequences, and shows how their persistence in disregarding 
God's warnings cost them their national life. The author of these books is 
unknown, but probably some one (may be Ezra) compiled them from 
the official records. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-4 The Shunamite damsel brought to David. 
5-10 Adonijah makes himself king. 
11-14 Consultation of Nathan and Bath-sheba. 
15-21 Bath-sheba's appeal to David. 
22-27 Nathan's appeal to David. 
28-31 David's promise to Bath-sheba. 
32-37 David's order to anoint Solomon. 
38-40 Solomon anointed king. 

41-50 The report carried to the feast of Adonijah. Their fear. 
51-53 Solomon's promise to Adonijah. 

Chapter 2. 

1-9 David's charge to Solomon. 
10, 11 Death of David. His reign. 

12 Success of Solomon's reign. 
13-21 Adonijah's request of Solomon through Bath-sheba. 
22-25 Anger of Solomon. Adonijah slain. 
26, 27 Eemoval of Abiathar from the priesthood. 
28-34 Slaying of Joab. 

35 Successors of Joab and Abiathar. 
36-46 Solomon's charge to Shimei. His disobedience and execution. 



I KINGS. 

Chapter 3. 

1-3 Solomon's unlawful marriage and sacrifice. 
4-15 Solomon's dream. His great choice. 
16-28 His judgment about a disputed child. 

Chapter 4. 

1-6 Solomon's chief officers. 
7-19 His twelve provision gatherers. 
20, 21 Solomon's subjects. Extent of his kingdom. 
22, 23 His daily provisions. 
24, 25 Peace of his kingdom. 
26-28 Solomon's stables. 
29-34 Wisdom of Solomon. 

Chapter 5. 

1 Hiram's embassy to Solomon. 
2-6 Solomon's appeal to Hiram for timber hewers. 
7-12 Hiram's acceptance. The reward. 
13-18 The number of Solomon's workmen. 

Chapter 6. 

1-10 Building of Solomon's temple. 
11-14 God's promise concerning it. 
15-35 The inside finish. 
15 Walls. 
16-20 The holy of holies. 
21, 22 The gold covering. The partition. 
23-28 The cherubim. 
29, 30 The wall carving. 
31, 32 The door of the holy of holies. 
33-35 Door of the holy place. 
36 The- inner court. 
37, 38 Time occupied in building. 

Chapter 7. 

1-12 Solomon's private building. 
13-46 Hiram's works for Solomon. 

13-22 The brass pillars and chapiters. 

23-26 The molten sea. 

27-39 The ten bases. 

40-46 The sum and place of Hiram's work. 
47-51 Making of the temple furniture. 



270 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 8. 
1-66 Judication of the temple. 
1-11 Placing of the ark. 
12-21 Solomon's introductory address. 
22-53 His prayer. 
54-61 His exhortation. 
62-64 The sacrifice. 
65, 66 The feast. 

Chapter 9. • 

1-9 God's covenant with Solomon. 
10-13 Solomon's gift to Hiram. 

14 Hiram's gift to Solomon. 
15-19 Solomon's levy. 
20-23 Solomon's bondmen. 
24, 25 His offerings. 
26-28 His navy. 

Chapter 10. 

1-5 Visit of the queen of Sheba. 

6-9 Her opinion. 

10 Her present. 
11-13 Solomon's present to her. 
14-23 Solomon's riches. 

24 His reputation. 

25 Presents to Solomon. 

26 His horsemen and chariots. 

27 Wealth of Jerusalem. 
28, 29 Traffic of his kingdom. 

Chapter 11. 

1-8 Solomon's apostasy. 
9-13 God's anger with him. Destruction of the kingdom foretold. 
14-40 Solomon's enemies. 

14-22 Hadad, the Edomite. 
23-25 Rezon, the Damascene. 
26-40 Jeroboam, the Ephrathite. 
41-43 Solomon's death. His successor. 



I KINGS. 271 

Chapter 12. 

1-4 The people's request of Rehoboam. 

5 His request for time to decide. 

6-11 His counsel with old men — and young men. 
12-15 His answer to the people. 

16-20 Revolt of the ten tribes. Jeroboam made their king. 
21-24 Rehoboam's army. God's message to them. 
25-33 Apostasy of Jeroboam. The golden calves. 

Chapter 13. 

1-3 A Judean's prophecy against Jeroboam's altar. 
4, 5 Withering of Jeroboam's hand. Rending of the altar. 

6 Penitence of the king. His hand restored. 

7-10 The prophet's refusal of the king's entertainment. 

11-19 A Bethel prophet's lie to him. 

20-22 God's reproof of the Judean prophet. 
23, 24 The prophet slain by a lion. 

25-32 His burial by the Bethel prophet. 
33, 34 Jeroboam's sinful reign. 

Chapter 14. 

1-4 Sickness of Jeroboam's son. His mother sent to Ahijah the 
prophet. 
5-16 God's message to Jeroboam by Ahijah. 
17, 18 Death of the child. 

19,20 Death of Jeroboam (22 years). His successor, Nadab. 
21-24 Sin of Judah. 
25-28 Shishak's plunder of the temple. 
29, 30 Strife between Judah and Israel. 
31 Death of Rehoboam (17 years). 

Chapter 15. 

1-8 Reign of Abijam, second king of Judah (three years). 
9-24 Asa, third king of Judah (forty-one years). 
9-15 His character. 
16-24 His war with Israel. League with Ben-hadad. 
25.26 Nadab, second king of Israel (2 years). 
27-16-7 Baasha, third king of Israel (24 years). 
27, 28 His murder of Xadab. 
29-31 Destruction of the house of Jeroboam. 
32-34 Character of Baasha's reign. 



272 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 16. 

1-7 Jehu's prophecy against Baasha. His death. 
8-10 Elah, fourth king of Israel (2 years). His murder. 
11-20 Zimri, fifth king of Israel (7 days). 

11-14 His destruction of the house of Baasha. 
15, 16 Omri elected king by the army. 
17-20 Tirzah besieged. Suicide of Zimri. 
21, 22 The four years' civil war. 

23-28 Omri, sixth king of Israel (12 years). Samaria built. 
29-22-40 Ahab, seventh king of Israel (22 years). 
29-31 His evil reign. Marriage to heathen Jezebel. 
32, 33 His Baal worship. 

34 Jericho rebuilt by Hiel. The curse. 

Chapter 17. 

1 Elijah's prophecy of drouth. 
2-7 The prophet fed by ravens at the brook Cherith. 
8-14 Elijah sent to the widow of Zarephath. 
15, 16 Miracle of the meal and oil. 
17-23 Restoration of the widow's son. 
24 The widow's faith. 

Chapter 18. 

1, 2 Elijah sent to find Ahab. 

3-6 Search of Ahab and Obadiah for water. 
7-15 Meeting of Elijah and Obadiah. 

16 Ahab brought to Elijah. 
17-20 Ahab gathers Baal's prophets. 
21-39 The trial by fire on Mount Carmel. 

40 Baal's prophets slain. 
41-45 Elijah's prayer for rain. 

46 His loyalty to Ahab. 

Chapter 19. 

1, 2 Threat of Jezebel. 
3-7 Flight of Elijah. An angel feeds him. 
8-18 Elijah at Horeb. 

8-14 God's appearance to Elijah. 
15, 16 His order to the prophet. 
17, 18 Assurance to Elijah. 
19-21 Elijah anoints Elisha. 



I KINGS. 273 

Chapter 20. 

1-12 Ben- ha dad's war. Correspondence with Ahab. 
13, 14 A prophet's message to Ahab about the Assyrians. 
15-21 Destruction of the Syrian army. 
22 Return of the Syrians foretold. 
23-25 Advice of the Syrians to their king. 
26, 27 Return of the Syrians. Gathering of Israel. 

28 A prophet foretells Syria's defeat. 
29, 30 The battle. Destruction of the Syrians. 
31-34 Ahab's covenant with Ben-hadad. 
35-43 A prophet makes Ahab judge himself. j 

Chapter 21. 

1-16 The murder of Naboth. 
17-29 Elijah's judgment against Ahab and Jezebel. 

Chapter 22. 

1-12 Conference of Jehoshaphat and Ahab. The lying prophets. 
13-28 Prophecy of Micaiah. His shameful treatment. 
29-40 Battle of the two kings against the Syrians. Death of Ahab. 
41-50 Jehoshaphat, fourth king of Judah (25 years). 
51-2 K 1-18 Ahaziah, eighth king of Israel (2 years). 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-4. — Shunam was a town five miles south of Tabor, in the tribe 
of Issachar. David was now seventy years of age. "The wear and tear 
of a military life, bodily fatigue and mental care had prematurely 
exhausted the energies of David's strong constitution." (J. F. B.) It 
is said that in the hot climate of the East the people sleep each in a 
separate bed, departing from the custom only for medical reasons, being 
aware that the inhalation of a young breath will give new life and vigor 
to a worn-out frame. 

5-10. — Adonijah was the fourth' son of David. He is said to have been 
the oldest then living, and it was natural that he should have been 
considered the heir to the throne. It is evident, however, from the 
anxiety and energy shown to get the throne that he knew Bath-sheba's 
claim on it for Solomon. Probably both Joab and Abiathar thought that 
Adonijah ought to have the throne. Zadok was a descendant of Eleazar, 
third son of Aaron, and had been made high priest at Gibeon by Saul 
when he slew the priests at Nob. (Descendants of Ithamar, Aaron's 
fourth son, house of Eli.) Abiathar, the only survivor of the massacre, 



274 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

had been David's priest in the wilderness, and since David became king 
he had recognized both Abiathar and Zadok as high priests. It is probable 
that there was more or less friction between the two, hence they are found 
on opposite sides. 

11-14. — Nathan, the prophet, knew of David's promise regarding 
Solomon, and knew that God approved it. So he felt religiously bound 
to lead the movement to put Solomon on the throne. Probably Nathan 
knew also that Adonijah would put to death Solomon as being a rival 
claimant to the throne. So he arranged with her that she should first 
go to David and present her case, then he would come to religiously 
follow up what she began. As verse 20 indicates, the law of succession 
had not been fixed, and kings often named their successors. If they did 
not, the throne went to the oldest. 

15-21. — Bath-sheba could break the news more gently to the aged king 
than anyone else. She tells him of the feast that Adonijah has spread, 
and reminds David that she and Solomon will be counted as traitors and 
their lives taken by Adonijah. She appeals to David (verse 20) to name 
a successor. 

22-27. — Nathan evidently had much influence with David. He was a 
good man. When he comes before David he tells him about Adonijah's 
feast, and mentions how himself and others had not been bidden to the 
feast, and asks if it was David's will to put Adonijah on the throne. 
Bath-sheba had evidently retired while Nathan talked with David. 

28-31. — David now calls back Bath-sheba and renews his promise to 
her and to Solomon. 

32-37. — The aged kings sees the necessity of hasty and decisive action. 
So he called Nathan and the other two men he had mentioned as slighted 
by Adonijah in his invitation, and bids them publicly anoint Solomon 
king, and put him on the king's mule, and with the use of the trumpets 
and the royal guards proclaim him king throughout the land, and bring 
him in and set him on the throne. Anointing was done only in case of 
a new dynasty or in disputed succession. No subject was allowed to ride 
the state mule under penalty of death unless by special permission. 
Gihon was a fountain on the west of Jerusalem. 

38-40. — About the close of the feast of Adonijah the shouts of the 
multitude over Solomon's accession came to their ears. 

41-50. — A son of Abiathar came down to the well of Enrogel, where 
they had been feasting, and tells all the details of David's orders and 
the crowning of Solomon. All the guests of Adonijah were panic- 
stricken, and fled home for fear of being counted conspirators. The 



I KINGS. 275 

altar was probably the altar of burnt offerings on Mount Zion, where 
Abiathar had been acting as high priest. The altar was counted a most 
sacred place, so that persons accused of crime frequently fled to it to 
escape vengeance, since persons would not be taken violently from the 
altar or slain by it unless their guilt was established. Ex. 21 :14. 

51-53. — Solomon's promise to Adonijah was straightforward and 
manly. Evidently Adonijah feared Solomon would slay him, for he 
wanted a promise that he might be spared. 

Oh. 2 :l-9. — In David's dying charge to Solomon verses 2-4 are beau- 
tiful flowers. Had Solomon heeded them he would have been the greatest 
king of earth, all things considered. (These three verses are worthy of 
committal.) His charge about Joab was only dealing out justice to that 
hoary and impenitent sinner, who had so fully disregarded his king's 
wishes and violently shed innocent blood. David doubtless thinks that 
his very presence would be a menace to Solomon's safety. He speaks also 
of Shimei (the one of chapter 1:8 is a different man) who had cursed 
David, yet he received David's oath of safety in presence of a strong 
following. David would consider him a dangerous man and untrust- 
worthy, so that his advice was for the safety of the kingdom. 

10, 11. — David had been anointed over the tribe of Judah at Hebron 
when he was thirty years old. The old warrior king had subdued the 
enemies of Israel and made his people a great nation. The death of 
David occurred some six months after Solomon was put on the throne. 
This time is supposed to have been spent in perfecting plans for the 
enlargement and glory of the kingdom. 

12. — After David's death verse 12 indicates that these plans were 
carried out successfully. 

13-21. — We are left to guess why Adonijah made the request for 
Abishag. Some think that it was a deep laid and cunning design, 
possibly inspired by Joab and Abiathar, to gain the kingdom by marrying 
the wife of his father, since that was one of the main ways by which men 
were established in a kingdom. If he had design in mind the plot was 
well concealed, for Bath-sheba, who was at first suspicious of Adonijah, 
was willing to speak in his behalf. 

22-25. — Solomon at once concluded that this was a design on the 
kingdom, and associated Abiathar and Joab with the scheme. If this 
was true, then Adonijah was a rank hypocrite (verse 15) and a dangerous 
man, and deserved his fate. If it was not true Solomon had no right to 
put him to death. 

26, 27. — Solomon would of course regard Abiathar as an accomplice of 



276 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

A don ij ah, worthy of the same fate, but because of his filling the sacred 
office for David and sharing his privations in the wilderness he merely 
banishes him to his private estate at Anathoth, three miles north of 
Jerusalem, in the territory of Benjamin. In depriving him of his office 
the prophecy was wholly fulfilled against the house of Eli, Abiathar being 
the last one of his line in the priesthood. 

28-34. — Joab seeing the punishment of these two knows his own 
punishment is at hand. He also flees to the altar, but his fate has been 
previously passed upon, and when he refuses to leave the altar he is slain 
there, probably on the assumption that the force of taking him from the 
altar would be as great violence as his slaying on the spot. 

35. — Benaiah and Zadok were made the successors of Joab and 
Abiathar. 

36-46. — Shimei, who had cursed David, lived at Bahurim, a little 
village not far from Jerusalem. Solomon shuts him up to the necessity 
of staying perpetually within the gates of Jerusalem. Shimei agreed to 
the change, but after three years broke his word, and was slain by 
Solomon's orders. With the death of Shimei all the rival factions of 
the kingdom were gone, and Solomon enjoyed unbroken quiet. 

Ch. 3 :l-3. — Here appears the strange mixture of sense and nonsense 
in Solomon. This incident of marriage shows that Israel as a nation 
had risen high in the estimation of other nations, and was received on 
an equality with Egypt, which four hundred years before had held them 
as slaves. Some think this woman had abandoned idolatry and became 
an Israelite, but there is neither proof nor likelihood for the supposition, 
and if she really did the king should not have married her. More likely 
Solomon's vanity was stirred by the proposed alliance with Egypt by this 
union, and he neglected to weigh the proposition by the law of Moses and 
his better sense. No doubt Solomon meant with all his soul to be an 
upright, God-fearing man, but such weakness in striking down evil 
tendencies would ruin him. The same weakness is manifest in his 
sacrificing in high places contrary to the express orders of the law, and 
allowing the people to do likewise. To keep on in that way would be to 
make his reign a brilliant failure. 

4-15. — At Gibeon the wilderness tabernacle and the brazen altar were 
located, but the ark was not there and the high priest was not there, and 
it is difficult to say how much of false religion had crept into the worship 
of Israel in all these four hundred years of contact with idolatry, which 
Israel failed to destroy as ordered to do, and for which they so often fell 
before their enemies. Solomon was now at least twenty years of age. 



I KINGS. 277 

After the long service in which he offered one thousand burnt offerings 
his dream would be a most natural one. Beginning to realize as he did 
the weight of responsibility on him, he feels that above all things he 
needs wisdom. The dream is a mere picture of what went on in his 
mind in his waking hours, and in answer to which prayer God granted 
his request. So earnestly did Solomon pray for this that when he slept 
he dreamed out what he had done in his waking hours. God's granting 
of Solomon's waking prayer was signified in this dream. Had Solomon 
asked in addition courage to piously perform all his known duty it would 
have pleased the Lord still better and saved Solomon from ruin. 

16-18. — It is said that Eastern monarchs frequently appeal to the 
principle of human nature when at a loss to find a clue to the truth in 
conflicting testimon}', and that modern Eastern history 'abounds with 
judicial anecdotes similar to this. 

Ch, 4 : 1-6.— In Solomon's cabinet were two sons of Nathan the prophet. 
It is of course fitting that any executive should have officers in full 
sympathy with him. - Nathan had been very close to David, had been the 
first to move in favor of Solomon, and no doubt these boys had grown up 
with Solomon. 

7-19. — The twelve officers gathering the immense amount of food 
necessary to support royalty was a standing remembrance of Samuel's 
comment to the people about the result of their demanding a king. 

20, 21. — Solomon made tributary to Israel all the little powers from 
the Euphrates River to Egypt. 

22, 23. — The thirty measures of flour meant two hundred and forty 
bushels. The sixty measures of meal then would be four hundred and 
eighty bushels. 

24, 25. — "The people trained their vines and fruit trees up the walls 
and stairs of houses so as to make a shady arbor under which to rest and 
recreate/' (Brown.) 

26-28. — Horses were not used in Palestine, but Solomon in imitating 
the splendor of the kings introduced them for his own use. 

29-34. — The children of the East meant Arabians, Chaldeans and 
Persians. Egypt was renowned as the country of sciences. Solomon had 
most likely as a boy been an ardent student of what learning was 
available. Ethan was a Levite. Herman was chief of the temple 
musicians. It seems a pity that of all Solomon's vast writings, for he 
must have written much, so little should have been preserved to us. 

Ch. 5:1. — Hiram was king of the Phoenicians, and the forests of 
Lebanon belonged to them. The timber which Solomon wanted would 



278 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

require skilled artisans, which the Tyrians were in this line, and Solomon 
engaged to furnish the laborers to work with them. 

2-6. — Josephus says that this contract was in writing and is preserved 
both in Jewish and Tyrian records. Solomon furnished food both for 
the workmen and the palace of Hiram. 

7-12. — It is said that one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred 
war prisoners made by David (Canaanites) were employed in the quarries 
and as carriers of burdens. "Great stones thirty feet in length and five 
or six feet broad are still seen in the sub-structure about the ancient site 
of the temple, thought to be these very stones mentioned." 

Ch. 6:1-10. — The building commenced one thousand and twelve years 
before Christ. The work commenced about May 1, the second month of 
Solomon's fourth } r ear, and was finished in the eighth month (about 
October) of the eleventh year, taking seven and one-third years or in 
round numbers seven years to build it. The dimensions were exactly 
twice those of the tabernacle in the wilderness. Around the outside walls 
of the temple he built rooms to be occupied by the priest, and things 
which belonged to the temple service. These additions were three stories 
high, the lowest story being smallest and the highest story largest, because 
the wall of the temple became thinner, and the decrease in the thickness 
of the wall was added to the width of the room, in its story. The porch 
in front was of course just as long as the temple was wide, and half as 
deep as it was long. It is said that an underground quarry has been 
discovered near Jerusalem where the temple stones are supposed to have 
been dressed, and in which were blocks of stone similar in size and nature 
to the stones of the temple of Solomon. 

11-14. — God's promise to Solomon about the temple makes very clear, 
ihe caution not to presume that this magnificent temple would give any 
assurance of God's presence unless Solomon and his people kept the 
commandments of the Lord. The sacrifice which God requires is that 
of obedience. 

15. — The walls were wainscoted with cedar boards. The floor was 
covered with fir planks, a more durable wood. 

16-20. — The holy of holies was twenty cubits (thirty feet) cube. That 
would of course leave forty cubits (sixty feet) in the holy place. The 
entire cedar lining of the house was carved with figures of flowers and 
gourds and cherubim, and all this covered with gold. 

21, 22. — "The partition between the holy of holies and the holy place 
consisted of folding doors opened and shut with golden chains." (J. F. 
B.) The revised Bible rather indicates that this partition was made of 



I KINGS. 279 

gold chains, and this itself overlaid, making the chains to answer as a 
web, and so making a golden partition. 

23-28. — The wooden cherubim within the holy of holies were also 
covered with gold, and their wings doubtless spread over the place where 
the ark was placed. 

29, 30. — iSTot only the walls, but the floor of the temple was gold 
covered. The beautiful figures on the walls covered with gold would 
make a most pleasing effect. 

31, 32. — Both the doorway and the doors between the two rooms were 
made of olive wood and overlaid with gold, having first carved on them 
beautiful figures of cherubim and vegetation. 

33-35. — The door of the holy place was similarly made and decorated, 
except that the doors themselves were made of cypress instead of olive 
wood. 

36. — The court was an open space around the temple for the priests 
only. Outside of it was an outer court in which the people assembled 
for worship. 

37, 38. — This seven years of temple building was the grandest era of 
Solomon's reign. Had his spiritual devotion to God been as great as his 
outward display of zeal and honor shown toward God in the making of 
this costly and beautiful structure he would not have become the brilliant 
failure that he did. 

Ch. 7 :1-12. — It is a matter of discussion among authorities whether or 
not these buildings mentioned in verses 1-12 are three different buildings 
or parts of one grand palace. He took much longer for these than for the 
temple, because the temple was the nation's place of worship, and much 
depended on a speedy completion of it. What gave the name to the 
building of verse 2 is not known, unless it be the amount of cedar wood 
used in it. In this palace Solomon had his throne, otherwise called the 
porch of' judgment. The magnificence of this palace was in keeping with 
the splendor of Solomon's reign and reputation. 

13-22. — "The Tyrians and other inhabitants of the Phoenician coast 
were the most renowned of all the ancient world as artists and metal 
workers." (Brown.) The mother of Hiram seems to have been of the 
tribe of Dan and had married a Xaphtalite, and he having died, she 
married the father of Hiram. The two pillars here mentioned were the 
supports of the porch. The chapiters are in these days capitals. They 
are mere ornamental heads of the columns on which the weight above 
rests. These pillars and their ornamental heads were beautifully dec- 



280 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

orated. The words Jachin and Boaz are words signifying the strength 
and permanence of the pillars. 

23-26. — The molten sea took the place of the brazen laver of Moses. 
When filled full of water it is said to have contained over twenty-two 
thousand two hundred gallons. This sea was used both for washing the 
hands and feet of the priests and to wash the parts of the sacrifices. 

27-39. — The bases were four-wheeled carriages on which to haul the 
lavers or vessels of water to fill or empty the molten sea. Tapier says 
each one when filled would weigh about two tons. 

40-46. — The place where this work was done was east of the Jordan 
River near the mouth of the Jabbok. Clay and sand are here found in 
abundance to be used for molding bronze. 

47-51. — It is supposed that the sacred vessels of the tabernacle were 
placed as honored relics in the temple. Solomon makes new ones for the 
temple. They were most likely made after the model of the old ones, but 
were ten times as many in number. 

Ch. 8:1-11. — Now comes the great event of the Jewish nation. The 
next year after the completion of the temple was the year of jubilee. 
Solomon chose this time, a few days before the feast of tabernacles, to 
begin the ceremonies of dedication. That feast commemorated their 
dwelling in booths in the wilderness. All Israel was gathered together. 
The ark was brought from Jerusalem, and the old tabernacle was brought, 
and all its sacred furniture. The ark was put into the holy of holies 
under the wings of the cherubim which Solomon had made. Verse 9 
shows that the other articles mentioned in Heb. 9 :4 were not in the ark 
at least at this time, but in a chest kept beside the ark. The Lord 
manifested his presence by the cloud, similar to the one that had covered 
the mount at Sinai and the tabernacle when it was dedicated in the 
wilderness. 

12-21. — Solomon's first address reminds the people first of all of that 
wilderness experience of Israel communing with Jehovah clothed in thick 
darkness. In the next expression (verse 13) he reminds them that they 
are now settled in the land God had promised them. Now he recites the 
purpose of David to build a temple and God's order to him about it, 
saying that he had fulfilled that order. 

22-53. — Kneeling before God and stretching out his hands toward 
heaven, Solomon prays a prayer you can well afford to commit. He 
expresses reverence to God (verses 22-24) and pleads that all his promises 
to David be verified (verses 25-27), and that Solomon's prayer and the 
prayer of all Israel toward that house be answered; (verses 28-30) that 



I KINGS. 281 

it may be a place of justice, (verses 31, 32) a Bethel of promise for the 
restoration of sin-cursed Israel — emeny smitten, (verses 33, 34) drouth- 
consumed, (verses 35, 36) or pestilence-plagued; (verses 37-40) that 
God may adopt the stranger who would cast his lot with Israel, (verses 
41-43) may help the supplicating people who pray against their enemies 
in war, (verses 44, 45) or seek God in a land whither they have been 
carried captive, (verses 47-50) and forgive and re-establish all these as 
promised by Moses after the Exodus (verses 51-53). Solomon was on 
a brass platform built for the occasion in the outer court where the people 
assembled. The priests were probably in the inner court. This prayer 
was distinctly a national one. (2 chapter 6:13.) 

54-61. — At the close of his prayer the sacrifice which the priest had 
ready on the altar was consumed by fire sent down from heaven, as had 
been done in the wilderness at the dedication of the tabernacle, and the 
king turning blesses the people and strongly exhorts them to obey the 
Lord that he may maintain the cause of Israel. 

62-64. — Here is the greatest number on record of offerings made at 
any one time, though the heathen on special occasions made very large 
sacrifices. The entire inner court seemed to be turned into a place of 
sacrifice, since of course on that occasion the altar would be too small. 

65, Q6. — The first seven days was devoted to the dedication of the 
temple. Seven other days were devoted to the feast of tabernacles, though 
they were not consecutive, because on the tenth day of the seventh month 
came the great day of atonement, and the last day of the feast came on 
the twenty-third day of the month. (II Chron. »7:10.) 

Ch. 9 :l-9. — This covenant of God with Solomon shows that God was 
pleased with the attitude at that time held by Solomon. Had the king 
regarded diligently the words of this faithful warning how different 
would have been the history of him and his people. But his feeling of 
satisfaction and security almost immediately led the people into the 
corrupting desire for luxury and show, which turned the king and all 
the people from God. How wonderfully have verses 7-9 been fulfilled. 

10-13. — The cities mentioned in verses 10-13 were inhabited, according 
to Josephus, by Canaanite heathen, not yet having been conquered, 
though within the land of Canaan. 

14. — Some of the authorities think that the gold mentioned in verse 14 
had been given to Solomon for the temple and other buildings. There 
is, however, no proof of this. 

15-19. — The levy spoken of meant both men and money. How remark- 



282 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

ably was being fulfilled Samuel's prediction to the people of how a king 
would use them and their resources. (I Sam. 8 :10-18.) 

20-23. — Solomon made slaves of the foreigners, but put the Hebrews 
to the more honorable employments. 

24, 25. — The three times mentioned were the Passover, Pentecost and 
feast of tabernacles. 

26, 27. — "Ophir was a general name for all the regions lying on the 
African, Arabian or Indian seas so far as at that time known." (Heeren.) 

Ch. 10:1-5. — No one knows where the country of the queen of Sheba 
was; some think Arabia Felix, others Abyssinia. The ships of Solomon 
going here and there would carry the news to her. 

6-9. — Could she have read deeper she might not have said verse 8 
unless assured that Solomon's earthly wisdom would not lead him into 
forgetfulness and disregard of God and his claims on Solomon and his 
people. 

1 0. — Her present would amount to near three millions of dollars. 

11-13. — There is no statement of what would be the amount of 
Solomon's presents to her, but doubtless it was near an equivalent of what 
she brought to him. 

14-23. — The gold mentioned in verse 14 would be nearly eighteen 
millions of dollars. 

24-29. — Solomon's reputation for wisdom, the presents he received 
from his subjects, the horses and chariots which were filling the land, 
the wealth and splendor of Jerusalem and the great traffic of his kingdom 
with other nations were the things which begot that self-satisfaction and 
pride so hard to resist which was the ultimate destruction botli of 
Solomon and his kingdom. It spoiled the king and spoiled his subjects. 
They were unable to see how true were the words of Samuel and how 
full of danger was that condition. Happy are the people who, if they 
cannot always reason for themselves, can at least trust the word of God. 

Ch. 11:1-8. — The beauty of picturesque piety with which Solomon 
began his reign is sadly marred by this wretched fall. Such prosperity 
had spoiled the noble young king, and he had fallen a prey to his own 
popularity. He had neglected to hide God's law in his heart, and by so 
neglecting it he had trampled it beneath his own lusts. Great riches or 
high position is no safeguard against sin. Doubtless the great number 
of Solomon's wives was due to the fact that among Eastern kings a 
number of wives was reckoned as an indication of wealth and importance, 
and so Solomon was drawn into the false belief that he must conform to 
custom. Verses 4 and 6 suggest clearly in what respect David was a man 



I KINGS. 283 

after God's own heart. David sinned, but he repented. Think what he 
would have said of Solomon doing as recorded in verses 7 and 8. (See 
Dent. 17:14-20.) 

9-13. — The latter clause of verse 9 gives the reason why Solomon's 
apostasy was inexcusable. He had been favored with an extraordinary 
amount of light, and he had been especially warned against the snare of 
idolatry. The kingdom was to be taken away from the house of Solomon, 
but God, for the sake of his people Israel, in accordance with his promise 
to David (verse 12) would not let the adversaries which rose against 
Solomon begin to prevail in his life time. Had they been allowed to 
conquer and destroy the kingdom in the life time of the king who had 
made Israel's name so illustrious, all the nations of the earth would have 
jeered at Israel until the name would have become a synonym for 
contempt. Of course all the kingdoms around, whose splendor was 
overshadowed by that of Solomon, would have taken special delight in 
Solomon's overthrow and reproach. The one tribe which was to remain 
to the house of Solomon (and so to the house of David) was that of 
Judah. Benjamin seems to have remained attached to Judah, hence 
Jerusalem was partly in their territory, and many from the various 
tribes came to Judah to make it their residence after the split, that they 
might enjoy the privileges of the temple, especially the Levites (II 
Chron. 11 :13), but all who remained to the house of David were known 
by the name of Judah, the tribe to which David belonged. 

14-22. — Hadad, when he learned of David's death, had left his life of 
magnificence in Egypt to try to regain his lost throne. Originally Israel 
had been forbidden to destroy the Edomites (children of Esau), but it 
is probable that in the course of the centuries the Edomites had become 
aggressive in their warfare against Israel. 

23-25. — The abhorrence of Rezon for Israel is a hint of their kind of 
treatment which Israel might have expected had Solomon been conquered. 
Xo whipped chicken is flogged so hard and by so many as the rooster 
which has once ruled the poultry yard. 

26-40. — Jeroboam was an inhabitant of Bethlehem. He had been 
appointed by Solomon superintendent of the public engineering works 
about Jerusalem. Millo was underneath the citadel of Zion. Ahijah 
was a prophet of Shiloh, where the old tabernacle had so long stood. 
This prophet tore up his new garment and gave ten pieces to Jeroboam 
to tjrpify how God would give him ten of the twelve tribes, all but Judah 
and Benjamin. Verse 32 is explained in a preceding note. Verse 36 
refers to the promise made to David that his seed should sit upon the 



284 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

throne (as long as there was a temporal throne in Israel) until finally 
the great Antitype (Christ) of the house of David should ascend the 
throne to reign forever. Jeroboam was to have a similar kingship over 
ten tribes if he kept the commands of the Lord. (Verse 38.) When the 
old apostate king, Solomon, heard of this of course he would try to 
destroy Jeroboam. He saw the threatening signs of the destruction of 
his kingdom, and knew that it was on account of his own abominable sin. 

41-43. — Now that death is at hand the remorse that Solomon must 
face every instant would far outweigh all the glory of his gold covered 
throne. Nothing pays like correct living. Eehoboam was the son of 
Solomon by an Ammonite woman. It is supposed that he was Solomon's 
only son. 

Ch. 12:1-4. — The request of the tribes of the new king was a very 
reasonable one. Shechem was a central point. The tribes did not meet 
to select a king, for it was now understood that the seed of David was 
entitled to the throne, but they met to formally install him. 

5. — Eehoboam's request for time was a prudent measure. Had he 
sought to the Lord for wisdom he would have made no mistake, and the 
kingdom need not have been divided. 

6-11. — The counsel with wise men was also prudent, though the 
wisdom that would dictate such a course ought to have prevented the 
forsaking the counsel of old men for that of young men. The advice 
of those who had grown up with Eehoboam shows that there was in Israel 
an element full of pride and tendency toward vain show at the expense of 
the masses. This aristocracy, which had been fostered by the magnificence 
of Solomon's reign, was one of the conditions which made the prophecy 
of the revolt a necessity. The last clause of verse 10 is explained by 
verse 11, viz., All the strength my father showed in this regard shall be 
exceedingly small beside what I shall show. 

12-15. — No doubt it was contended by Eehoboam's young admirers 
that those who made this request were the unstable element which must 
be held down by strong law. He made the mistake of not investigating 
and consulting the law of God. He merely answered according to his 
own desire and that of those who like him wanted a good. time. The 
scorpion was a kind of whip made with special reference to cruelly 
lashing slaves. It is not at all unlikely that since Eehoboam possessed 
the character that he did, God so ruled these proceedings that a foolish, 
childish answer should effect a bloodless separation rather than to have 
a deceitful answer of peace and afterward have the tribes rebelling one 
by one, and the rupture costing a bloody civil war. Verse 12 indicates 



I KINGS. 285 

that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt and was at this time with the 
people for the king's decision. 

16-20. — The decision of the king was probably received in silent 
contempt by the people, but they went away declaring their purposes to 
each other with a determination that left no room for doubt. Possibly 
the king did not know but what his answer had accomplished its purpose 
until he sent Adoram to collect taxes, and it is likely that the king's 
presence with him is accounted for by the fact that Adoram's demands 
had been resisted, and the king thought to enforce them by his immediate 
presence. The killing of Adoram would open his eyes and show him that 
his cause was desperate. By this time it would be thoroughly advertised 
through all the tribes that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, and so he 
was made king according to the prophecy they had heard. 

21-24. — Echoboam was able at once to raise an immense army, but 
here the Lord interfered and forbade any resort to arms. The prophet 
Shemiah will be heard of again in connection with the war against Egypt. 

25-33. — And now comes the same sickening old story. When Jeroboam 
came to power he forgot the Lord who put him there, and disobeyed. 
How many good men are spoiled by place and position. Yerse 27 was 
what he called a stroke of policy — politically; but his fatal mistake was 
in leaving God out of his politics. He had spent some time in Egypt, 
where the bulls Apis and Mnevis were sent as symbols of the true God. 
Doubtless these calves were in imitation of them. How much this 
idolatry was like that of the people at Sinai when Aaron made the golden 
calf. Dan was in the extreme north and Bethel was within the territory 
of Benjamin not far from Jerusalem. The Levites had gone to the 
kingdom of Judah for the sake of the true religion, so Jeroboam made 
priests of any who would serve, which would likely be only the repro- 
bate class. The feast of tabernacles was set a month later so as to cut off 
all connection with the established order and swing the sympathies of- 
the people away from the kingdom of Judah. Such impious innovations 
would call out great contempt in Judea and make the separation imme- 
diate between the two nations. 

Ch. 13 :l-3. — Who the Judean prophet was is not known. Josiah was 
about three hundred and sixty years later. 

4, 5. — When the king attempted to offer violence to this prophet God 
at once paralyzed his arm. The rending of the altar was a sign that God 
was with him. 

6. — After the king's arm was healed he probably wants to bribe the 
prophet into non-activity. 



286 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

7-10. — The prophet refuses to be entertained by the king, as the Lord 
had ordered him, knowing the danger of the prophet being influenced by- 
designing men. 

11-19. — Why the prophet lied to this Judean prophet is a mystery. 
Whether he was interested in the message or whether he wanted to defeat 
the purpose of the prophet is a question about which thinkers disagree. 
I think the first supposition the more reasonable. 

20-22.— While they were at the table this too easily influenced Judean 
prophet was reproved by the Lord for disobedience. Probably the Bethel 
prophet began then to realize for the first time the responsibility he 
himself had in the matter. The latter part of verse 22 was always 
reckoned a great calamity by an Israelite. 

23, 2-1. — The country abounded in lions. I think neither of the 
[prophets realized how soon calamity was to overtake the disobedient 
prophet of Judea. 

25-32. — I think it likely that when the old Bethel prophet heard of the 
death of the Judean prophet he was truly sorry. Verses 30-32 indicate 
it. What he thought of his own part in the matter is not recorded. T 
doubt if he had any intentions originally to wrong him. 

33, 34. — Jeroboam went right on in his sinful career, and so cut himself 
off from all the blessings promised him by the Lord through the prophet. 
(Chapter 11:38.) 

Cli. 14:1-4. — When the son of Jeroboam was sick he sent his wife in 
disguise to inquire of Ahijah, who had before prophesied to him about 
the kingdom. The miserable apostate Jeroboam was afraid to himself 
face the prophet, whose message he had so outraged. 

5-16. — The message to the king was very direct and decisive. Verses 
10 and 11 was a fearful message, and the language of verse 12 was a 
climax, with verse 14 for a barbed point. Behold how God changes his 
attitude toward men when they sin. 

17, 18. — Tirzah was a beautiful town in Ephraim, made the capital of 
the kingdom of Israel. It is east of Samaria. 

19, 20. — The incorrigible king, unmoved by any warning or threat- 
ening, even by death in his home, at last comes himself to meet his fate. 
What will all his kingly glory avail him now? The humblest pious 
subject in his kingdom is infinitely above him. 

21-24. — Rehoboam also, as was to be expected, became an evil king. 
The Judean nation lapsed into evil. The knowledge of the true God 
was there, the law and the temple were there, but the people went after 
their abominable, filthy lusts. Verses 23 and 24 show how they copied 



I KINGS. 287 

the accursed sins about them, which they should have destroyed with 
the heathen who practised them. 

25-28. — This king of Egypt was not likely the father-in-law of 
Solomon, but this war was the fruit of Solomon's sinful alliance with 
Egypt, the result of his disobeying the law of God. The costly furnishing" 
of the temple was taken to enrich and adorn Egypt. 

29, 30. — The kingdom of Judah would claim to be better religiously 
than Israel, because they professed to hold to the law of Moses. There 
would be a jealous rivalry between the nations, and frequent skirmishes 
between them. In reality one was about as bad as the other, though 
doubtless there was a much greater per cent of true worshipers in Judea. 

31. — It is small wonder that Eehoboam turned out so, being as he was 
the product of an apostate father with a heathen Ammonite. 

Ch. 15:1-8. — Abijam, the second king of Judah, followed the evils 
which his father practised before him. If parents wish their children 
to be right they must themselves be right both before and after their 
children's birth, and be especially careful to train them in babyhood and 
the years of childhood which follow. The giving of a lamp is an 
expression used to denote general prosperity. This chosen people would 
have been utterly cast off had not God bore with them because of his 
promises to David, who to the end of his life served the Lord. 

9-15. — The character of Asa as set forth in verses 9-15 is very refresh- 
ing and hopeful compared with his two predecessors. He looked to the 
Lord for wisdom, and was careful to do his duty as the Lord showed 
it to him, even though some of that duty be unpleasant, as for instance 
the public rebuke of his grandmother's sins. Evidently he had been 
reared by a better woman than she. Asa should have destroyed all the 
groves, since they had a tendency to draw the people into the idolatrous 
practices of the Canaanites. Perhaps that subject had not been forced 
on his attention, or he was willing for peace sake to conciliate that far 
the people who inclined toward heathenism. 

16-24. — Doubtless Asa had been besieged much to make an alliance 
with some other government for the sake of safety. The thing would 
be made to appear very reasonable by those who argued it as a measure 
of prudence. But it was dishonoring the Lord, even though it seemed to 
be an outward success. On the whole Asa's long reign of forty-one years 
was a good one, for he seemed to try to please the Lord. 

25, 2Q. — Xadab's reign over Israel was short and wicked. He met a 
deserved fate, although that was no excuse for Baasha, who murdered 
him. The cutting off of the descendants of Jeroboam was a fulfillment 



288 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

of the prophecy which Ahijah had made against Jeroboam on account of 
his sins. (Chapter 14:10, 11.) 

27-31. — But Baasha was probably no better than the man he had 
conspired against and murdered. Such as come into power by such foul 
means never prove to be of any particular good. Had his slaying been 
zeal for the destruction of evil and the establishment of good the case 
would have been different. As it was one evil man slew another simply 
to usurp his place and power. God did not order it, but he permitted, as 
he often does, one evil to punish another. 

32-34. — Tirzah, the capital of the kingdom of Israel, is in the territory 
of Ephraim, between Mount Ebal and the town of Thebez. 

Ch. 16:1-7. — Baasha was of the tribe of Issachar. Jeroboam, whose 
house Baasha had destroyed, was of the tribe of Ephraim. The Jehu 
mentioned here was a prophet of Judah, not the Jehu who afterward 
became king of Israel. This prophet tells Baasha that his house shall 
be destroyed like the house of Jeroboam, because he had sinned as did 
Jeroboam. To be unburied in death was counted a most grievous 
calamity. Jehu prophesied against both Baasha and his son Elah. A 
part of the judgment against Baasha was because of the traitorous way 
in which he took the kingdom of Nadab, son of Jeroboam (chapter 
15:27, 28). Compare that with David's conduct toward Saul, and even 
toward Ish-bosheth. Wicked men may help to carry out the plans of God, 
but that gives no approval to their wickedness. 

8-10. — Elah, the son of Baasha, was the second of this second dynasty 
of Israel. The wretched sinner was killed while in a drunken stupor 
by one of the captains of his chariots. He was on the throne parts of 
two years. 

11-14. — Zimri was no better than the man he murdered. He began 
by destroying all the house of Baasha, as Jehu had foretold would be 
done, not because Jehu had foretold it, but because he wanted to do so. 
(Jehu had foretold it because the Lord knew Zimri would want to do so.) 

15, 16. — Gibbethon was a town allotted to the tribe of Dan, had after- 
ward been given to the Kohathite Levites, and seemed to have fallen into 
the hands of the Philistines. The soldiers who were here at war chose 
their captain Omri to be king. 

17-20. — Immediately Omri laid siege to Tirzah, and this self-made 
ruler, Zimri, burned the palace over him rather than let it fall into the 
hands of Omri. The treasonable wretch took his own life to escape those 
who successfully resisted his usurpation. 

21, 22. — The four years' war was to decide whether Omri or Tibni 



I KINGS. 289 

should be king. Who selected Tibni, or in what way he died, we are not 
told, but Omri was finally accepted as king over all Israel. 

23-28. — The first six years of Omri's reign was in Tirzah. Then he 
built the city of Samaria and made it his capital. Samaria is in the 
northern part of the territory of Ephraim, and from this time forth is 
the capital of Israel as long as the kingdom lasts. Omri was an evil 
wretch, like all the kings of Israel before him. When he died he was 
buried in Samaria, his new capital. 

29-31. — Ahab was the worst king that Israel had had up to that time. 
His act of marrying a heathen woman was the worst possible. This 
abominable woman, Jezebel, inspired him to every outrage against God 
which her vile imagination could conceive. 

32, 33. — One of the first results of his marrying a Baal worshiper was 
that Ahab built a house for Baal worship in his new capital city, and 
planted a grove such as those in which the impure rites of heathenism 
were usually practised. Eth-Baal, the father of Jezebel, was king of 
the Zidonians, a successor to the throne of Hiram. He was a king killer 
and an idol priest, and Jezebel was just like him. 

34. — Whether or not Hiel lost all his sons in his attempt to rebuild 
Jericho we are not informed. It is supposed that in some way the laying 
of the foundations cost him the life of his eldest, and the completion cost 
the life of his youngest. (See Josh. 6 :26.) 

Oh. 17 :1. — "Elijah is introduced as abruptly as Melchizedek, his birth, 
parents and call to the prophetic office being alike unrecorded. He is 
supposed to be called the Tishbite from Tisbeh, a place east of Jordan." 
(J. F. B.) It is supposed by some that Elijah was not an Israelite, but 
an Ishmaelite. Gilead is all that region east of the Jordan between the 
Arnon and the Hieromax rivers. Suddenly Elijah comes to wicked Ahab 
and announces a great drouth. The latter part of verse 1 would show 
that he was on very intimate terms with God. 

2-7. — The brook Cherith (now Wady Kelt) is in the eastern part of 
the land of Benjamin, near Jericho, flowing eastward into the Jordan. 
The glossy black raven is mentioned in scripture as instances of God's 
protecting love and goodness. The raven is a meat eating bird, and is 
almost constantly in motion in search of food. The finding of a raven 
roost would almost insure a constant supply of meat and other provisions 
such as a bird could carry. 

8-14. — Zarephath is on the coast northwest of the sea of Galilee 
between Tyre and Sidon. Whether or not this woman had any of 
Abraham's blood in her veins we are not told, but she was a true believer. 



290 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

She herself needed help, and in her effort to help another she received 
the fulfillment of her own desires. There is a world of suggestion in this. 
Imagine how hungry she would have become had she refused to help 
Elijah. The language of verses 13 and 14 must have been to that dis- 
couraged, hungry woman like the voice of an angel of God. 

15, 1G. — The miracle of the meal and oil is another very suggestive 
hint. A great supply was not furnished in advance. It multiplied as 
used. Many Christians would be willing to attempt work for God would 
he make them suddenly very eloquent or popular, slay their enemies, etc., 
but are not willing to use their small resources as God directs and trust 
him to multiply them. 

17-23. — This woman would know the story of this drouth being sent 
on account of the sin of Israel. Elijah was now in the domains of the 
heathen father of the sinful Jezebel who had done so much to corrupt 
Israel and bring about this punishment. She thinks her son's death 
is due to some sin of hers, and so without stopping to consider what she 
had said about starving when Elijah first came and how she and hers 
had been fed as a result of his presence, she complained of the prophet's 
presence. 

24. — The restoration of her son to life and health established her faith, 
and doubtless made her an unswerving disciple of Elijah and adherent 
of the true God. 

Ch. 18:1, 2. — Elijah had announced this drouth to Ahab, and now 
that its stinging severity had overspread all the land it was fitting that 
this kingly old sinner should be reminded by the prophet that the 
calamity had followed as the result of the king's sinful reign. 

3-6. — How the pious Obadiah came to be a servant of the wicked Ahab 
we are not told. Perhaps, seeing that Elijah's prophesy came true, and 
not knowing what had become of him, Ahab wanted the presence of some 
prophet of the true God. So pressing was the famine that the king went 
out with Obadiah to find water, where grass would be likely to grow. 
Verse 4 shows how loyal a servant of the Lord Obadiah was. 

7-15. — Obadiah knew and reverenced Elijah. But it almost took his 
breath when Elijah told him to announce to Ahab that Elijah had been 
seen. Obadiah knew how much Ahab wanted to catch Elijah, and that 
if he attempted to do so and Elijah escaped him, Ahab would be likely 
to take his spite out on Obadiah. 

16. — When Elijah assured him that he would meet Ahab, Obadiah 
was glad to announce Elijah's coming to the king. Ahab showed his 



I KINGS. 291 

faith in Elijah b} r his anxiety to meet him, knowing his connection with 
this drouth. 

17-20. — Ahab knew well that his own sin had brought Israel into evil 
and wrought this national calamity. But, sinner that he was, he wanted 
to lay the blame on the agent of God. Elijah scalds him with an answer, 
verse 18, and challenges him to a public contest to show on whom the 
blame rested, and Ahab dared not refuse. Had he refused, the famine 
would likely have continued. Elijah might have given him three years 
more to think about it. Mount Carmel was on the sea coast in the 
southern extremity of the territory of Asher. It was far enough away 
from Samaria to prevent any interference from Jezebel. Besides it was 
near the sea, where Elijah's claim about the drouth was about to be 
vindicated. There representatives of all Israel were gathered with the 
four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. 

21-39. — When Elijah came to the people he asks them a question over 
which they stand dumb like a sinner in judgment. Verse 22 must have 
stung the people with shame when they remembered their conspiracy of 
silence against the evil and abominable idolatries of Ahab and Jezebel. 
In this trial Elijah was wonderfully patient. From morning until noon 
he listened to their wilfully ignorant sniveling to an idol. They had 
every opportunity to know the true God. The headstrong wretches 
determined to have their own way, because the knowledge of the true God 
rebuked their filthy sins. They deserved death without a trial; so did 
Ahab and Jezebel. At noon Elijah mocked them with bitter irony, yet 
not so bitter as they deserved. This made them desperate, hence verse 28. 
There was something ominous to them in Elijah's coolness and confidence. 
At three o'clock in the afternoon Elijah repaired the altar of Jehovah, 
which Jezebel had broken down, prepared his sacrifice, and had the people 
pour water over it to prove that there was no fire about it. Then came 
the brief, pointed prayer of verses 36 and 37, which brought the lightning 
of heaven to kindle the sacrifice and make a nation acknowledge God. 

40. — The people were now ready to co-operate with Elijah, and he 
made good use of them. Not a Baalite prophet escaped. Probably the 
people stoned them to death as the law demanded. Deut. 13 :9. 

41-45. — Verse 41 shows Elijah's faith. Probably Ahab had eaten 
nothing all day while he watched the trial. While he was eating Elijah 
was praying mightily in order that the promise to Ahab (verse 41) 
might be fulfilled. While he prayed the servant watched for signs of an 
answer. When the sign appeared (a little cloud rising from the sea, 
which meant rain quickly) the prophet sent word to Ahab to hurry away. 



292 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

46. — Now the honest old prophet gives Ahab assurance that he is his 
most loyal subject by running as a messenger before the royal chariot to 
clear the way for his hasty drive before the storm. That must have been 
an exciting chase. He who was soon to go himself to heaven in a chariot 
of ilame was not ashamed to perform the humble duties of a most faithful 
subject of even a mean, wicked king. He loved God and Israel, and for 
their sake was faithful to Israel's king. He deserved a chariot of fire in 
which to go to his mansion in the skies. Jezreel was in Issachar, near 
Mount Gilboa. 

Ch. 19:1, 2. — And now the diabolical wretch, Jezebel, lifts up her vile 
arm against God. Could she have seen how soon she was to become dog 
feed she might have felt less confident. 

3-7. — But Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. Perhaps we can 
hardly blame him, for may be it was best that he should run, -but it is 
far more likely that it was God's plan to have him remain boldly there 
and so follow up the impression he had made on Ahab's mind, and in 
the temper of the people produced by the scene on Carmel it is probable 
that had Jezebel attempted violence toward Elijah she would have been 
dragged from the palace to meet the fate of the prophets of Baal. Some 
think that feeling this she purposely threatened loudly because she dared 
do no more. Elijah's feeding by an angel is a touching instance of how 
God watches over his children. Although Elijah was soon to be honored 
in the highest way, yet he was now called to pass the severest trials. His 
faith could bring fire from heaven, but it could not stand before the vain 
threats of a debauched and debauching queen. Elijah never stopped 
running until he came to Mount Sinai. 

8-14. — When Elijah, in answer to God's question why he was there, 
told his story, the Lord put before him some object lessons in wind and 
earthquake and fire, as much as to say, You represent a God who makes 
these agencies his servants, and yet you are running from a blustering 
female idol monger. ]STo wonder after such a sight the voice within 
moved Elijah to restlessness, and when God repeated to him the former 
question and received the same answer from Elijah, he said to Elijah, Go 
back again, telling him three men whom he was to anoint, and assuring 
him that he was mistaken about being the only true worshiper left in 
Israel. Verse 18. 

15, 16. — Elijah was to anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over 
Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in his stead. 

IT, 18. — He assures Elijah that vengeance shall swiftly overtake his 
persecutors at the hands of the three men named. It transpired, however, 



I KINGS. 293 

that Elijah anointed only the last named, and Elisha anointed the other 
two. 

Verses 19-21 show that Elisha was a man of some wealth, of Abel- 
melholah, in the tribe of Manasseh. 

Ch. 20:1-12. — Ben-hadad, king of Syria, came against Samaria, the 
capital city, with a great force. The demand which he made of Ahab, 
and to which Ahab agreed, showed how low Israel had fallen in their 
forsaking of God. Think what Joshua or David would have said to such 
a demand. However, Ben-hadad in his hoggishness made "one too many" 
demands. 

13, 14. — Ahab and the Israelites hurled back defiance, and Ben-hadad 
had moved against the cit} r , so a prophet of the Lord gives assurance to 
Ahab that they shall conquer the Assyrians. 

15-21. — The two hundred and thirty-two princes lead the attack, each 
one singling out and killing an Assyrian. This threw the army of Ben- 
hadad into a panic and they fled. The Israelite army of seven thousand 
then followed, making a tremendous slaughter. The boasting, drunken 
Ben-hadad fled for his life. 

22. — Xow the prophet gives Ahab a timely warning that the Syrians 
will return again next year. 

23-25. — The advice of the servants of Ben-hadad was just such advice 
as many-god worshipers were likely to give (verse 23). They also 
suggested that captains be put over the army instead of those petty 
tributary kings, who were likely to run so easily. 

26, 27. — Ben-hadad took the advice, and next year went with a great 
army. 

2S. — Again a prophet foretells the defeat of Syria, because of their 
boast that the God of Israel was not ruler of the valleys as well as of 
the hills. 

29, 30. — Aphek is east of the sea of Galilee. Probably they attempted 
to make a final stand by crowding onto the walls of that city, at which 
the wall gave way with terrible results. 

31-34. — There w r as nothing left now but to throw themselves on the 
tender mercy of Israel. The putting ropes on their heads was a sign 
that they were Ahab's captives. The contemptible king, flattered by the 
victory, gave no credit to God nor destroyed these miserable enemies of 
Israel, as God had ordered. 

35-43. — This prophet wanted the other to smite him that he might 
have an object lesson for a parable by which to make Ahab judge himself 
for letting Ben-hadad go. His being wounded and having on a sign of 



294 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

mourning would induce the king to readily listen to him and pronounce 
judgment. Then the prophet could turn the verdict against King Ahab. 

Ch. 21 :1-16. — Jezreel was near Gilboa, northeast of Samaria, and seems 
to have been chosen as the chief residence of Ahab. The refusal of 
Naboth to sell his possession was not only his perfect right, but the divine 
law forbade disposing of the paternal inheritance, and if through neces- 
sity they must be let go the seller had a right at any time to redeem them, 
and if he was unable to do so they must be returned to the proper heirs 
at the year of jubilee. The childish and contemptible king sulked about 
the refusal until the tigress Jezebel taunted him for his unwillingness 
to commit high-handed outrage, and took the matter into her own hands. 
The proclamation of a fast was" intended to give an appearance of justice 
to this diabolism, and pretend that they were religiously seeking an 
offender.' The miserable tools of Jezebel followed her orders. They were 
probably appointed to their offices by her, and were afraid to go against 
her orders. 

17-29. — Now the old prophet Elijah appears again upon the scene. 
When the murderous Ahab went to take possession of the vineyard he 
walked full into the face of a man who, most of all, he did not want to 
see — Elijah. Verse 20 shows that Ahab knew that Elijah was no 
humbug. No doubt he expected to hear just what Elijah said to him, for 
he knew he deserved it. The prophecy meant the total destruction of all 
the males of Ahab's posterity, but the most richly deserved of all the 
prophecy was verse 23. She was the arch fiend behind the wickedness 
of Ahab. She had threatened Elijah with death, and he had carried the 
complaint to the Lord. Now God sends him back with a fitting reply. 
The message put Ahab into sackcloth and ashes, and because he humbled 
himself God said the curse of having all his family destroyed should be 
deferred until after the death of Ahab. 

Ch. 22 :1-12. — Ben-hadad, after his severe defeat, had promised to give 
back the cities taken from Israel, but after waiting three years to gather 
fresh strength he was ready to dispute with Israel about cities which he 
had not kept his promise to return. The two kings of the Hebrew people 
talked together, and. the king of Judah was willing to help Israel, but 
being a godly man, wanted the direction of the Lord about it. Old, 
lying Jezebel gathered her hireling prophets together, but Jehoshaphat 
was not satisfied with their prophecy. He wanted to hear a prophet of the 
Lord, and under protest Ahab called for Micaiah. While he was coming 
they listened to the lying prophecies of Jezebel's grove prophets. One of 



I KINGS. 295 

these, "Zedekiah, used a symbol to impart greater force to his language." 
(Calmut.) 

13-28. — When Ahab first asked Micaiah (verse 15) he gave the same 
answer which the false prophets had given, but must have done it in such 
a tone of irony that the king could not doubt that he was simply mimick- 
ing the hirelings who were falsely claiming to be prophets of the Lord. 
After verse 16 he tells the king his vision, and then Ahab said to 
Jehoshaphat, "I told you so." Verses 19-23 give in a figure the details 
of what the prophet saw in heaven concerning the matter. In verse 17 
he had foretold that the king only would be destroyed, and that Israel 
would return unsmitten. The lying prophet Zedekiah assumed the 
authority to smite the prophet of the Lord, but was coolly told that he 
would soon be seeking a place to hide himself (probably from the fury 
of the people who were advised by him to go to battle) . Now the wretched 
king tries to make Micaiah change the character of his prophecies by 
imprisoning him. The prophet's answer in verse 28 was worthy of him. 
Men are always inclined to charge against righteous men the judgments 
God sends upon them for their sins, and it was so in this case. 

29-40. — We are not told just why the Syrian king gave this battle 
order. Possibly he wanted to kill Ahab, who was the author of the war, 
and so end the hostilities, and thus leave the cities in question in his 
possession. He evidently is acting only on the defensive, and does not 
desire to pursue Israel. Ahab was struck with an arrow and died at 
evening, after giving orders to Israel to retreat to their homes. The 
blood was washed from the royal chariot and the dogs licked it, where 
they had licked the blood of Naboth, the murdered vineyard owner. 
Justice was beginning to claim its own, and the prophet he had put in 
the dungeon was right after all. 

41-50. — Jehoshaphat was on the whole a good king, yet he lacked force 
enough to destroy the groves of the abominable idolaters. When his ships 
were destroyed which were to bring gold, the king of Israel wanted to join 
with him in this expedition, but he wisely refused to form any alliance 
with such a king. 

51-2 K. 1 :18. — The last three verses of this chapter will be taken up in 
the study of II Kings. 



II KINGS 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1 Rebellion of Moab. 

2 Sickness of Ahaziah. Inquiry of Baal-zebub. 
3-5 God's message to him by Elijah. 

6-9 Eeport to the king. His attempt to arrest Elijah. 
10-15 Story of the three companies. 

16 Elijah's talk with the king. 
17, 18 Death of Ahaziah. 

Chapter 2. 

1-8 The last walk of Elisha with Elijah. 
9, 10 Elisha's request of Elijah. 

11 Elijah's translation. 
12-15 Return of Elisha. 
16-18 Search for Elijah by the prophets. 
19-22 Elisha heals the water of a spring. 
23-25 Bears destroy his tormentors. 

Chapter 3. 

1-9-24 Jehoram, ninth king of Israel (12 years). 
1-3 His evil character. 

4, 5 Tribute of the king of Moab. His rebellion. 
6-8 Alliance of Jehoram with Jehoshaphat and Edom. 
9-12 The water famine. The three kings seek Elisha. 
33-20 Elisha's answer to their request. 
21-25 Defeat of the Moabites. 
26, 27 Mesha's offering of his son. 

Chapter 4. 

1-7 Miracle of the widow's oil. 
8-37 Story of the woman of Shunem. 
8-11 Her kindness to Elisha. 
12-17 Elisha's promise. Her son born. 
18-37 Death of the child. Elisha restores it to life. 
38-41 Healing of the poison pottage by Elisha. 
42-44 Feeding of one hundred men by Elisha. 



II KINGS. 297 



Chapter 5. 

1-27 Story of Naaman the leper. 

1-3 Saying of the captive Jewish maiden. 
4-7 Message of the king of Syria to Jehoram. 
8-12 Order of Elisha. Rage of Naaman. 
13, 14 His obedience. Cure of the leprosy. 
15-19 Elisha refuses pay. 
20-25 Lie of Gehazi. 
26-27 Its penalty. 



Chapter 6. 

1-7 Elisha causes iron to swim. 
8-23 War of Syria against Israel. 

8-10 Plot of Syria. Elish warns Jehoram. 
11-18 Ben-hadad sends an army after Elisha. 
19-23 Elisha's treatment of the army. 
24-7-20 Second war against Syria. Siege of Samaria. 
24-29 The famine. 
30-33 Jehoram threatens Elisha. 



Chapter 7. 

1, 2 Elisha's prophecy of plenty. 

3-11 Story of the lepers. Flight of the Syrians. 
12-15 The king's search committee. 
16 Spoiling of the Syrian camp. 
17-20 Death of the king's doubting servant. 



Chapter 8. 

1-6 Another incident of the woman of Shunem. 
7-14 Ben-hadad's inquiry of Elisha by Hazael. 
15 Murder of Ben-hadad by Hazael. 
16-24 Jehoram, fifth king of Judah (8 years)., 
25-9-37 Ahaziah, sixth king of Judah (1 year). 
25-27 His evil character. 
28, 29> His alliance with Jehoram, king of Israel. 



298 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 9. 

1-10 Anointing of Jehu over Israel. Charge to Jehu. 
11-29 Jehu's drive to Jezreel. 

11-15 Proclamation of the army. 
16-20 The two messengers. 
21-23 Meeting of two kings with Jehu. 
24-26 Slaving of Jehoram. 
27-29 Slaying of Ahaziah. 
30-37 Slaying of Jezebel. 

Chapter 10. 
1-36 Jehu, tenth king of Israel (28 years). 

1-17 Jehu destroys the house of Ahab and brothers of Ahaziab. 
18-28 Destruction of Baal worship. 
29-31 Sin of Jehu. 
32, 33 Success of Syria against Jehu. 
34-36 Death of Jehu. 

Chapter 11. 

1 Athaliah's destruction of the seed royal in Judea. 

2 Saving of Joash (Jehoash). 

3 Eeign of Athalia (6 }^ears). 

4-12 Anointing of Joash by Jehoida, the priest. 
13-16 Resentment of Athalia. Her execution. 
17-21 Jehoida's covenant. 

Chapter 12. 
1-21 Reign of Jehoash (Joash), seventh king of Judah (40 years). . 
1-3 Character of his reign. 
4-16 Repair of the temple. 
17, 18 Present to Hazael, king of Syria. 
19-21 Murder of Jehoash. 

Chapter 13. 

1-9 Jehoahaz, eleventh king of Israel (17 years). 
10-25 Jehoash, twelfth king of Israel (16 years). 
10-13 Character of his reign. 
14-19 An incident in the reign of Jehoash. 
20, 21 Death of Elisha. Revival of a corpse. 
22-25 Oppression by Hazael. Recovery from Ben-hadad by 
Jehoash. 



II KINGS. 299 



Chapter 14. 
1-22 Amaziah, eighth king of Judah (29 years). 
1-4 Character of his reign. 
5, 6 Execution of his father's murderers. 

7 Conquest of Edomites. 
8-14 War with Jehoash, king of Israel. 
15, 16 Death of Jehoash, king of Israel. 
17-22 Death of Amaziah. His successor. 
23-29 Jeroboam, thirteenth king of Israel (41 years). 

Chapter 15. 

1-7 Azariah, ninth king of Judah (52 years). 
8-12 Zachariah, fourteenth king of Israel (6 months). 
13-15 Shallum, fifteenth king of Israel (1 month). 
16-22 Menahem, sixteenth king of Israel (10 years). 
23-26 Pekahiah, seventeenth king of Israel (2 years). 
27-31 Pekah, eighteenth king of Israel (20 years). 
32-38 Jotham, tenth king of Judah (16 years). 

Chapter 16. 
1-20 Ahaz, eleventh king of Judah. 
1-4 His character. 

5, 6 Siege of Jerusalem by Pekah and Rezin. 
7-9 Appeal of Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser. 
10-16 Ahaz's Damascene altar at Jerusalem. 
17, 18 His changes about the temple. 
19, 20 His death. 

Chapter 17. 

1-6 Hosea, the nineteenth king of Israel. 
1, 2 Character of his reign. 

3 His tribute to the king of Assyria. 

4 His conspiracy and imprisonment. 
5, 6 Destruction of the Israelite nation. 

7-23 Remarks on Israel's captivity. 

24 Samaria colonized by the king of Assyria. 

25 Story of the lions. 
26-41 Mixture of religions. 



300 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 18. 

1-20-21 Hezekiah, twelfth king of Judah. 
1-8 Character of his reign. 
9-12 Note of the captivity of Israel. 
13-19-37 War of Assyria against Judah. 

13-16 Hezekiah's present to the Assyrians. 



Chapter 19. 



Chapter 20. 



17-37 Siege of Jerusalem. Message of Rab-shakeh. 



1 Humility of Hezekiah. 
2-5 His message to Israel. 
6, 7 Isaiah's answer. 
8 Its fulfillment. 
9-13 Sennacherib's threatening letter to Hezekiah. 
14-19 Hezekiah's prayer. 
20-34 God's message to Hezekiah by Isaiah. 
35-37 Destruction of the Assyrians. 



1 God's message to Hezekiah in his sickness. 
2, 3 Hezekiah's prayer. 
4-7 God's second message to him. 
8-11 The sign of the sun dial. 

12 Present of the king of Babylon to Hezekiah. 

13 Hezekiah's indiscretion. 
14-19 God's message to him about it. 
20, 21 Death of Hezekiah. 

Chapter 21. 
1-18 Manasseh, thirteenth king of Judah (55 years). 
1-9 Character of his reign. His acts. 
10-16 God's curse upon Judah. 
17, 18 Death of Manasseh. 
19-26 Amon, fourteenth king of Judah (2 years). 
19-22 Character of his reign. 
23-26 His murder. Execution of his murderers. 
Chapter 22. 

1-23-30 Josiah, fifteenth king of Judah (31 years). 
1, 2 Character of his reign.. 
3-7 The temple repaired. 
8-10 Finding of the law in the temple. 
11-14 The king's inquiry of God by Hulda. 
15-20 Her answer to the king. 



II KINGS. 301 

Chapter 23. 

1, 2 Eeading of the law to the people. 

3 Covenant of the king. 
4-20 Destruction of idolatry. 
21-23 Observance of the Passover. 

24 Destruction of the evils of the land. 

25 Character of Josiah. 
26-28 God's anger against Judah. 

29, 30 Slaying of Josiah by the king of Egypt. 
31-33 Jehoahaz, sixteenth king of Judah (3 months). 
31, 32 Character of his reign. 

33 His imprisonment by the king of Egypt. 
34-24-7 Eliakim, seventeenth king of Judah (11 years). (Made king 
by Pharaoh, named Jehoiakim.) 
34-37 Character of his reign. 

Chapter 24. 

1 Servitude to Babylon. Rebellion. 
2-4 The combined enemies of Jerusalem. 
5-7 Death of Jehoiakim. 
8-16 Jehoiachin, eigtheenth king of Judah (3 months). 
8, 9 Character of his reign. 
10, 11 Siege of Jerusalem by Xebuchadnezzar. 
12-16 Surrender of Jehoiachin and his following. 
17-25-7 Mattaniah, nineteenth king of Judah (11 years). (Made king 
by Nebuchadnezzar, named Zedekiah.) 
17-19 Character of his reign. 
20 "Rebellion of Zedekiah. 

Chapter 25. 

1-3 The great siege of Jerusalem. 
• 4-7 Captivity of Zedekiah. 
8-21 Spoiling of Jerusalem. Captivity of the people. 
22-26 Eulership of Gedaliah. His murder. Flight of the people to 

Egypt. 
27-30 Kindness of Evil-merodach to Jehoiachin. 



LESSON NOTES. 



The senselessness of our divisions is manifest here in ending a book 
right in the midst of a description of Ahaziah's reign. The narration 
begins at the fifty-first verse of the last chapter of I Kings and extends 



302 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

to the eighteenth verse of the first chapter of II Kings. The character 
of this king is plainly marked in the last three verses of I Kings. He 
was a miserable idolater like his parents, Ahab and Jezebel. 

Ch. 1 :1. — When Ahab died the Moabites at once rebelled against Israel. 
They had no doubt formed a kingdom after the death of Solomon, when 
the Hebrew kingdom separated, but had not declared their independence 
until now. Syria had been recognized as independent before the days of 
Asa, and had made a league with Baasha, king of Israel, against Judah. 
Asa bribed Ben-hadad to break that league and join with him against 
Isreal. Moab now declares her independence. 

2. — King Ahaziah has met with an accident. He commits the high- 
handed insult to the God of his fathers and his nation by sending to 
inquire of an idol of the Philistines as to whether or not he should 
recover. (Ex. 20 :3 ; Deut. 5 :7.) 

3-5. — God sends a message to this reprobate king by Elijah, who was 
sent to meet the messenger on the way to Ekron and turn them back to 
the king with the message, You shall die, seeing you have turned from 
God. 

6-9. — When the king learned they had turned back and heard their 
message he knew at once who was the prophet they described. Elijah 
had been a source of much irritation to Ahab, and now Ahab's son has 
a taste of that same stern man of faith. So he determines to stop the 
mouth of Elijah for all time, and sends a captain and fifty soldiers to 
bring him. 

10-15. — Alas for human plans. The captain says to Elijah, "Thou 
man of God, in the king's name come down." Elijah replies to the 
captain, "Let fire in the Lord's name come down," and the history of 
the captain and his company was at an end. The second captain said, 
"Man of God, in the king's name, come down quickly." Elijah hurls 
back, "Let fire in the Lord's name come down quickly." God makes 
the lightnings his messengers when he chooses. The third captain saw 
that discretion was the better part of valor, and putting aside all pride 
he begged for Elijah's mercy. And the Lord said to the prophet, Go 
with him to the king without fear. 

16. — Xow Elijah pours upon the king in person the same message 
which he had sent by the messengers and which had so angered the king. 
His childish rage had only brought the judgment of God nearer. 

17, 18. — Ahaziah died, and having no son, his brother Jehoram, another 
son of Ahab, became king in his place. 

Ch. 2 :l-8.— At this time Elijah lived at Mount Carmel. We are left 



II KINGS. 303 

to guess in what way it had been revealed to Elisha and the other 
prophets that Elijah was about to leave the world. Elisha wished to keep 
as close as possible to his master. It is thought that Elijah had estab- 
lished a school of prophets at Bethel and another at Jericho. At each of 
these places the prophets spoke to Elisha about the departure of Elijah. 
From Jericho fifty of the prophets followed Elijah and Elisha to see the 
translation of Elijah. "Verse 3 refers to the custom of scholars sitting 
at the feet of their master, the latter being over their head." (J. F. B.) 
The two prophets crossed the Jordan to the east side to be away from the 
crowds. 

9, 10. — Elijah has a fatherly solicitude for his disciple and successor. 
He would give Elisha anything he might be able to give, and no doubt 
had faith to believe that God would grant him what Elijah could not. 
The expression "double portion" was applied by usage to the first born, 
and so was equivalent to being the heir or successor. It did not mean 
that Elisha was to be superior to Elijah or have greater prophetic 
spirit, but it was truly asking a hard thing to be as Elijah. The granting 
of it depended much upon the asker himself, hence verse 10. 

11. — In the patriarchal dispensation, Enoch had been translated. 
Elijah represents the prophetic dispensation, and Jesus the Christian. 
These three are the only ones who ever left the world except by way of 
the tomb. Whether or not the chariot and horses mentioned were mere 
pictures to impress the e} r e no man can tell, and it matters not. Elijah 
was taken, and the glory of the Lord was thus manifested. 

12-15. — And the watchful Elisha saw it, and cried, "My father 
(spiritual father), the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." 
Some think the meaning here is that Elijah had done more to preserve 
and prosper Israel than all her chariots and horsemen, the things on 
which kingdoms usually depended for their defense and prosperity. The 
tearing of his clothes Avas a sign of his grief, but he took up that mantle 
which had fallen from Elijah and smote the waters with it as Elijah had 
done, and went over on dry ground. The prophets who stood waiting 
for him saw by his actions that he was a worthy successor of Elijah. 

16-18. — The search for Elijah by the prophets shows clearly enough 
that they had not seen what Elisha had seen. Probably they were not in 
a condition to be able to see it. Elisha protested against the search, but 
finally, to satisfy them, gave them leave to go. 

19-22. — The making of the water fit for use was the direct power of 
God. Salt was used to preserve from corruption, to freshen and sweeten, 
and so the casting in of salt was done to indicate how God would make 



304 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

useful the water, and the doing of it in answer to the prayer of Elisha 
was a testimony on the part of God that Elisha was his true servant. 

23-25. — The expression little children as used in that day would 
embrace lads, even young men. These were a class of unrestrained 
savages who ridiculed the idea of Elijah's translation, and followed to 
taunt Elisha by telling him to "go up," as it had been claimed Elijah 
had done. They were probably some offshoots of Jezebel's training 
schools. Cod interferes in behalf of Elisha in a most decisive way. 
Probably Elihha went to Carmel to acquaint the friends of Elijah with 
the fact of his translation (for Elijah lived there), and then returned 
to Samaria. 

€h. 3:1-3. — Jehoram was not much improvement over his brother. 
He did abolish the more revolting forms of idolatry, but he was a 
godless man, and led his subjects into continuous idolatry and sin against 
God. Possibly his alliance with Jehoshaphat had something to do with 
his show of reform. 

Verses 4 and 5 show one of the reasons why Moab had rebelled against 
Israel. They occupied rich pasture land, and paid their tax in the 
produce which they raised. During the reign of Ahaziah this rebellion 
had been unchecked. Now Jehoram proposes to crush it. 

G-8. — Jehoram collects such an army as he is able from his own 
subjects, then goes to the king of Judah, who had helped his father Ahab, 
and they two went with their armies through Edom, south of the Dead 
Sea, and ask the aid of the king of Edom, through whose territories they 
must pass. 

9-12. — While in that territory southeast of the Dead Sea, between the 
countries of Edom and Moab, they were distressed for lack of water. 
The king of Judah inquires for a prophet of the Lord, and learns that 
Elisha is in that part of the country. Just why he was there at that 
time we are not told, but if the Lord had need for him there he would 
in some way direct him there. 

13-20. — Elisha twits the king of Israel, and bids him go to his idol 
prophets for help. When Jehoram owns that God's hand is in the matter, 
Elisha says, Only the presence of Jehoshaphat could induce me to have 
anything to do with you. The minstrel mentioned in verse 15 mcnns a 
musician, as such were commonly resorted to to mix praise with the 
prayer which precedes the directions of the Lord. The ditches dug 
among the camping hosts would cnrry water from the mountain stream 
(when it should rain) to every part of the army. A great rain storm in 
the mountains afar off would fill the drv bed of the stream with water, 



II KINGS. 306 

and this would be carried by the ditches to all parts of the allied camp. 
The storm was too far away to be noticed, but the water came copiously. 
21-25. — The sun shining on the water in the ditches led the enemy 
into a fatal mistake. The sunlight reflected by the water at a certain 
angle would make it look like blood. Since no storm had been experienced 
the enemy would feel doubly sure it was blood in the ditches. So when 
they came out to spoil the camp they found the allied army in good 
fighting order instead of a field of corpses. 

26, 27. — The most reasonable explanation of verses 26 and 27 is that 
after the allied army had sufficiently chastised the Moabites they, at the 
request of the army of Israel, continued the siege until the idolatrous 
Moabite committed a religious act which was an abomination to Judea, 
and in the storm of indignation which followed the siege was abandoned. 
Human sacrifice was common among idolaters. 

Ch. 4:1-5. — The widow was helped in her time of need because she 
was a woman of faith and asked help of the right source, and faithfully 
used under divine direction what means she possessed. 

8-11. — The kindness of the woman of Shunem to Elisha was a proof of 
her character. She had no apparent motive other than to do the will 
of the Lord. Little did she know what a help to herself her kindness 
to others would prove. 

12-17. — The blessing of the Lord which the prophet promised her was 
perhaps the greatest conceivable in the mind of a Jewish woman — too 
great for her to believe. But when the prophet's word came to pass she 
doubtless reproached herself for her unbelief and doubting language. 

18-37. — When the child died she did not even tell her husband about 
it, but prepared to hasten to the prophet Elisha at Mount Carmel. Verse 
24 refers to the custom of having a driver to goad on the animal being 
ridden when the rider is in a hurry. The answer to the servant in verse 
26 was only a partial answer, for she did not desire to tell the servant all 
she had for the ear of the prophet. The thought of verse 28 is, there is 
nothing in the promise to me of a son if I must now bury him. The 
servant, I think, was hurried on to see if the child was really dead, but 
the mother would not go without the prophet. Elisha's plan was the one 
which would be most likely to assist in restoring the child's breathing by 
what might be called artificial respiration. 

38-41. — The pottage consisted usually of bits of meat boiled with grain 
and herbs. There might have been in the meal that quality which would 
counteract the effects of a poison herb, or at least so dilute it in the food 



306 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

as to bring it below the danger point. In the same way we sometimes use 
sweet milk to counteract a poison swallowed. 

42-44. — The feeding of one hundred men on the twenty barley cakes 
and few heads of wheat was a notable miracle of the Lord. The food 
had been brought to Elisha, but in his unselfishness he had spread a 
feast for all the company. The prophet ascribed the miracle to the 
Lord, and the miraculous multiplication of the food took place as they 
ate. Had they not been willing to exercise faith in the word of the 
prophet and begin on what was placed before them they would never 
have received that feast. 

Ch. 5:1-3. — The little captive maid of Israel became a missionary 
unconseiousty, simply by telling what she knew. In spite of the fact that 
she was a slave she did not forget the God of Israel, and returned good for 
evil by desiring the well being of him who held her a captive. 

4-7. — When the child's remark came to the ears of Naaman and 
Ben-hadad, Naaman brought a great present and a letter from his king 
to the king of Israel, requesting that Naaman might be healed of his 
disease. Had Jehoram been a man of faith instead of a sniveling, 
idolatrous son of Ahab and Jezebel, he would not have rent his clothes 
and said, "He seeks* a quarrel against me," but would have sent him 
straightway to Elisha. 

8-12. — Elisha's order maddened Naaman. It hurt his pride. He 
thought a great display should have been made in curing him. Instead 
the prophet did not even come out to Naaman, but sent the direction by 
a messenger. So Naaman resolved to depart, a leper still. 

13, 14. — But a little advice on the part of his attendant convinced him 
that he was unreasonable, and following the direction, the skin of the 
leprous general became as a little child. 

15-19. — Elisha wanted to show that the blessings of the God of Israel 
were not to be bought for money. Had Naaman fully understood this 
and offered the gifts in the right spirit they would not have been refused. 
The earth which Naaman wanted from this land in which he had been 
cured was presumably to build an altar to the God of Israel, since he 
declares that henceforth he will serve no other God. 

20-25. — The lie of Gehazi was from pure covetousness. If he was 
able to see that the honor of God would be magnified by refusing what 
Naaman considered a return for the healing, it is evident that he did not 
care. He wanted a gift, and was willing to taint his soul with the moral 
leprosy of sin to get it. And by so doing he got for himself as well the 
dreadful disease which Naaman had just escaped. 



II KINGS. 307 

26, 27. — The servant to carry out his false scheme had used the name 
of Elisha, and put him in a false light. Elisha now asks him a question, 
and to cover his former deed Gehazi told another lie. Now Elisha 
pronounces upon him the awful curse of verse 27. 

Ch. 6:1-7. — It is supposed that the place of this event was Jericho. 
Elijah's school of the prophets had become too large for the building. 
His miracles would naturally attract to him many young prophets. The 
word borrowed might be rendered begged, meaning that it has been 
donated. Whether or not that particular wood had power to attract the 
iron we are left to guess. The shores of the Jordan were thickly wooded 
near to the water. 

8-10. — The Syrians who had been so badly defeated twice, by the 
direction of the Lord in the days of Ahab, now came against Jehoram 
and tried by lying in wait to catch him by stealth, but the prophet Elisha, 
worth more than all the armies of Israel, told his king the secret design 
of Ben-hadad. 

11-18. — The king of Syria thought there was a traitor in his camp, but 
one of his servants said, "Elisha, the prophet, tells the king of Israel your 
plans/' Who knows but that servant was the very one who, through 
Elisha, had been healed of the leprosy. The king of Syria learned that 
Elisha was in Dothan, a town north of Samaria. Dothan was the town 
where Joseph found his brothers when they sold him into Egypt. The 
king of Syria sent an army there to take Elisha, and to make sure of 
him they surrounded the city by night. The attendant of Elisha, a new 
man, since Gehazi had been smitten with leprosy, cried out with fear. 
Verse 17 shows what kind of eyes Elisha possessed, and verse 18 shows 
the quality of his faith. 

18-23. — Yerse 19 shows that Elisha could appreciate a joke. Like a 
commanding general he led the blinded army to King Jehoram, and then 
prayed that their eyes might be opened, so to show them their dilemma. 
The king of Israel wanted to slay them since he had them in his power, 
but Elisha gave him to see that that would spoil the effect of the plan 
of Elisha, and so he made for the scared soldiers a big dinner and sent 
them home. (See Rom. 12:20, 21.) So ended Syria's first war. 

24-29. — Some time after this Ben-hadad came with his whole force 
againsi Israel, and surrounded with his army the capital city, cut off 
their supply of food until the meanest of unclean food (an ass's head) 
was sold for about twenty-five dollars. Verses 28 and 29 show to whit 
fearful extremity the people were reduced. 

30-33. — The penitence assumed in verse 30 was not very godly, judging 



308 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

from verse 31. The prophet was in the house of friends, and when the 
messenger came from the king, probably to arrest Elisha, they held him 
fast until his master came. The latter half of verse 33 is probably the- 
language of the messenger, and means, "You see what the Lord has 
brought on us; why should I serve him any longer?" The calamity 
instead of humbling the king made him bitter against God and his 
servant Elisha. 

Ch. 7 :1, 2. — : The prophecy of Elisha was another way of declaring how 
easily the Lord could help if looked to. It amounted to saying. Tomorrow 
at this time there will be no famine, A self-important servant of the 
king scoffed at the statement, and for that scoff he died a starving man in 
sight of that food at whose promise he had scoffed. 

3-11.— Lepers were kept shut away from the rest of society. These 
were probably kept in a pest house near the entrance of a city, where 
passers by might throw them food. During the siege they stayed by the 
walls of the city until the food gave out, and then determined to go to the 
enemy's camp rather than starve. What they there learned (verse 6) 
had probably taken place in answer to Elisha's prayer. They reported to 
the city watchman, and word was carried to the king. 

12-15. — The king feared an ambush. A servant advised him to send 
a committee to investigate, which he did, and found it as reported. 

16. — Now the famishing people rush out of the city and pillage the 
deserted camp of the enemy. 

17-20. — The scoffing servant of the king was appointed gate keeper, 
but the desperate masses rushed over him and trampled him to death. 

Ch. 8:1-6. — Shunem was a few miles north of Mount Gilboa. The 
prophet had warned this faithful woman of a seven years' famine which 
was to come on the land of Israel. She went to the land of the Philistines, 
and in her long absence her land was occupied by some one else. On her 
return she went to the king to petition for her rights, and it so happened 
that the old servant of Elisha, Gehazi, was talking to King Jehoram 
about the miracles of Elisha. As this woman appeared Gehazi pointed 
her out as the one whose son Elisha had brought to life. The woman 
confirmed the report, and the king ordered to be restored to her her land 
and all it had produced during her absence. Gehazi was at this time a 
leper, and probably stood outside the wall of the city and talked with 
the king from a distance. 

7-14. — Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-hadad, who was sick, sent 
his servant Hazael to inquire whether or not he should get well. Elisha's 
reputation as a prophet was in all the land round about. A great present 



II KINGS. 309 

was sent to Elisha by the king, but whether or not he accepted it we are 
left to guess. The first part of verse 10 was the answer to Ben-hadad's 
question, the rest was a private remark of the prophet to Hazael. The 
old prophet knew his evil designs, and looked him out of countenance. 
He further told Hazael the evil he would do to Israel when he became 
king of Syria. Why Elijah did not anoint Hazael, as ordered (I Kings 
19:15), we are not told. There is no record here of Elisha having 
anointed him. Verse 13 shows that here, as usual, Hazael was not aware 
how place and power would spoil him. 

15. — Hazael murdered his king, as the prophet had predicted. 

1G-24. — This fifth king of Judah was also named Jehoram, and reigned 
eight years during the reign of Jehoram, king of Israel. He married a 
daughter of Ahab, Athalia, a sister of the king of Israel, and so, as was 
to be expected, he was an evil king, like the kings of Israel. Edom, which 
up to this time had been a part of Judah, openly revolted, and much of 
the idolatry of Israel was introduced into Judah. 

25-27. — His son and successor's name was Ahaziah. The word daugh- 
ter in verse 26 should be rendered grand-daughter. He also was an evil 
king. 

28, 29. — He joined with Jehoram, king of Israel, to fight the Syrians. 
Jehoram was wounded, and while lying sick of his wounds at Jezreel was 
visited by Ahaziah. Jezreel is a little northwest of Mount Gilboa. 

Ch. 9 :1-10. — The anointing of Jehu king of Israel was the last of the 
three orders given to Elijah in Horeb. Jehu was the commander in 
charge of the army in Ramoth-gilead. Elisha sent a prophet there, who 
privately anointed Jehu, and gave him orders to destroy the house of 
Ahab. Jezebel was now to pay the penalty of her crimes against the 
Lord's prophets, and was to be eaten by dogs under the walls of Jezreel. 
The king's summer palace seems to have been here, and here was the 
vineyard of the murdered Naboth. 

1 1-1 5.— Jehu immediately drives furiously to Jezreel, arriving there 
before any messenger could carry the news of his anointing. The army 
had enthusiastically proclaimed him king, and he takes at once the reins 
of government. 

16-20. — When his approach was discovered by the watchman on the 
walls at Jezreel a messenger was sent in haste to meet him. When he 
failed to return the second one was sent. Jehu's reputation as a horse- 
man must have been well known, for the watchman now recognizes him 
by his furious driving. 

21-23. — Ahaziah was with Jehoram, and the two kings go out to meet 



310 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jehu. The meeting occurred on that fatal ground of the murdered 
Naboth. The answer of Jehu to the king (verse 22) convinced Jehoram 
of the plan of Jehu. 

24-26. — The death of Jehoram (verse 24) fulfilled the prophecy of 
Elijah (I Kings 21:29). 

27-29. — Ahaziah, king of Judah, was also slain by Jehu, for he was the 
grandson of Ahab, and nephew of Jehoram. 

30-37. — Jehu now drives into Jezreel, where old Jezebel from an upper 
widow reminds him of the fate of Zimri. Jehu orders her thrown from 
the window, and drives his team over her. When he orders her buried 
in the evening the dogs had eaten all except her skull, hands and feet. 

Ch, 10:1-17. — Jehu was the beginning of the fourth dynasty of Israel. 
Jeroboam's house had been destroyed, Baasha's house had been destroyed, 
and now Jehu destroys all the house of Ahab. Jehu first challenges the 
people to assemble the house of Ahab and fight for the throne, but since 
the people refuse to take the part of Ahab's descendants, he ordered them 
to bring the heads of Ahab's male descendants to him at Jezreel next 
day. When the people had slain seventy of his sons, Jehu slew the 
remainder of his house in Jezreel. On his way from Jezreel to Samaria 
Jehu met forty-two relatives of Ahaziah, king of Judah, who were on their 
way to visit Jehoram, and slew them also. When he came to Samaria 
he slew what remained of Ahab's house there. 

18-28. — Jehu now lays a deep plot to root out the worshipers of Baal. 
It is contended by some, however, that this was not a religious, but a 
political motive. The interests of Baal and those of the house of Ahab 
were identical, and to destroy one both must be destroyed. Jehonadab 
was a scribe and a worshiper of the true God. When the Baalites were 
gathered they were ordered to make sure that no worshiper of the God 
of Israel was among them. At Jehu's order every Baalite was slain, and 
all the relics of their idolatry were destroyed. 

29-31. — But it is sad to record that this ruler who had begun so well 
held to the calf worship of Jeroboam. He probably wanted to keep his 
subjects from going to Jerusalem, and so after all proved to be an evil 
king. 

32, 33. — The success of nazael against Israel proved how the Lord was 
displeased with Israel. He took from them all their territory east from 
the Jordan. 

34-3G. — Jehu was buried in Samaria after he had reigned twenty-eight 
years. 



II KINGS. 311 

Ch. 11 :1. — When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, heard that her son 
had been slain, she attempted to slay all his descendants. 

2. — Jehosheba, a daughter of the Judean king Jehoram by another 
wife, took little Joash, a son of Ahaziah, and hid him in one of the 
priest's bed chambers of the temple. 

3. — For six years Athaliah reigned, a worthy representative of the 
tigress Jezebel, her mother, no doubt seeking to fasten upon Judah the 
Baal worship which Jehu had destroyed in Israel. 

4-12. — The young King Joash (Jehoash) was kept secreted by the 
priest Jehoiada, and in the seventh year the priest, probably under the 
guise of a religious festival, brought together the rulers of the people, 
took them into his confidence, and showed them the young king. He 
arranged with them a plan by means of which the young king was 
crowned and protected by these captains. 

13-16.— When the news came to Athaliah she came running to the 
temple, saw at once the nature of the occurrence, and raised the cry of 
treason. At the priest's request she was dragged from the temple and 
slain. 

17-21, — The high priest now covenants with the people that they 
should be true to the Lord, and they destro} r ed the worship of Baal, 
slaying their priests. So Joash was put upon the throne at the age of 
seven years. 

Ch. 12 :l-3. — Joash was a good king. His mother was Zibiah of Beer- 
sheba. So long as Johoiada lived to counsel the young king he did right. 
His failure to destroy the groves in which heathen ceremonies were 
performed left the seed of idolatry in the land. Joash reigned as long 
as King David. 

4-16. — One of the events of his reign was the repairing of the temple 
by the priests under his direction. The manner of collecting money for 
it is shown in verse 9. It is evident from verse 15 that the men to whom 
this work was committed were honest. 

17, 18. — But for the sin of Joash after the death of Jehoiada, Hazael, 
king of Syria, was allowed to devastate Jerusalem, and Joash took all 
the treasures of the temple to bribe Hazael to end the siege. 

19-21. — The murder of Joash by his servants was the result of his 
sinful and heartless murder of the son of Jehoiada. 

Ch. 13:1-9. — The son of Jehu was an evil king. On account of his 
leading the people into sin, Hazael, king of Syria, was allowed to com- 
pletely crush them. When the king turned to the Lord, Israel was 
delivered, not because they were worthy, but because of the promise made 



312 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

by God to their fathers. The nations were stinging them with the taunt 
that God had forsaken them. But their deliverance left them still 
impenitent. 

10-13. — Jehoash was another evil king, leading the people into the 
idolatry of Jeroboam. 

14-19. — In the midst of his reign the old prophet Elisha came down 
upon his death bed. King Jehoram wept over him, saying in substance, 
You are a greater protection to Israel than all her horses and chariots. 
The incident of the bows and arrows was a prophecy to the king of how 
he might have conquered his enemies had he been a man of faith. A lack 
of faith in God accounted for his lack of energy. 

20, 21. — This incident in the burial of Elisha was a most remarkable 
testimony of the Lord to Elisha's faithful life. 

22-25. — Hazael oppressed Israel all his days, but after his death Joash 
took from his son Ben-hadad what Hazael had taken from Israel in war. 

Ch. 14:1-4. — The reign of Amaziah over Judah was on the whole a 
good reign. As usual he failed to destroy the groves of the idolaters. 

5, 6. — One of his first acts was to execute the murderers of his father, 
a worthy observance of the fifth commandment. 

7. — He also crushed the rebellion out of Edom. 

8-14. — Why he made this request of Joash, king of Israel, we are not 
told. It is suggested by some that he cherished a little secret hatred of 
Israel because Jehu had destroyed some of his ancestors, and flushed by 
this victory over Edom, he thought to demand satisfaction. The king 
of Israel sent him a stinging reply, but Amaziah persisted until they met 
in battle, and Joash broke down the walls of Jerusalem and pillaged 
the temple. 

15, 16. — After his death Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings 
of Israel. His son was Jeroboam II. 

17-22.— Amaziah was slain fifteen years later at Lacish, a town of the 
Philistines, but was brought and buried at Jerusalem. His sixteen-year- 
old son was made king in his place. 

23-29. — Jeroboam reigned long and wickedly. He was a worthy 
successor of the first Jeroboam. But for the promise of God made to the 
patriarchs he would have long since blotted out the name of Israel. 

Ch. 15 :l-7. — Azariah, next king of Judah, who began to reign at the 
age of sixteen, was on the whole a good king. But in the course of his 
reign, as we are elsewhere told, waxing proud, he entered the holy place, 
and was smitten with leprosy. 



II KINGS. 313 

8-12. — The reign of Zachariah, the fourteenth king of Israel, was short 
and evil. 

13-15. — Shallum slew Zachariah and reigned in his stead one month. 

16-22. — Menahem, the sixteenth king of Israel, was a general over the 
armies of Israel, who when he learned of Shallum's conduct, slew Shallum 
and took the throne. He had an evil reign of ten years, and bribed Pul, 
the king of Assyria, to help confirm the kingdom in his hands, wringing 
the money from his subjects. 

23-26. — Pekahia, seventeenth king of Israel, had an evil reign of two 
years, following the sins of Jeroboam. He was slain by his general, 
Pekah, who reigned in his stead. 

27-31. — Pekah reigned twenty years evilly. In his days Tiglath-pileser, 
king of Assyria, carried a large part of Israel captive to Assyria. He was 
slain by a conspirator, who reigned in his stead. 

32-38. — Jot ham was the tenth king of Judah. He reigned sixteen 
years righteously. During the latter part of his reign he began to have 
trouble with Syria and Israel. 

Ch. 16:1-4. — The close union which would naturally be between Judah 
and Israel had a telling effect on Judah. Jeroboam, the first king of 
Israel, had led them into idolatry in an attempt to make a separation 
between Judah and Israel, so that Israel would not go to Jerusalem to 
worship. Judah as a nation had deplored the idolatry of Israel, but by 
their close association with them had also been led into idolatry. This 
king of Judah was much like the heathen around him. The passing of 
children through fire in honor of Molech was a most abominable and 
barbarous custom. 

5, 6. — Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, united in a siege 
against Jerusalem. They took some outlying cities of Judah, but were 
not able to take Jerusalem. 

7-9. — Ahaz appeals for help to the king of Assyria, a new empire 
which has risen to power since the settlement of Canaan. Babylon was 
at this time the capital, the Chaldean empire having been captured and 
turned into the Assyrian empire. The king of Judah gave as a present 
to this strange king all the treasures of the temple and the king's house, 
and in return the king of Assyria captured Damascus and slew Rezin, its 
king, carrying its people captive. 

10-16. — Ahaz went to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria. While 
there he saw an altar, the pattern of which pleased his eye, and sent 
a description to the priest Urijah at Jerusalem. By the time the king 
returned from Damascus the priest had built an altar like it at the temple, 



314 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

and the king made offerings upon it. The king gave orders that hereafter 
the offerings shbuld be made upon this altar, and that the brasen altar 
should be used only to inquire of the Lord. This shows how low the 
nation had fallen religiously. 

17, 18.— The bases (I Kings 7:27-37) made for hauling water to the 
•brasen sea of the temple and the brasen oxen under the brasen sea were 
taken by the king to furnish brass, it is supposed, for his own private 
palace. The covert (verse 18) seemed to be a portico through which the 
priests entered the temple on the Sabbath. There was also a private 
entrance for the king, and authorities suppose that the king's object for 
removing these was a fear that in case of a siege the king of Assyria 
might get possession of these entrances of the temple. 

19, 20. — As verse 20 indicates, the kings were buried in a sepulcher at 
Jerusalem. It was considered a great honor to be buried here, and a 
great dishonor to be denied burial with the fathers. 

Ch. 17:1, 2. — Hoshea was the last king of Israel. Like nearly all 
before him his reign was an evil one. The nation of Israel had outraged 
God in every conceivable way, and its end is now at hand. 

3. — The king of Assyria, who had lately conquered Damascus, now 
came against Israel and put the nation under tribute. 

4. — After a few years of this subjection Hoshea made an alliance with 
the king of Egypt, and withheld the tribute from Assyria, and for this 
cause the king of Assyria took him prisoner. 

5, 6. — For three years the Assyrians besieged Samaria, the capital of 
the Israelite nation, and in the ninth year of Hoshea carried Israel 
captive into Assyria. 

7-23. — The people whom God intended to be the leading nation of the 
earth, and to whom were given all the promises of the divine word, 
because of their secret sins (verse 9) and the open sins which grew out 
of them, were now carried captive by heathens because they would not 
hear the voice of God's prophets (13, 14). God had intended them to be 
right and rule all the nations about them. Instead they chose to be 
wrong, and as a result were ruled by the most abominable idolaters. Such 
is the difference between God's plan for his children and the children's 
treatment of God's plan. Practically only the tribe of Judah was left. 
The chosen family had been divided by sin, and its greater division had 
gone into captivity through the same sin. Even Judah had so far 
forsaken God that it was fighting for an existence; sin had well nigh 
overcome them. 

24. — The kingdom of Tsrael was blotted out, and the king of Assyria 



II KINGS. 315 

had colonized the deserted cities of Israel with people from his own 
kingdom. The poorer and lower classes were left in Israel, and they 
mingled at once with these new colonists, making in the land a mongrel 
population and a mongrel religion. 

25. — The wild beasts of the land would at once multiply because of 
depopulation, and when many were slain by the lions they regarded it as 
a judgment of God upon the land for wickedness. 

26-41. — The people appealed to the king of Assyria for one able to 
teach them of the God of that land. At the king's command they return 
one of the captive Jewish priests with a command to teach the people of 
Israel's God, but each nation represented in this mongrel population 
had the idols of his own land. He did not acknowledge the God of Israel 
as the only God. Verses 30 and 31 refer to the names of the idol gods 
which they served. They simply included God as one of many deities. 
The first clause of verse 34 refers to the time of the captivity of Judah 
some years later, when this book is supposed to have been written. Verses 
35-40 contrast God's plan concerning Israel with their treatment of his 
orders. This is the people who were afterward called Samaritans by 
Israel. The kingdom of Israel had lasted two hundred and fifty-six years. 

Ch. 18 :l-8. — The rest of our history deals with the kingdom of Judah. 
Doubtless many of the devout Israelites, when they saw their nation about 
to be destroyed, took refuge in Judah. Hezekiah was a good king. By 
comparison with chapter 16 it will be found that Ahaz, the father of 
Hezekiah, could not have been more than fourteen years old, and some 
writers think not more than eleven, when Hezekiah was born. The warm 
climate of the South hastens such maturity, as here implied. This king 
destroyed the images and cut down the groves in his war against idolatry, 
and had destroyed also the brascn serpent made by Moses in the wilder- 
ness, which had become an object of idolatry — calling it a piece of brass. 
The king of Assyria attempted to enslave him, but Hezekiah would not 
submit. Because he served the Lord his nation prospered, and he extended 
the borders of Judah. 

0-12. — A note is made here of the captivity of Israel, which took place 
in the reign of Hezekiah. The history has already been given in a 
preceding chapter. 

13-16. — And now appears the folly of making alliance with a heathen 
king. The father of Hezekiah had called upon the king of Assyria to 
aid him against the kings of Syria and Israel, a*nd now the king of 
Assyria, having defeated both of the above named kings, attempted to 
conquer the son of Ahaz, the king of Judah, whose father had despoiled 



316 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the temple to enrich Assyria's king. Many cities of Judah were taken by 
the king of Assyria, and Hezekiah took all the treasures of the house of 
the Lord, even cutting the gold from the doors of the temple and from 
the gold covered pillars, to bribe Sennacherib to take away his army from 
Judah. The amount raised was about one million and a half dollars. 

17-37. — Soon after this the king of Assyria sent a huge army under 
three generals against Jerusalem. One of these generals, Rab-shakeh, 
called to the king of Judah, and three officers of the king went out to 
receive his message. Rab-shakeh ridiculed Hezekiah's faith and the 
king of Egypt, with whom he had made an alliance, and contended that 
God had forsaken Judah. He tried to persuade them into the service of 
the king of Assyria, and pretended that if they refused the God of Israel 
had sent him against Jerusalem to destroy it. These officers of the king 
tried to persuade him to give his message in a language in which the 
Jerusalemites on the wall would not understand. Rab-shakeh said, T 
want the men on the wall to understand it, and then began to discourse 
to the Hebrews on the wall, urging them to forsake Hezekiah and God, 
and give themselves to Assyria, promising to take them to a better land 
than that of Judah. The people were silent, as Hezekiah had bidden, 
and the three men reported to Hezekiah the word of Rab-shakeh. 

Ch. 19 :1. — Hezekiah, like a true man of faith, went to the house of the 
Lord before making reply to the message. No better place would be 
found for men to go who are in search of wisdom. 

2-5. — His second step was to send a delegation to the prophet Isaiah, 
reciting the trouble and requesting his prayer for deliverance. 

6, 7. — Isaiah was the prophet of Judah in these days. 

8. — The answer of the prophet was full of inspiration and assurance. 
He assures the king that it was God who had been blasphemed, and that' 
God would deal with the army of Sennacherib. 

.9-13. — The prediction of Isaiah was quickly fulfilled. The king of 
Assyria had been at Lachish, west of Hebron, when he sent this army 
against Jerusalem, and when Rab-shakeh heard that Sennacherib was 
warring against Libnah, a neighboring town, he hastened back to his king. 

14-19. — The rumor foretold in verse 7 is explained in verse 9. It was 
told to Sennacherib that the king of Ethiopia was coming out against 
him. Ethiopia was a powerful kingdom south of Egypt on the upper 
Nile. The king of Assyria now becomes alarmed and sends messengers 
to the king of Judah to try to frighten him into an immediate surrender 
to Sennacherib, citing instances of kings already conquered by Assyria 
in order to discourage any resistance from Hezekiah. The king went into 



II KINGS. 317 

• 
the temple and spread the letter before the Lord, making that sublime 
prayer in verses 15-19. 

20-34.— The Lord sent Isaiah to the king with an assurance that he 
had heard and would answer the prayer. He shows the regard in which 
the boasting king of Assyria is held by the Lord, and that his boasting 
was against the God of Judah (verses 21-27). He sends a threat against 
Assyria (verse 28) and a promise of peace and plenty to Judah (verses 
29-34). 

35-37. — Next morning one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian 
soldiers were dead, having been slain by the angel of the Lord in the 
night. He hastened back to Nineveh with the remainder of his army, and 
while worshiping in the house of his idol god two of his sons slew him. 

Ch. 20:1. — We have a right to believe that God intended that in this 
sickness Hezekiah should die had it not been for his prayer of faith. 

Verses 2 and 3 indicate the desperate earnestness of the king. It is 
of great value to anyone to -find confidence in time of supplication through 
consciousness of duty well done (verse 3). # 

4-7. — God changed his expressed plan concerning the king, and turned 
back the prophet to announce that the prayer was heard, that fifteen years 
would be added to his life, and that he an'd his city should be defended 
against Assyria. He instructed the prophet as to what means to use for 
the king's recovery. There is no better instance in history of prevailing 
prayer. 

8-11. — When the king asked for a sign it was granted; that the shadow 
should go back ten degrees on the sun dial. 

12. — The king of Babylon here mentioned was one who had been made 
vassal of Assyria, but had rebelled. The seat of the Assyrian government 
at this time was Nineveh. 

Verse 13 indicates how easily a careful man may make a mistake. The 
king of Judah was flattered by the attention paid him, and very foolishly 
showed treasures which tempted his enemy to war against him. 

14-19. — The message of God to the king was an exceedingly sad one. 
It foretold how that Judah in future should be despoiled by Babylon, and 
its people go into captivity to that great city. Years after this same thing 
came to pass. 

20, 21. — Hezekiah died in peace and was buried in the sepulcher of 
the kings. 

Ch. 21 :l-9. — Hezekiah had been a good king, but now his son, Manas- 
seh, born three years after his father's miraculous cure, proved to be the 
worst king, perhaps, that Judah ever had. Probably this was because he 



318 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

was brought up by those who were enemies of true religion. If we would 
have the future man right, too much pains cannot be taken in rearing 
the youth. He undid about all the good his father, Hezekiah, had done. 
He was not content to make groves in which to practice evil rites, but even 
made a graven image of his grove and put it in the temple. Verse 9 
teaches that Manasseh made his people do more evil than the nations who 
had been destroyed before Israel. 

10-16. — The Lord sent to this people fearful warnings. The prophets 
of Manasseh's day were Tsaiah, Hosea, Joel, Xahum and Habbakkuk. 
The language of verses 12 and 13 should have been appalling to the 
nation. Verse 1G indicates that he persecuted good men who would not 
conform to his evil rites. Among these it is supposed was Isaiah, who 
was sawn asunder at the age of ninety years. The acts of this wretched 
king were largely responsible for the final captivity of Judah. The great 
length of his reign gave ample time to jDerfect his abominable plans. 

17, 18. — This king, when he died, was buried in the garden of his own 
house. 

19-22. — Amon was like his father. His abominable .reign led the 
heathen still further into idolatry. He took up the work where his father 
had left off and followed in his 'evil footsteps. 

23-25. — Amon was slain by his oavu servants in his own house. The 
people of the land slew the conspirators, an act right enough in itself, and 
yet it is probable that their vengeance on the conspirators was not so much 
a desire for justice as a desire to avenge the death of one whose reign 
suited them. The people, like most of their kings, had become the most 
abominable idolaters. 

Ch. 22:1, 2. — Amid all this wilderness of sinful kings here appears a 
fertile oasis. Josiah was put on the throne at eight years of age. He- 
had evidently been carefully trained, and his long reign was a thoroughly 
good one. , 

3-7. — His first act was to repair the temple, and he put over the work 
men of such sterling integrity that no secretary was necessary to keep the 
records. 

8-10. — Now comes an incident of far reaching importance. Under the 
two evil kings before Josiah the ark had been moved from its place and 
a copy of the law kept in a chest beside it had become lost. In the 
repairing of the temple the high priest found it and showed it to a scribe. 
When this scribe reported to the king the progress of the work he men- 
tioned the book and read from it before the king. 

11-14. — The king was greatly moved by the words of the law. He saw 



IE KINGS. 319 

from it the just wrath of God which hung over the nation because of. 
its sins, and ordered the scribe, the. high priest and other servants of the 
court to go to a certain prophetess, Huldah, to inquire of the Lord for 
him. This woman was held in great veneration as a servant of the Lord. 
It is said that she and the high priest, Jehoiada, were the only persons 
not of the house of David who were ever buried in Jerusalem. 

15-20. — Verse 1 13 indicates that the king read of the woes which were 
threatened upon the land in case the people sinned. The Lord's answer 
confirmed the woes threatened in the book, but assures the pious king 
because of his piety the punishment would be deferred until after his 
death. 

Ch. 23 :1, 2. — The king now gathers the elders and people together and 
had the law read to them. No doubt he feels that if his own reading and 
obedience could turn the catastrophe from him it could do the same for 
the people, and there is no doubt that it would have done so had the 
people done as the king. 

3. — The king's public covenant was subscribed to by all the people. 
Had they continued to stand to that covenant through the years, the 
history of Judah would have been entirely different. 

4-20.— The king now begins a determined war against idolatry. All 
relics of idolatry were taken from the temple and destroyed. The groves 
were destroyed. The resorts of the idolaters were broken up. The 
heathen customs were forbidden. Even the high places which Solomon 
had built to idols were destroyed. The grove and altar of Jeroboam at 
Bethel were destroyed, and the idolatrous priests were slain. 

21-23. — Now for the first time since the days of the judges a Passover 
was commanded to be observed by all the peopler This feast called to 
remembrance the plagues of Egypt by which God set the Hebrews free 
and made them a nation nearly nine hundred years before. 

24. — The destruction of the evils of the land was according to the 
requirements of the law. It should have been the work of every king of 
Israel to have destroyed the first appearance of any one of these things. 
The abstaining from the first appearances of evil in each case would have 
saved all the difficulties which had now accumulated until the life of the 
nation was virtually destroyed. 

25. — Verse 25 was a tremendous compliment to this just king. He 
probably did the best that could be done under the circumstances, and 
what he failed to do was not lack of desire, but because the evil was so 
thoroughly entrenched in the character of the whole nation. 

Verses 26-28 show how deep must have been the degradation of King 



820 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Manasseh, and how his evil had lived after him. The people were out- 
wardly conforming to these reformations because they could not well 
help it, but in their hearts they were clinging to those deadly sins which 
had undone them as a people. 

29, 30. — It is likely that Josiah felt himself bound to assist the king of 
Assyria, since Judah had been a dependency of Assyria since the days 
of Manasseh, but in the act this king met his death. It would have been 
far better if Josiah had followed the example of Hezekiah and looked 
to the Lord for protection rather than to Assyria. 

31, 32. — Jehoahaz was an evil king. It is probable that in this case 
the training of the child had been left to those who secretly if not openly 
opposed the reforms of Josiah. Those who look upon evil with allowance 
or who^allow their - children to be trained by those who do are sure of 
trouble. 

33. — The reign of Jehoahaz was short and evil. The king of Egypt, 
having conquered Josiah, now takes his son off the throne and puts him 
in prison, and lays the land of Judah under tribute. 

24-37. — The king of Egypt then takes another son of Josiah and puts 
him on the throne of Judah. The land was taxed to support the country 
from which the Hebrews had come out of captivity, and this Egypt-made 
king went on sinning against God, as most of the kings had done before 
him. 

Ch. 24:1. — This country of Judah was now the border land between the 
two powerful nations of Egypt and Assyria. Egypt was defeated by 
Nebuchadnezzar, who now comes against Judah, and reduces it to sub- 
mission for three years. 

2-4. — When Jehoiakim rebelled against the king of Babylon he sent 
against Judah not only Chaldees and Syrians, but the old enemies, 
Moabites and Ammonites. While these armies moved in obedience to 
their king, yet their conquest against Judah was permitted of God only 
because of the detestable sins of God's chosen people. Manasseh's shame- 
ful murder of God-fearing people had been so outrageous as to make his 
reign notorious for wickedness and so detestable that neither God nor 
good men could forget its evils. 

5-7. — By the time Jehoiakim died the king of Egypt had been thor- 
oughly conquered by the king of Babylon, so that he did not again trouble 
the kingdom of Judah. 

8, 9. — Jehoiaehin began to reign evilly. He copied the sins of his 
father before him. His evil reign was doomed to a speedy end. 

10, 11. — Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, now lays siege to Jeru- 



II KINGS. 321 

salem. He knows something of the riches of the place, for they were 
shown to his servants by Hezekiah some time before. At that time 
Isaiah told Hezekiah that for that indiscreet act those treasures would 
be carried to Babylon. 

12-16. — That sad prophecy is now fulfilled. The king of Judah, his 
servants, princes and officers surrender to the king of Babylon, and the 
treasures of the temple are carried away and captives made of the best 
people of Judah, about ten thousand of them. This is said to have been 
in the springtime. 

17-19. — The nineteenth (and last) king of Judah was Mattaniah, 
whom the king of Babylon set over the land and called him Zedekiah. 
He w r as the third and youngest son of Josiah, the full brother of Jehoahaz, 
and so the uncle of Jehoiachin. He, like most of the kings before him, 
was a miserable sinner. The name Zedekiah was, according to the custom 
of conquerors, chosen by this new king and confirmed by the king of 
Babylon. It meant "righteousness of God," but the wretched king was 
the very opposite of righteous. 

Verse 20 shows how God can make even the wrath of man to praise 
him. The prophets had foretold disaster to Jerusalem on account of its 
sin, and it was God's course that the very evil policy of this puppet king 
should prove the final means of carrying out the calamity threatened 
upon Judah. The impenitent conduct of God's chosen people had called 
out the prophecies, and their persistent impenitence in spite of all the 
warnings was the very means through which God's final punishment fell. 
Not only so, but the punishment came through the very evil ones with 
whom the chosen people had cultivated associations in the face of all the 
divine protests. 

Ch. 25 :l-3. — Now comes the deplorable end. For more than a year, 
nearly eighteen months, the city was besieged, until children ate the 
bodies of their own parents, and parents ate their own children. Mothers 
ate their infant babes, roasting or boiling their flesh. No one was allowed 
to go out or come in. The walls of the city were so strong that if they 
had been well manned it would have been impossible to overcome the 
city in any siege. 

4-7. — When a breach was made in the wall by the armies of Babylon, 
King Zedekiah and his company fled. The king of Babylon had left 
Jerusalem and gone to oppose the army of Egypt, who had marched to 
the aid of Jerusalem. He did not return to Jerusalem, but stopped at 
Eiblah (a place between Jerusalem and Babylon) while Ms generals 
carried on the siege of Jerusalem. When Zedekiah was captured he was 



322 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

taken before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, his sons slain before him, his 
eyes put out, and he taken to Babylon in chains. 

8-21. — The king of Babylon now sends a general to utterly destroy 
the city. The houses were burned, the wall broken down, the people were 
carried away, except the very poorest, who were left to till the land. All 
the metal in the temple was cut away. All the vessels of the temple and 
ornaments of the building were carried away from it. The chief officers 
of the temple and prominent supporters of Zedekiah were taken to the 
king of Babylon at Eiblah and slain there. 

22-26. — Gedaliah was made ruler over those who remained in the land. 
But very quickly some of the royal descendants of the line of Judah's 
kings slew him and his supporters, and then a vast army of the resident 
Hebrews fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of the king of Babylon. 

27-30. — Evil-merodach was put in prison after Nebuchadnezzar's seven 
years' illness, and while in prison seems to have formed the acquaintance 
of Jehoiachin, the king who had surrendered at the first siege of Jeru- 
salem. After the death of Nebuchadnezzar when Evil-merodach came to 
the throne he took this exile king out of prison and fed him at the royal 
table of Babylon. 



I CHRONICLES. 



INTRODUCTION TO I AND II CHRONICLES. 

It is commonly supposed that Ezra compiled the matter contained in 
these two books. These records of individuals, with the tribes and 
families to which they belonged, were kept with great care, for the 
Hebrews attached much importance to them. These records were regarded 
as a kind of supplement to those kept in the books of the kings. They 
show the line of descent, beginning with Adam, and extending to the 
time of the captivity. Many of the facts they give have already been 
given in the Samuels and Kings, but a few additional facts are added. 
They are valuable chiefly as books of reference. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-4 Descent from Adam to Noah. 
5-? Descendants of Japheth. 
8-1 fi Descendants of Ham. 



I CHRONICLES. 323 

17-27 Descendants of Shcm to Abram. 

28 The two sons of Abram. 

29-31 The sons of Ishmael. 

32, 33 Descendants of Keturah. 

34 The two sons of Isaac. 

35-54 Descendants of Esau. 

Chapter 2. 

1, 2 The twelve sons of Israel. 
3-12 Descendants of Judah to Jesse. 
13-15 The seven sons of Jesse. 
16, 17 The two daughters of Jesse. Their sons. 
18-55 Descendants of Ilezron. 

Chapter 3. 

1-9 The seventeen sons of David. Their sister. 
10-14 Descent from Solomon to Josiah. 
15-24 Descendants of Josiah. 
Chapter 4. 

1-23 A list of Judah's descendants. 
24-43 Descendants of Simeon. 
Chapter 5. 

1-10 Descendants of Reuben. 
11-17 Descendants of Gad. 

18-26 The two and one-half tribes east of Jordan. 
Chapter 6. 
1-53 Descendants of Levi. 

1-15 The priestly line. 
16-19 The three sons of Levi. Their children. 
20, 21 Some children of Gershom. 
22-28 Some children of Kohath. Samuel's descent. 
29j 30 Some children of Merari. 
31-48 David's songsters and tabernacle servants. 
49-53 The office and children of Aaron. 
54-81 Settlement of the Levites. 

54-61 The Kohathites' location. 

62 The Gershomites' location. 

63 The Merarites' location. 
64-70 Cities of the Kohathites. 
71-76 Cities of the Gcrshomites. 
77-81 Cities of the Merarites. 



324 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 7. 

1-5 Descendants of Issachar. 
6-12 Descendants of Benjamin. 
13 Descendants of Naphtali. 
14-19 Descendants of Manasseh. 
20-29 Descendants of Ephraim. 
30-40 Descendants of Asher. 

Chapter 8. 
1-40 A list of the Benjamites. Saul's descent. 

Chapter 9. 

1 Genealogical records of the children of Israel. 
2-34 Inhabitants of Palestine after the exile. 
2 The returned exiles. 
3-34 The dwellers at Jerusalem. 
3-9 The common people. 
10-13 The priests. 
14-34 The Levites. 
35-44 The descent of King Saul. 

Chapter 10. 

1-7 The last battle and death of Saul and his sons. 
8-10 Public display of their bodies. 
11, 12 Kindness of the men of Jabesh-gilead. 
13, 14 Reason of Saul's downfall. 

Chapter 11. 

1-3 David anointed king by all Israel. 

4-9 Moving of the capital to Jerusalem. 
10-47 A list of David's mighty men. 

Chapter 12. ^ 

1-22 The army which gathered to David in exile. 
23-40 The hosts which came to anoint David at Hebron. 
Chapter 13. 

1-8 Attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem. 

9, 10 Death of Uzza. 

11-14 Fear of David. Place of the ark for three months. 

Chapter 14. 

1 Hiram's help of David. 
2-7 David's wives and children. 
8-17 David's two great victories over the Philistines. 



I CHRONICLES. 325 

Chapter 15. 

.1-29 David brings the ark to Jerusalem. 
Chapter 1G. 

1 Placing of the ark at Jerusalem. 

2, 3 David's treat to the multitude. 
4-6 Appointment of Levite singers. 

7-36 David's psalm of thanksgiving. 
37-43 Appointment of tabernacle attaches. 
Chapter 17. 

1, 2 David's resolve to build a temple. 

3-15 God's- message to him by Nathan. 
16-27 David's prayer. 
Chapter 18. 

1-6 David's conquest of Philisiia, Moab, Zobah and Syria. 

7-11 The spoils dedicated for a temple. 
12, 13 Conquest of the Edomites. 
14-17 A list of David's officers. 
Chapter 19. 
1-20-3 indignity of Amnon to David. Their conquest. 

4-8 Three Philistine wars. 
Chapter 21. 

1-6 Numbering of the people. 

7-17 The plague. 
18-30 David's sacrifice on the threshing floor of Oman. 
Chapter 22. 

1-5 David's preparation for a temple. 

6-16 His charge to Solomon about it. 
17-19 His charge to the princes. 
Chapter 23. 

1 Association of Solomon with David in the kingdom. 

2-32 Number of the Levite families and their duties. 
Chapter 21. 

1-31 The twenty-four orders of Aaron's sons. Other Levites. 
Chapter 25. 

1-31 The two hundred and eighty-eight singers. Their twenty-four 
divisions. 
Chapter 26. 

' 1-19 The division of the porters. 
'20-28 The treasurers of God's house. 
29-32 The officers and judges. 



326 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 27. 
1-15 David's twelve captains. 
1 6-22 The thirteen tribe rulers. 

23, 24 The minors in Israel. Failure of the numbering. 
25-34 A list of David's officers. 
Chapter 28. 

1-8 David's declaration and exhortation to the assembly. 
9, 10 His exhortation to Solomon. 
11-21 His specifications about the temple. 
Chapter 29. 

1-5 David's appeal to the people. 
6-9 Offering of the people. 
10-21 The public praise and prayer service. 
22-25 Recognition of Solomon as king. 
26-30 Death of David. 



LESSOX NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-4. — In this table of descent none of the offspring of Adam are 
named except the particular son who was in this direct line of descent to 
Abram. Adam had many other children besides Cain and Abel, but it 
was not pertinent to the purpose to name them here. These four verses 
cover the history of the world from the Garden of Eden to the flood. 

5-7. — Since the whole earth was destroyed in the flood except Noah, his 
wife, his three sons and their wives, it is proper to have here a very brief 
statement of those who founded the New World. The sons of Japhet, 
from whom the white nations have sprung, went northward. 

8-16. — The descendants of Ham mostly went southward, the tribe of 
Canaan settling in Palestine, giving their name to the land. The 
Hamites are found mostly in Africa and southern Arabia. The Philis- 
tines belong to the Hamites. 

17-27. — Shem's descendants were the Elamites, Assyrians, Syrians, 
Chaldeans, Lydians, etc. The three sons of Noah doubtless settled in 
Armenia near Mount Ararat, where the ark rested, and from there their 
descendants spread as indicated. The immediate group from which 
Abram descended were Chaldeans. 

28. — Nothing is here said of the going of Abram from Ur to Canaan, 
since it has been related elsewhere in the history, and this being only a 
book of reference ; but the two sons are named Isaac and Ishmael, Isaac, 
the younger, being named first because he was the heir and the son of 
the legal wife, though Ishmael was thirteen years the elder. 



I CHRONICLES. 327 

29-31. — The sons of Ishmael are named here because of their connec- 
tion with Abram. They inhabited the most of Arabia, and to this day 
bear out the prophecy of Gen. 16 :12 and 21 :13. 

32, 33. — Keturah was the second wife of Abraham. The sons of 
Abraham by this woman must have founded very important tribes. From 
Shuah, mentioned in verse 32, Bildad is said to have sprung, mentioned 
in Job 2:11. 

34. — The two sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, are notorious in Bible 
history from the fact of Esau's base disregard of the value of his birth- 
right, and the deception used in attempting to obtain the birthright for 
Jacob. 

35-54. — The very close relation between the offspring of Esau and 
those of Jacob (Israel) made the Israelite nation somewhat closely 
attached to the peoples mentioned in verses 35-54. These people are met 
with in the future history of the Israelite nation. The pepple of Esau 
were the Edomites, and they formed a nation south of the Dead Sea. 
They would not allow Israel to go through their territory on their way to 
Canaan. They were a part of Solomon's empire, having been subdued 
by David, but after Solomon's death they rebelled and became indepen- 
dent again. All these are specially mentioned because they are children 
of Abraham. 

Ch. 2 :1, 2. — Six of the twelve sons were the children of Leah. Two 
were the sons of Rachel. The other four were children of the two 
handmaids. Besides these Jacob had daughters, Dinah and others. 

3-12. — Three sons of Judah mentioned in verse 3 are notorious as 
figuring in the history of Gen. 38, in connection with which comes the 
story of the birth of Pharez and Zerah. (Verse 5.) From Pharez came 
the line from which Jesse descended, and of course Christ descended from 
the same. 

13-15. — Here is given a list of the seven sons of Jesse, of whom David 
was the youngest. Some of these were the ones to whom David came with 
provisions when he challenged Goliath. They were fighting in Saul's 
army. 

16, 17. — The three sons of the older daughter of Jesse were famous for 
their station among their uncle David's warriors, especially Joab. Amasa, 
son of the second daughter, was made captain of Absalom's forces when 
he rebelled, and was afterward slain by Joab in a most hypocritical 
manner. (II Sam. 20:4-13.) 

18-55. — These descendants of Hezron were prominent families in the 
tribe of Judah. Every true Hebrew was careful to keep his family 



328 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

descent. These records were useful for keeping track of the family 
relationships, and so of the family inheritance, which might be at any 
time redeemed, and which at all events went back at the year of jubilee 
(every fifty years) to the legal heirs. 

Ch. 3 :l-9. — Seventeen sons of David are here named, six born in Hebron 
and eleven after David made Jerusalem his capital. In this list of those 
born at Jerusalem for some reason the names of two are repeated. The 
word "nine" in verse 8 evidently refers to the nine names mentioned 
in verses G-8, but since two are repeated, only seven is to be added to the 
four named in verse 5, making eleven, which added to the six above makes 
seventeen in all. Seven wives are mentioned beside the mother or mothers 
of the last seven sons. Tamar was a full sister of Absalom. 

10-14. — From the days of David to the exile to Babylon is said in 
Matt. 1 to be fourteen generations. Counting both Solomon and Josiah, 
there were sixteen descendants of David on the throne after him. This 
covers the period in which the independence of the Hebrew nation lasted. 
Part of it (Israel) had already gone into captivity, the rest (Judah) 
was soon to go — all on account of sin. 

15-24. — After the death of Josiah the people made his son Jehoahaz 
king, but captivity began here, and after three months the king of Egypt 
took him captive and put the land under tribute. Another son of Josiah 
was put on the throne. He was finally conquered b} r Babylon, but 
rebelled, and after his death his son (Jehoiachin) reigned three months, 
and was carried captive to Babylon. "Now Zedekiah, a third son of Josiah, 
was put on the throne of Judah, and when he rebelled Jerusalem was 
destroyed and nearly the whole of Judah carried captive to Babylon. 
There the remainder of the descendants of Josiah were born, beginning 
with Salathiel. 

Ch. 4:1-23. — Some difficulty exists in tracing the royal line after this 
point. !No doubt Matthew's account in chapter 1 is correct, though it 
is very doubtful if he names all the links in the chain. No one can say 
that he pretends or attempts to do so, but simply names enough links to 
serve his purpose in showing the direct descent of Christ from David 
through the kings. It would be seen that this table is introduced here 
to name and trace his descent of persons who were prominent in the 
history of the chosen family. Jabez is honorably mentioned because of 
his great faith and the reward which it brought. Kenaz was the grand- 
father of Caleb, and from this name sprang the term Kenezite. 

24-43. — Simeon had his allotment of territory within the bounds of 
the territory of Judah. They seem to have been as a tribe negligent and 



I CHRONICLES. 329 

cowardly about possessing the territory allotted to tliem. "Some of the 
cities were never taken from, the Philistines until the conquest of David, 
when the Simeonitcs having forfeited all claim to them, David assigned 
them to his own tribe of Jndah. (I Sam. 27 :6.)" (J. F. B.) Thus the 
Simeonites, being crowded for room, went to Gedor, but were soon driven 
away and finally forced a settlement at Mount Seir. 

Ch. 5:1-10. — Reuben, the oldest son of Jacob, lost his birthright 
through his heinous sin (Gen. 35:22), and it was given to the house of 
Joseph. The birthright implied a double portion in the inheritance, and 
this was granted by taking both of Joseph's two sons and allowing them 
to share equally with the sons of Jacob. But the honor of the royal line 
was for some reason given to Judah, and from him came the Christ. 
Reuben at the close of the wilderness wandering settled east of the 
Jordan, in the land of Gilead. It was Reuben who prevented the angry 
brothers from killing Joseph when he came to them at Dothan. It was 
the descendants of Reuben who, when Saul and his sons were nailed to 
the wall at Beth-shan, went by night, took down the bodies of the 
children of the beloved baby Benjamin, and gave them burial. 

11-17. — Gad was the son of Leah's handmaiden, Zilpah. Verses 11-17 
give their genealogy, and locate them with Reuben, east of the Jordan. 

18-26. — The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, 
who settled east of the Jordan, had forty-four thousand seven hundred and 
sixty warriors, and putting their trust in God, as they ought, they 
completely conquered the dwellers in the land. The Manassites reached 
northward to Mount Hermon, and did well until they fell into the sins 
of the dwellers in the land, and were carried captive by the Assyrians. 

Ch. 6:1-15. — Verses 1-15 of chapter 6 give a line of the priests from 
Aaron to the captivity. The three sons of Levi were the heads of the 
three great families into which the tribe of Levi was divided. Pupils who 
have studied the book of Xumbers will recall that these divisions of the 
Levites, Gershomites, Kohathites and Merarites had charge of the taber- 
nacle in the wilderness. Aaron and Moses were the grandchildren of 
Kohath. It will be noticed that the line of high priests mentioned are 
descendants of Eleazer. It is said that from Uzzi down to Zadok the high 
priesthood was for some reason transferred to the family of Ithamar, and 
so it is likely that those mentioned in verses 6 and 7 never occupied the 
office. Eli, the high priest, belonged to the family of Ithamar. I Kings 
2 shows why the priesthood was transferred back to the house of Eleazar. 
The last of the family of Ithamar (Abiathar) .was put out of office by 
Solomon. (I Kings 2:26.) At that point ?adok took the priesthood. 



330 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

(Verse 8.) From Zadok to Seraiah (counting these both) makes twelve 
priests who officiated in Solomon's temple, then came the captivity and 
the temple's destruction. This book was probably written after the 
temple was rebuilt by consent of Cyrus. 

10-19. — The three sons of Levi mentioned in verses 1G-19 were prob- 
ably born before Jacob and his family went to Egypt, and their children 
mentioned here were doubtless born while the Israelites were in Egypt. 
About eight generations would be born during the stay there. 

20-30.— It is probable that the descendants of Gershom, verses 20 and 
21, and of Kohath (verse 22) to the eighth generation, and those of 
Merari, verses 29 and 30, were all born in Egypt. The list of Kohath, 
verses 22-28, are valuable as showing the descent of Samuel, the last 
judge of Israel. 

31-48. — David brought the ark to Jerusalem and put it in a tent. 
These three persons mentioned in verses 31-48, Heman of the Kohathites, 
a grandson of Samuel (verse 33) ; Asaph, a Gershomite, and Ethan, a 
Merarite, seemed to have charge of the singers of David's great choir. 
Other Levites were variously employed in the different departments of 
the tabernacle service. 

49-53. — It will be well remembered by those who have studied Exodus, 
Leviticus and Numbers that Aaron was set apart as high priest, his duty 
being to superintend all the offerings and other tabernacle services. His 
sons were priests Under his direction, but only the high priest was 
anointed. He only could go into the holy of holies, and certain privileges 
and prohibitions arc attached to him. When he died a successor was 
anointed. A list of Aaron's successors are mentioned here, as already 
noticed, the line of descent being given unbroken in order to show the 
genealogy. 

54-63. — The Kohathites who belonged to the family of Aaron were 
assigned thirteen cities within the territory of Judah and Benjamin. 
Eleven are named here, the other two in Josh. 21 :1G, 17. One of these 
cities was Hebron, a city of refuge. To the rest of the Kohathites were 
given ten cities in the territory of the half tribe of Manasseh, west of the 
Jordan. To the Gershomites were assigned thirteen cities in the terri- 
tories of Issachar, Asher, Tsaphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh east 
of the Jordan. To the Merarites twelve cities were assigned within the 
territories of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun. The exact cities which were 
given to the Kohathites are here named and located. They were chosen 
by lot. 

64-70. — Verses 64-70 are valuable simply for reference. 



I CHRONICLES 331 

71-76. — The cities of the Gershomites are named and located in verses 
71-76. 

77-81. — The cities of the Meraritcs are named and located in verses 
77-81. Many of these cities named in verses 64-S1 differ from the names 
given them in Josh. 21 :9-40. This difference is easily explained when 
we rememher that several centuries had at the time of this writing gone 
by since the days of Joshua, in which time much change would take 
place in dialect and pronunciation. 

Ch. 7:1-5. — Here the fact is brought out that the tribe of Issachar 
was notorious for polygamy. A notoriety for better things would have 
insured to them life and prosperity as a nation instead of the rottenness 
and decay and destruction to which they came. 

6-12. — Benjamin will be remembered as the tribe which was so nearly 
destroyed from Israel for their great crime (Judges 20). This enumera- 
tion was probably made in the days of David. 

13. — Naphtali was a son of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. His children were 
of course her grandchildren, but according to the Hebrew way of writing 
it, are called her sons. 

14-19. — It is contended by some authorities that the rendering of verse 
14 should be, "Ashriel whom his Assyrian concubine bare to him, and 
Machir, the father of Gilead" (whom his wife bare to him). 

20-29. — The incident mentioned in verse 21 happened while in Egypt. 
The Hebrew particle rendered "because" may with propriety be rendered 
when. It is thought that the men of Oath were the aggressors, and that 
"making a sudden foray on the Ephraimite flocks, killed the shepherds, 
including several of the sons of Ephraim." (J. F. B.) These last two 
tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, were the two sons of Joseph. 

30-40. — Asher was the son of Zilpah, Leah's maid. 

Ch. 8:1-40. — This chapter 8 gives a list of the Benjamites made up 
after the long captivity in Babylon. What of difference there is between 
these names and those given by Moses may be accounted for by the fact 
that many of the persons had more than one name. Sometimes also the 
word "son" is used for "grandson" or other more remote descendant. 
Many mentioned here were born in captivity. Ehud, verse 6, probably 
refers to the first judge of Israel. This table is valuable in leading up to 
the story of Saul, who was of this tribe. 

Ch. 9 :1. — The book of the kings of Israel refers to the official copies of 
the public records kept under the care of the kings. In these records was 
kept an entry of the name of every individual and the tribe and family to 
which he belonged. When the nation Israel was carried captive by the 



332 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Assyrians numbers of them took refuge in Judea and carried the public 
records with them. These records were kept with great care, for every 
Hebrew attached much importance to them. The tables in these chapters 
are made from the national records of both these nations. Private 
records were also kept by individuals who desired to preserve their 
pedigree. 

Verse 2 refers to the first exiles who returned after the captivity in 
Babylon. There were four classes — priests, Levites, Israelites, Nethinims 
— the last class being Canaanites or slaves taken in war, who were 
appointed by David and his successors to do the rougher work of the 
temple and so enable the Levites to take a higher position as the religious 
instructors of the people. After the first set of exiles returned it will be 
found later that others returned with Ezra, and still others with 
Nehemiah and others. 

Verses 3-9 give a list of the common people who settled in Jerusalem. 
It will be found in the study of some of the other books that certain 
ones were chosen by lot to dwell at Jerusalem. The others dwelt in 
various parts of the land. 

10-13. — Seventeen hundred and sixty priests are mentioned as among 
returned exiles. 

Verses 14-34 give a list of the returned Levites and their employ- 
ment. This list practically completes the record of Jewish descent from 
Adam to the return from captivity. 

35-44. — Now that the remainder of the book of I Chronicles may be 
introduced (the record of Saul's and David's reigns) this special table is 
given (verses 35-44) to specially call attention to the extraction of Saul, 
first king of Israel after the days of the judges. 

Ch. 10:1-7. — The events of Saul's kingship have been noticed in 
I Samuel. Here is noticed his last battle. His armor bearer was Doeg, 
who slew the priests at Nob by Saul's order. It has been noted as 
probable that Saul took from Doeg that same sword with which he had 
slain the eighty-five priests and fell upon it, and that afterward Doeg 
took the same sword and slew himself. 

8-10. — The Philistines carried about the head and armor of Saul and 
fastened the bodies of Saul and his sons to a wall in Beth-shan, a town 
west of the Jordan in the territory of Manasseh. 

11, 12. — The men of Jabcsh-gilcad were in the territory of Gad east 
of Jordan. 

13, 14. — Verses 13 and 14 show plainly why Saul was not continued as 



I CHRONTCLES. 333 

king of Israel. He had light, but he refused to walk in it, and obstinately 
closed his ears to all warning. 

Ch. 11:1-3. — Here the same story is told in almost exactly the same 
words as II Sam. 5:1-3. Ish-boshcth was dead, and all the tribes felt 
that David should be their king. This was David's third anointing, first 
by Samuel at David's boyhood home, second by the men of Judah imme- 
diately after Saul's death, while the other tribes held to Saul's son, third, 
by all the tribes /on the death of Ish-bosheth (II Sam. 4). 

4-9. — The incident of making Jerusalem the capital shows how Joab 
(the nephew of David) came to be David's chief warrior. He was a very 
brave and very successful warrior. The latter part of verse 8 shows that 
he also had good executive ability for business. David is nearly thirty- 
eight years old when he takes Jerusalem and moves the capital there. 
Before that he had reigned for seven and a half years over Judah in 
Hebron. It is not clear as to what Millo was, but what evidences there 
are leaves us free to infer that Millo was that part of the fortification 
of the city which was its stronghold, which led the Jebusites to say to 
David, "Our blind and lame can keep you out" (II Sam. 5:6). 

10-47. — The two men mentioned in verses 10-14 are mentioned in 
II Sam. 23:8-10. It is likely that they were under David's command 
when he had charge of Saul's army. The third one was Shammah (II 
Sam. 23 :11 ). It is supposed that the events of verses 11-14 occurred while 
David was in command of Saul's army. Brown says, "It is generally 
taken for granted that those who fought a way to the well of Bethlehem 
were the above three, but this is far from clear, and on the contrary it 
would seem that three different heroes are referred to, for Abishai (verse 
20) was one of them." It would seem that the second class were Abishai, 
Benaiah and Asahel. These composed the second degree of military 
rank. The third degree, of which men Asahel was chief, is the forty-eight 
persons named in verses 26-47. 

Ch. 12:1-22.— While David was in the Philistine town of Ziklag 
(1 Sam. 27) these Bcnjamites joined him. Men were constantly becom- 
ing dissatisfied with Saul's reign, and were more and more convinced of 
the justice of David's cause, and convinced that God was with him. 
Verses 8-15 tell of the Gadites who came from the country east of the 
Jordan to David while he was hiding in the wilderness. Verse 15 seems 
to indicate that their purpose was known and that they had to fight Saul's 
forces on both sides of the Jordan. When the Benjamites and Judaites 
came to David, and he was suspicious of their intent, the assurance of 
his nephew, Amasa, led him to reseive them with a warm welcome. The 



334 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Manassites, who came to David either just before or just after Saul's last 
battle, could plainly see that Saul's cause was a lost one, and that David 
was the hope of the Hebrew nation. Verse 21 is explained by the account 
of I Sam. 30. 

23-40. — The sum of all the warriors who came to Hebron to anoint 
David was nearly three hundred and forty thousand. A great feast was 
prepared, and the occasion was one of rejoicing throughout all Israel. 
This is the event referred to in the first theme of this lesson. The giving 
of the list of David's mighty men carried the thread of this narrative 
back to the time of David's exile. After naming some of those perilous 
days and speaking of the hosts which from time to time gathered to 
David, this event of the third anointing brings the thread of history back 
to the eighth year of David's reign at Hebron, after the murder of 
Ish-bosheth, and shortly before the moving of the capital to Jerusalem. 

Ch. 13:1-8. — Shortly after the taking of Jerusalem and the moving of 
the capital there, David arranges to have the ark brought there. It had 
been at Kirjath-jearim since the days when the Philistines sent it back 
on a cart drawn by two cows, in the days of the beginning of Samuel's 
judgeship. This town was a little northwest of Jerusalem. The neglect 
to put the ark in its proper place in the tabernacle and to make it the 
center of religious activity as commanded by Moses helped to account 
for that low condition in religion into which Israel had fallen through 
the three hundred years of the judges and the reign of Saul. David 
meant to remedy this, and to interest all Israel in the proposed reform 
he gathered and consulted with the leading men of all Israel. They 
heartily approved it, and so they began to move the ark. 

9, 10. — Strange it is that men so careful and zealous on some lines 
should be so careless in other matters. David utterly disregarded the law 
about carrying the ark. The priests should have carried it, but David 
put it on a new cart. The ox stumbled, the ark tottered, and Uzza, 
attempting to steady it with his hand, met sudden, relentless death. 

11-14. — David was startled and frightened. Whether or not he at once 
perceived the mistake he had made we are not told, but if he did not, 
someone would soon suggest it. Obed-edom was a Levite. The ark had 
been in the house of Abinadab in Gibeah, or Kirjath-jearim, since its 
return by the Philistines. 

Ch. 14:1. — At this time Tyre, on the coast, was flourishing under 
Hiram. This king was a great admirer of David, and volunteered to 
build' him a house, furnishing both the material and the workmen. 

2-7. — Here follows the same account as that of II Sam. 5:11-16. 



I CHRONICLES. 335 

David had entered the abomination of polygamy, and once begun it is 
very difficult to stop the infamy. 

8-17. — The two victories .over the Philistines are also described in 
II Sam. 5. The order of events given there show these victories to have 
been won before the ark was brought to Jerusalem, shortly after David 
had captured that stronghold. The sound in the mulberry trees was 
probably some sign by which God signified to David when to attack the 
enemy. 

Ch. 15:1-29. — David after three months' reflection not only under- 
stands how the ark ought to be moved, but is capable of making others 
understand it. Israel is again gathered together, a great company of 
priests detailed for the duty, and so in the act of putting the ark in its 
proper place before the Hebrew nation the Levites also were accorded 
their proper estimate and the Mosaic order of things pressed on the 
attention of the nation. 

Ch. 16:1. — David set up a special tent for the ark at Jerusalem. It 
is not known why he did not bring the tent which had been made in the 
wilderness. Some think it was because the people of Gibeon were 
unwilling to part with it. Others think he had no need of it since he 
intended building a better place. But it is altogether likely that in the 
long time since its construction the skins and woven material had by age 
become of little use, possibly had all been replaced by new stuff from time 
to time. 

2, 3. — David made the occasion memorable by treating the assembled 
multitude with food. There is no evidence in the original that David 
gave the people wine. I think those supplied words are wrongly supplied. 
The word rendered flagon were better rendered "a cake." 

These named in verses 4-6 were the leaders of song. They used cymbals 
and harps and trumpets to accompany the voice in the praise of God. 

7-36. — The psalm of praise here appointed for this first public service 
is found mostly in Psalms 96, 105 and 106. It may have been made by 
David for this occasion. It opens with thanksgiving to God (verses 8-11 ), 
and shows a reason for it in the marvelous leading of the Hebrew nation 
(verses 8-22). Again it declares for the praise of God, and discourses 
on his character (verses 23-27), calling upon all the earth, animate and 
inanimate, to render the glory due him (verses 28-33), and charging 
Israel to beseech divine help that they may continue in the fear and 
favor of the Lord (verses 34-36). 

37-43. — It can readily be seen here that David had a disposition to 
serve the Lord, for here he makes provision for the tabernacle for the 



336 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

first time since the days of Joshua. A great number of priests, singers 
and other tabernacle servants are now definitely provided for, who make 
it their business to attend the divine service. 

Cli. 17:1, 2. — It was worthy of David's devout spirit to conceive that 
the house of God ought to be not ouly a substantial building, but beau- 
tiful. Nathan, the prophet of that day, when spoken to about the matter, 
encouraged David to build such a temple. 

3-15. — But God had other plans. Immediately he appeared to Nathan 
with a message for David, telling him not to build the house. The 
language of verses 5-15 clearly indicate that God wanted the successful 
old warrior David to give all his attention and energies to thoroughly 
subduing all the enemies of Israel and compacting the Hebrew kingdom. 
Otherwise a temple such as was to be built at Jerusalem would not long 
be safe. Everything depended on a thorough subjugation of the land, 
and the latter part of verse 10 promises that a line of kings shall descend 
from David. Had the Hebrew nation kept the faith of David, banished 
their enemies and kept peace and pure religion, that kingdom and the 
temple would not have been destroyed. 

16-27. — David accepted the message with perfect good nature, and 
bursts out in praise to God for what he has done, and for the divine 
promise concerning David and his offspring, and prays earnestly that 
it may come to pass. Such a character as that made him the mighty 
David that he was. 

Ch. 18 :l-6. — Chapter 18 shows how David extended his kingdom. The 
Philistines on the southwest, the Moabites on the east, the kingdom of 
Zobah and the Assyrians northeast, were conquered and made a part of 
his kingdom. For hundreds of years since the days of Joshua, Israel 
had neglected to do this, and these enemies had been constantly rising 
to give trouble. David puts an end to all that now. There is no proof 
that David disabled the horses ; the translators have supplied that word. 
He probably destroyed all the war chariots except a few (one hundred) 
for himself. 

7-11. — The gold and the brass taken in these wars was set aside by 
David as material for the temple. David was not to be allowed to distract 
his attention by building it, but in a most devout spirit he collected the 
necessary means. 

12, 13. — David's general, Abishai, conquered Edom, southeast of 
Palestine. 

14-18. — Verse 14 shows something of the character of David. A few 



I CHRONICLES. 337 

of his chief officers are named here, and the fact stated that his sons were 
in responsible positions in the kingdom. 

Ch. 19:1-20-3. — This story of the Ammonites shows the character of 
that people. They were descendants of one of the sons of Lot by his 
daughter, and lived in the country of the Moabites largely. The money 
mentioned here amounted to about one million and a half dollars. The 
warriors of David were between the Ammonites and their hired help. 
Joab was to attack the stronger force and his brother the weaker one. The 
enemy fled, Jbut came back with a greater force, and then David went out 
against them and utterly crushed them. Joab was afterward sent into 
the territory of the Ammonites to utterly spoil it. Verse 3 of chapter 20 
should be rendered "put them to saws, etc.," i. e., he made slaves of them. 

4-8. — It was in these Philistine wars that David came near losing his 
life. At this time he was getting old and unfit for war. II Sam. 
21:16, 17. 

Cli. 21 :1-G. — Here we have a statement which does not appear in the 
account of this transaction in II Sam. 24. Satan was in this transaction. 
And he could not have been in it had Israel been following God as they 
ought. The whole context indicates a pride which had grown upon the 
nation as the military work of David grew more and more brilliant, until 
they were now on the point of leaving God out of their computation as 
they figured out the greatness to which they had come. David's order 
was only a crowning act growing out of the popular condition of mind. 
Joab seemed to see in it a snare to the people, and verse 6 indicates that 
he purposely slighted the work when he thought he dared. 

7-17. — David evidently knew better than to act the part which he did 
in the matter. Yerse 7 refers to the plague described in the following 
verses. David was at once shown that calamity was to follow. Gad, the 
seer here mentioned, is said to have joined David while David was in 
exile. When David saw the vision'of the destroying angel and the work 
he had done, he acknowledged his own responsibility in the matter and 
pleaded for the people. What he said of himself was true, but that did 
not lessen the responsibility of the people in the matter also. 

18-30. — The angel had orders at the threshing floor of Oman to stay 
his destructive work. Oman and his sons saw him there and were afraid. 
When King David came asking to buy the spot on which to build an altar 
Oman was ready to present it to him, but David rightly persisted, in 
paying for it. Reference to II Samuel will show that about thirty dollars 
was paid for the oxen and wooden instruments, while about five thousand 
dollars were paid for the site. This Mount Moriah, on which this 



338 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

threshing floor is situated, was outside the city at that time, and was the 
spot where Abram built the altar on which to offer Isaac. Afterward the 
temple was built here. It was peculiarly fitting. Here Isaac, the child 
of promise, was really offered by his father to that extent which made 
Abraham the father of the faithful. Here the temple was built whose 
daily offerings were a shadow of that great offering, faith in whom is 
set to our credit for justification. For that sacred spot it was right that 
David pay a price. In answer to David's prayer fire came from heaven and 
consumed the offering. It is most likely that Oman and his sons were 
converts to the Hebrew faith. 

Ch. 22:1-5. — Here is the account of David's careful preparations for 
the building of the temple. It is probable that the work referred to in 
verses 3 and 4 is some of the timer hewing and stone dressing elsewhere 
referred to as taking place under Solomon. Doubtless David took the 
opportunity while Solomon was associated with him on the throne to set 
the work going under Solomon's direction that he might the more easily 
continue it after David's death. 

6-16. — This charge to Solomon was made shortly before David's death. 
Having pushed the work as far as he himself could, using as workmen the 
remnant of the Canaanites and the war captives, he now calls for Solomon, 
and most likely in a public assembly, that the effect may be all the greater, 
charges him solemnly to make it his business, to build the temphrto the 
God of heaven, laying it upon him as a sacred duty as David's son and 
successor. Had Solomon kept the charge of verse 12 the future would 
have been different. The amount of precious metal mentioned in verse 
14 would be, of gold two billion six hundred and twenty-eight million 
dollars, and of silver one billion six hundred and forty-two million dollars. 

17-19. — David's charge to the princes reminds them of their happy 
condition and exhorts them with heartiness to serve the Lord. Here is a 
good index of David's general character. He had his fall, but he rose 
again, and we find him here at the end of his life a man of faith and 
exhorting others to faith. How different from most of the kings of 
Judah and Israel. 

Ch. 23:1. — The statement of chapter 23:1 is a sufficient explanation 
of all the preceding statements. Solomon was associated with his father 
on the throne, as explained in I Kings 1. Hence this charge to him and 
the princes of Israel. 

2-32. — At thirty years the Levite might enter the duties of his priestly 
office. All those who had come to that age were set to some religious 
duty. David's orchestra of four thousand would be a most impressive 



I CHRONICLES. 339 

company. x\ll these filling these different offices were arranged by courses 
so as to come on duty at regular intervals. The method of organization 
showed great ingenuity and skill on the part of David. As verse 24 
indicates, the Levites being no longer obliged to carry the tabernacle 
about, David reckoned them fit for the lighter service at an earlier age. 
These religions services instituted by David were most refreshing and 
useful. Compare them with the idolatrous rites of the later kings. 

Ch. 24:1-31. — The immediate descendants of the two sons of Aaron 
had charge of the more important duties pertaining to the tabernacle 
worship. The priests were divided into twenty-four groups or courses, 
and each group served in its turn. The priest had charge of the slaying 
and putting upon the altar of the daily offerings. 

Ch. 25:1-31. — The musicians had as leaders the twenty-four sons of 
the chief musicians. Asaph had four sons, Heman fourteen and Jeduthun 
six. It is likely that these two hundred and eighty-eight were leaders 
of that immense orchestra, the two hundred and eighty-eight being 
divided into twenty-four companies of twelve each. If the orchestra 
was divided similarly there would be nearly two hundred players on duty 
at once, presided over by the twelve leaders. 

Ch. 26:1-19. — The porters mentioned were a sort of military guard 
about the tabernacle to defend it against any violence and properly 
protect its treasures. There were in all four thousand of them, divided 
into courses similar to the singers. 

20-28. — Such a vast array of gold, silver and other valuables would 
require a large number of responsible men to properly care for it. There 
would of necessity be a chief of these treasurers, so that in their official 
duties they might act in concert and to the best advantage. These 
treasures were those that had been set aside as belonging to the house of 
the Lord and its worship. 

29-32.— One part of these officers and judges gave attention to the 
affairs of the government in its relation to the people, another part to the 
religious duties of the people and their obligations to the king. Of the 
latter group there were two divisions, one for the country west of the 
Jordan and another for that east of the Jordan. 

Ch. 27:1-15. — These captains mentioned refer to David's standing 
army. Throughout his reign he had a military force of twenty-four 
thousand men from each tribe. Each one of these twelve legions served 
a month in its turn and then went back to their private duties. In case 
of necessity the whole twelve legions could be summoned, making an army 
of two hundred and eighty-eight thousand men. By this simple system 



340 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

David was able to keep an effective military force without proving a 
burden to the nation. Had Solomon given more of David's kind of 
attention to such methods his reign would not have proved the burden 
that it did to Israel. 

1G-22. — The tribe rulers were civil rulers. For some unexplained 
reason Gad and Asher do not appear on the list, but two are named for 
the tribe of Manasseh, two for the tribe of Levi, and since the counting 
of Ephraim makes another extra for the descendants of Joseph, these 
rulers, had Gad and Asher been counted, would have been fifteen in 
number. 

23, 24. — Those under twenty years of age were not counted. It was the 
fighting strength of Israel which was being sought for. In course of the 
work of numbering, the evidence of the divine wrath began to be so plain 
that Joab had a good excuse for slighting the work, and David ere long 
was only too glad to abandon it. 

25-34. — The treasurer mentioned in verse 25 had charge of David's 
[private treasures. The other officers here mentioned had charge of his 
various private enterprises. He set the people a good example in doing 
himself what he encouraged them to do. 

Ch. 28:1-8. — No brighter picture could be drawn than that of verses 
1-8. Here was a mighty king who was not ashamed to be religious before 
all the mighty men of his kingdom, even though they all knew David to 
be a man who had grievously fallen. He could not be. kept down. 
Because he was willing to confess his error and look to God for for- 
giveness he rose again, and here he stands before all his great men 
charging them in view of all his own experience to faithfully keep 
God's commandments. (Compare him with Saul or Ahab.) David has 
the good of his people at heart, and his advice is for the lasting good of 
Israel. 

9, 10. — In precisely the same strain- he exhorts Solomon, his successor. 
Had Solomon taken and kept the advice of a man of such a character 
as David displayed his reign might have been one of the greatest successes 
of history. The language of verses 9 and 10 are worthy of being com- 
mitted, to memory. David was not afraid 1o try again even though he 
had once been a failure. Doubtless this exhortation was given in the 
hearing of all the people. 

11-21. — It is not generally remembered that from a human standpoint 
David was the architect of the temple of Solomon. Solomon made it 
according to David's plans. The language of the Hebrew of verse 12 is, 
"The pattern of all that was with him in spirit," i. c., all that was 



I CHRONICLES. 341 

formulated in his mind. Verse 19 indicates that these suggestions were 
the Lord's doings, and David's formulating them in writing showed that 
the Lord's hand was upon him. 

Ch. 29:1-5. — The appeal of David to the people was a most effective 
one because he set the example. Describing the proposed work in a most 
pleasing manner, he showed what he himself would do for it as a man, 
over and above what he had done as a king. 

6-9. — Stirred by this address and encouraged by this example these 
prominent men of Israel gave largely to make the king's beautiful picture 
of the temple a reality. The most valuable and beautiful of all the things 
they could find were put in the temple, so that it became the pride of the 
Hebrew nation and wonder of the world. 

10-21. — The public praise and the public prayer was a fitting end of 
all this great public service. It had brought prominently before the 
public mind the great temple scheme of David, had called attention to 
what David had done, and insured general interest by having every 
prominent Hebrew subscribe to the enterprise. Solomon had been 
charged in their hearing, they had been charged to help Solomon, and all 
were assured that God was demanding of them this service, and that 
obedience to him was the condition of safety and national prosperity. 
At the close of the rejoicing which followed, David poured forth his soul 
in praise and prayer (verses 10-19), and the people worshiped and a 
great service of sacrifice was held. 

22-25. — Now before representatives of all the nation Solomon was put 
upon the throne and received due recognition. He had for some time 
(since the attempt of Adonijah) been associated with David. Now David 
puts him in his room, and pratically retires from kingly duties. 

26-30. — The long reign of David thus ends well, and in spite of all his 
faults he goes hence to be written a man after God's own heart, a king 
of whom the Hebrews had reason to be proud, an inspiration to the whole 
human family, 



II CHRONICLES. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-6 Solomon's offerings at Gibeon 
7-12 His choice of wisdom. God's commendation. 
13-17 The splendor of his reign. 

Chapter 2. 

1, 2 Solomon's laborers for the temple. 
3-10 His message to Hiram. 
11-16 Hiram's reply. 
17,18 Nationality of the laborers. 

Chapter 3. 

1, 2 Date of the beginning of the temple. 
3-10 Dimensions and finish of the building. 
11-13 Description of the cherubim. 

14 Description of the veil. 
15-17 Description of the pillars. 

Chapter 4. 

1 Size of the altar for burnt offerings. . 
2-5 The molten sea. 

6 The ten lavers and their use. 
7, 8 The ten candlesticks, ten tables and the bowls. 
9, 10 The courts. Placing of the sea. 
11-18 The articles made by Hiram. Place. 
19-22 The articles made of gold. , 

Chapter 5. 

1-10 Bringing of the ark io the temple. Its contents. 
11-14 The praise. The cloud. 

Chapter 6. 

1,2 Solomon's declaration. 

3 His benediction. 
4-11 Praise for Cod's fulfillment of his promise. 
12-42 Solomon's dedicatory praver. 



II CHRONICLES. 843 

Chapter 7. 

1-3 The fire from heaven. The glory of the Lord. 

4-7 The sacrifices. 
8-11 The feast. 
12-22 God's promise and warning to Solomon. 

Chapter 8. 

1-6 Solomon's city building. 
7-10 The Gentile slaves. 
11 Solomon's wife. Pharaoh's daughter. 
12., 13 The regular offerings. 
14-16 The courses of temple officers. 
17, 18 Solomon's navy. 

Chapter 9. 

1-12 Visit of the queen of Sheba. 
13, 14 Solomon's foreign income. 

15-28 The riches and splendor of Solomon's court. His wisdom. 

29-31 Solomon's death. 

Chapter 10. 

1-5 Request of Israel of Rehoboam at Shechem. 
6-15 His answer. 
16-19 Revolt of the ten tribes. 

Chapter 11. 

1-4 Rehoboam's army. God's order. 
5-12 Rehoboam's fortified cities. 
13-17 The gathering of Israelites to Judah. 
18-23 Rehoboam's polygamy. His family. 

Chapter 12. 

1 Rehoboam's open apostasy. 
2-12 God's punishment by Egypt. I 

13-16 Rehoboam's reign and death. 

Chapter 13. 

1-14-1 Abijah, second king of Judah (3 years). 
1-3 War between Judah and Israel. 
4-12 Abijah's address to Israel. 
13-20 The defeat of Israel. 
21-14-1 Family of Abijah. His death. 



344 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 14. 

2-16-14 Asa, third king of Judah (41 years). 
2-5 Character of his reign. 
6-8 His public improvements. 
9-15 His victory over Ethiopia. 

Chapter 15. 

1-7 Azariah's prophecy. 
8-15 Asa's covenant with God. 
16, 17 Rebuke of his mother's idolatry. 
18, 19 His care for the temple. 

Chapter 16. 

1-6 His trouble with Baasha. Asa's blunder. 
7-9 Hanani rebukes Asa. 
10 Asa's anger and retaliation. 
11, 12 Asa's disease. 
13, 14 His death. 

Chapter 17. 

1-20-37 Jehoshaphat, fourth king of Judah (25 years). 
1-6 Character of his reign. 
7-9 His school of the law. 
10, 11 Regard of the surrounding nations. 
12-19 Jehoshaphat's greatness. His chief men. 

Chapter 18. 

1-3 His league with Ahab. 
4-11 The lying prophets of Israel. 
12-22 Prophecy of Micaiah. 
23-27 His shameful treatment. 
28-34 Result of the battle. 

Chapter 19. 

1-3 Reproof of Jehoshaphat by the prophet Jehu. 

4 His regard for the people. 

5-7 His charge to the judges. 

8-11 His supreme court. 



II CHRONICLES 345 

Chapter 20. 

1, 2 Gathering of enemies against Judah. 
3-13 Jehoshaphafs fast. His prayer. 
14-17 Prophecy of Jahaziel. 
18, 19 Praise of the king and people. 
20-25 Destruction of the enemy. 
26-30 Keturn and joy of Judah. Its effect. 

31-34 Statement of Jehoshaphat's reign. * 

35-37 His league with Ahaziah. Its result. • i 

Chapter 21. 
1-20 Jehoram, fifth king of Judah (8 years). 
1-7 Character of his reign. 
8-10 Eevolt of Edom and Libnah. 
1 1 Idolatry of Jehoram. 
12-15 Elijah's letter to the king. 
1G-20 Fulfillment of the prophecy. 

Chapter 22. 

1-9 Ahaziah, sixth king of Judah (1 year). 

1-4 Character of his reign. 

5-9 Manner of bis death. 
10-12 Usurpation of Athaliah. 

Chapter 23. 

1-21 Jehoiada's restoration of the kingdom and worship. 
Chapter 24. 
1-27 Joash, seventh king of Judah (40 years). 
1-3 Character of his reign. 
4-14 Repair of the temple. 
15,16 Death of Jehoiada. 
17-22 Apostasy of Judah. Their outrages. 
23-27 God's judgment. 
Chapter 25. ] 

1-28 Amaziah, eighth king of Judah (29 years). 
1-4 Character of his reign. 
5-10 Incident of the hired army of Israel. 
11, 12 Victory over Seir. 

13 Devastation of the army of Israel. 
14-16 Idolatry of the king. God's warning. 
17-24 War against Israel. 
25-28 Death of Amaziah. 



346 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 26. 
1-23 TTzziah, ninth king of Judah (52 years). 

1-15 His character, works and prosperity. 
16-21 His apostasy, sacrilege and leprosy. 
22, 23 His death. 

Chapter 27. 

1-9 Jotham, tenth king of Judah (16 years). 

Chapter 28. 
1-27 Ahaz, eleventh king of Judah (16 years). 
1-4 Character of his reign. 
5-15 Punishment. 
16-25 His appeal to Assyria. Closing of the temple. 
26, 27 His death. 

Chapter 29. 

1-32-33 Hezekiah, twelfth king of Judah (29 years). 
1, 2 Character of his reign. 
3-11 His order to cleanse the temple.^ 
12-19 Execution of the work. 
20-36 The king's sacrifice. Result. 

Chapter 30. 

1-12 His invitation of Israel to a Passover. 
13-27 The Passover feast. 

Chapter 31. 

1 Destruction of idolatry. 
2-21 Re-establishment of the tithing system. 

Chapter 32. 

1 Coming of Assyrians against Judah. 
2-8 Defense of Hezekiah. 
9-19 Siege of Jerusalem. Message of Sennacherib. 
20-23 Prayer of Hezekiah and Isaiah. Its answer. 
24-26 Hezekiah's sickness. His pride. 
27-30 His riches and prosperity. 

31 His mistake. 
32, 33 His death. 



II CHRONICLES 347 

Chapter 33. 
1-20 Manasseh, thirteenth king of Judah (55 years). 
1-10 Character of his reign. 
11 Kesult. 
12-17 His repentance. 
18-20 His death. 
21-25 Amon, fourteenth king of Judah (2 years) . 
Chapter 34. 

1-35-27 Josiah, fifteenth king of Judah (31 years). 
1-7 Character of his reign. His reforms. 
8-13 Repair of the temple. 

14-28 The law found. The king's inquiry of the Lord. Answer. 
29-33 The king's covenant. 
Chapter 35. 

1-19 Josiah's Passover. 
20-27 Death of Josiah. Jeremiah's lamentation of him. 
Chapter 36. 

1-3 Jehoahaz, sixteenth king of Judah (3 months). 
4-8 Eliakim, seventeenth king of Judah (11 years). (Jehoiakim.) 
9, 10 Jehoiachin, eighteenth king of Judah (3 months). 
11-21 Zedekiah, nineteenth king of Judah (11 years). 
11-13 Character of his reign. 
14-16 Character of the people. 
17-21 Punishment. 
22, 23 Proclamation of Cyrus. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-6. — The old tabernacle which Moses had built in the wilderness 
was yet at Gibeon, and the young King Solomon in his determination 
and zeal to serve God conceived that it would be a helpful thing to take 
his chief men and make a great season of sacrifice at the same altar at 
which Moses sacrificed when this law was given at Mount Sinai. It 
would bring vividly before their minds the whole history of the law and 
renew in the minds of the people all the facts about the making of this 
new nation Israel. The ark had been taken to Jerusalem by David, and 
was there in a tent which had been erected for it. 

7-12. — The request of Solomon for wisdom was a sincere one. He was 
young and doubtless had been well trained. He felt his lack of maturity, 
and knew that he might make fatal mistakes without being able to detect 



348 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

them. The blunders we make without recognizing are the most trouble- 
some of all. The latter clause of verse 8 was spoken not because no 
other king of Israel needed such wisdom, but because no other king 
would, like Solomon, seek for it. Our needs may not be regarded unless 
our asking and our faith are in line with them. 

13-17. — The splendor of Solomon's reign was a verification of the 
[promise of verse 12. But this picture has a dark side. Solomon went 
beyond the bounds of propriety, so that, as will appear later, his reign 
became a burden to the people. Deut. 17:14-20 gives rules which, had 
they been followed, would have made the reign of this king a thing of joy 
as well as a thing of splendor. But he did multiply horses and he did 
multiply wives, with the result that when he died that splendid kingdom 
gained by the old warrior David was ready to drop to pieces, and did so. 
Solomon did not realize that the fear of the Lord is the foundation of 
all wisdom. 

Ch. 2 :1, 2. — Solomon now begins the great work for which he had 
been especially consecrated. One hundred and fifty-three thousand six 
hundred men were engaged in the getting out of timber for this splendid 
temple which had been planned by David. 

3-10. — Solomon sends to Hiram for an overseer who is able to take 
charge of the various details. He wanted a substantial house in which 
to keep up the worship of God through all the years to come. By com- 
paring I Kings 5:11 it will be found that in addition to the supply of 
food and drink here mentioned for these laborers of Hiram, that Solomon 
sent a yearly supply of wine and oil for Hiram's court, probably as a 
return for the timber which Hiram gave to Solomon. 

11-16. — The man which Hiram sent to Solomon was a descendant of 
a woman of Dan and a man of Tyre. Hiram's reply to Solomon was a 
written message. 

17, 18. — Here it will be seen that this one hundred and fifty-three 
thousand six hundred laborers were not Israelites, but the other nation- 
alities which were left in the land. Probably all the original tribes of 
the land were represented in this company of workmen. 

Ch. 3 :1, 2. — The exact place on Mount Moriah where the temple stood 
no one knows. The building began in the second month of the.fourth 
year and was completed in the eighth month of the eleventh year, being 
seven and one-half years in building. The other name of Oman was 
Araunah. 

3-10. — It is undecided whether the cubit here mentioned was eighteen 
or twenty-one inches. The first seems more likely. The length and 



II CHRONICLES. 349 

breadth was twice that of the old wilderness tabernacle, about ninety feet 
lon# and thirty feet wide. The finish of the building inside was that of 
the purest gold. Kitts thinks verse means that he paved the house 
with precious and beautiful marble, but the language may refer to beau- 
tiful variegated stones placed in the walls for ornaments. 

11-13. — The cherubim were made of olive wood and overlaid with gold. 
Just what position they occupied it would be impossible to determine. 
Many conjectures are made. Their object seemed to be to screen the ark 
with their wings. 

14. — The veil of verse 14 was to hang between the holy place and the 
holy of holies. 

15-17. — The two pillars mentioned are supposed to be some forty feet 
high and eighteen feet in circumference. They were richly ornamented, 
and formed the entrance to the temple. The two words, Jachin and Boaz, 
are about equivalent to "strength" and "permanence." 

Ch. 4 :1. — The altar of burnt offerings would be some thirty feet long 
and broad and fifteen feet high. Of course it would be approached by 
flights of steps. 

2-5. — The molten sea is here said to hold three thousand baths (about 
twenty-two thousand gallons). The two thousand baths mentioned in 
I Kings 7 :2G is the amount supposed to have been commonly kept in 
the vessel. 

G. — The lavers were for washing the sacrifices. The sea was for the 
priests to wash in. 

7, 8. — The ten lamp stands would be needed to give light in this large 
structure, and Hie ten tables also would be needed to hold the large 
amount of shewbread which would be stored there for the large number 
of priests which would be employed about this new temple. The bowls 
would be necessary for use at these tables. 

9, 10. — The sea was set between the altar of burnt offerings and the 
temple porch. 

11-18. — As already explained in I Kings 7, the workmen of Hiram 
made these brass castings on the cast side of the Jordan River, where the 
clay soil was specially favorable for the work. 

19-22. — The number or articles here mentioned which were made of 
gold, together with the fact that the most of the inside of the building 
was overlaid with gold, shows what a magnificent and costly interior the 
temple possessed. The effect would be brilliant and awe inspiring beyond 
description. 

Ch. 5:1-10. — The work being finished, Solomon now assembles all 



350 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

Israel and brings the ark of the covenant out of the tent where David put 
it, to its place in the new temple under the wings of the cherubim. It 
was a great day for the Hebrew nation. It is not certain that the ark 
ever contained anything save the two tables of the law here named. The 
articles mentioned elsewhere as in the ark are supposed to have been kept 
in a chest which stood by the ark. 

11-14. — As described in I Kings 8:10, 11, at the dedication of the 
temple God manifested himself to the people in a cloud, just as he did 
when Moses dedicated the tabernacle in the wilderness, thus showing 
his pleasure in the building to him a house of worship. 

Ch. 6:1, 2. — This declaration of Solomon prepares the way for what 
follows. It is a fitting introduction to the dedicatory service which was 
to follow. It was meant of course not a house to contain the God of 
heaven, but a headquarters of the nation where God would manifest 
himself to those who were accustomed to assemble there. 

3. — The service opens with the benediction. 

Verses 4-11 explain themselves. The solemn charge which David had 
laid upon Solomon had been faithfully discharged, and in this full view 
of the consummation of the enterprise Solomon thanks God publicly for 
the great privilege of carrying out this expressed will of God. 

Verses 12-42 is that remarkable prayer of Solomon elsewhere analyzed. 
You could make no mistake in committing that prayer. (See I Kings 
8:22-53.) It would become, perhaps, the spiritual ballast of a lifetime. 
In this case Solomon used a pulpit or platform erected for the occasion. 

Ch. 7:1-3. — When God answered the prayer and the fire fell upon the 
sacrifice the effect upon the people was overpowering. The people were 
on their faces upon the ground and the priests could not enter the temple. 

4-7. — The entire middle of the court was made a place of sacrifice. 
The altar could not contain all that the people were minded to offer at 
this time, so extra places of offering had to be put up in the court for the 
occasion. It was a great day for Israel. 

8-11. — The feast here mentioned would be the feast of tabernacles 
(I Kings 8:2), corresponding to our September — October. The twenty- 
third day of the month would be the last day of the feast of tabernacles. 

12-22. — Now Solomon is faithfully promised the good for which he 
has been asking on condition that the people keep his commandments, 
but solemnly warned of what will be the consequence if the king or his 
people turn away from God. In spite 'of all, Solomon and the whole 
nation turned from God. 



II CHRONICLES. 351 

Ch. 8. — Verses 1-6 give a list of the cities which Solomon built or 
repaired. 

Verses 7-10 show the distinction which Solomon made between his 
own people and the strange nations of which remnants were left among 
them. 

11. — But in spite of all his wisdom and the warnings of the law, verse 
11 shows where Solomon's fall began. 

Even the regular services of verses 12 and 13 did not avail to stay the 
tide of apostasy induced by the act of verse 11 and similar acts. 

Verses 14-16 indicate that David had given directions concerning all 
this work and the divisions of the priests. Solomon followed directions. 

17, 18. — Solomon's intimacy with Hiram led to the establishment of 
the navy. Hiram's people were a sea-going people, and by joining with 
him Solomon developed a large force of ships for foreign trade. 

Ch. 0:1-12. — As to where the queen of Sheba reigned no satisfactory 
knowledge is to be had. 

13, 14. — The stupendous prosperity of Solomon from year to year no 
doubt helped him to forget God when it ought to have helped him to 
remember. Too often prosperity proves to be a curse. 

Verses 15-28 tell of what the world called prosperity. It proved to be 
adversity to Solomon and all his nation. Less of riches and more of 
attention to God's laws would have insured the prosperity of king and 
people. 

29-31. — Solomon died after having reigned forty years. Verse 29 tells 
of other books which have not come down to us. 

Ch. 10:1-5. — The request of the people of Rehoboam was a most 
reasonable one. Verse 4 shows that Solomon did not regard the people 
as he ought. 

6-15. — The answer of Rehoboam was an insult to the people, and it cost 
him the greater part of his kingdom. This incident alone shows that 
Solomon's' son had received poor training, and was wholly destitute of 
religious principle. 

16-19. — Rehoboam probably did not know the real temper of the people 
until he came to collect taxes. Then he learned that the greater part of 
the kingdom left him by Solomon was no longer his. 

Ch. 11:1-4. — Rehoboam determined to whip the ten tribes into sub- 
jection. One hundred and eighty thousand warriors was a mighty army, 
and might have worked great ruin had not God forbidden any war. This 
prophet who brought the word of God to Rehoboam will be heard from 
again in the next chapter. 



352 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

5-12. — The zeal which he showed in building cities to defend the nation 
was commendable. Israel had now become a foe to Judah, and the king 
was moved to fortify cities to protect against Israel, just as Israel was 
doing to protect against Judah. 

13-17. — Here was a great exodus from the kingdom of Israel to Judah. 
Jeroboam in his attempt to make sure that, by his people going three 
times a year to Jerusalem to worship, as the law demanded, they should 
not be won back to Judah, set up his idolatry, and when the Levites and 
true men of faith refused to have part in that, he expelled them, and they 
took refuge in Judah. Such an exodus weakened the kingdom of Israel 
immeasurably, and strengthened Judah as much. No wonder Israel was 
destroyed so long before Judah. 

18-23. — Solomon's abominable example was followed by his son. 
Polygamy has cursed everything it has ever touched. David suffered 
from it; Solomon was led astray by it, and we need hardly expect that 
with it Rehoboam would be other than a miserable, idolatrous failure. 
His polygamy was a direct violation of the law of God and man and 
common decency. 

Ch. 12:1. — Like most men, Eehoboam was entirely spoiled by place 
and power and prosperity. For three years he had encouraged the true 
religion. The prosperity it brought him proved ruinous, for the ease and 
decline into which he fell led to his open apostasy in the fourth year, and 
the ver}' next year Egypt was sent against him. 

2-12. — Here was a sorry spectacle. This chosen nation which had 
gone out of Egypt carrying along the wealth of the land now must be 
humbled by those old oppressors, the Egyptians. What would Moses and 
Joshua have said to this? How could it have happened in the time of 
David ? The temple was despoiled of much of its wealth and Judah made 
a sort of tributary to Egypt. 

13-16. — The lesson which God sent to Rehoboam by the Egyptians was 
disregarded. "None are so blind as they who do not wish to see." The 
king had repented, so God changed his purpose about destroying Jeru- 
salem, but now instead of turning to the Lord and keeping his command- 
ments, he showed his mean character by pleading for and accepting divine 
care and protection and then turning his back on God. He showed clearly 
his Ammonite origin. Judah so sinned that God intended to visit great 
wrath upon them. They repented, and God changed his purpose. Then 
they took advantage of God's indulgence to sin again. Verse 15 shows 
that there was continual trouble between the two kingdoms. 

Ch. 13:1-3. — Now Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, raises an immense 



II CHRONICLES. 353 

army to go against Israel.' Israel on the other hand raises one twice as 
large. 

4-12. — The address of Abijah to the army of Israel was pointed and in 
the main correct. Jeroboanr and his kingdom had become abominably 
corrupt. True, Rehoboam was responsible for the revolt, as were also 
the sins of Solomon. This address took place on a hill near Bethel. 

13-20. — While this address was going on Jeroboam sent a detachment 
of his army behind the army of Abijah, and attacked it both in front and 
rear. The crying of the Judaitcs to the Lord and the sounding of the 
trumpets (which was God's pledge of help, Num. 10 :9) roused the spirits 
of the army of Judah, and they slew five hundred thousand Israelites. 
Probably this same token caused a panic among the Israelites. This 
crushing defeat of Jeroboam was simply an execution of the calamities 
threatened him for his sins. He did not die, however, until two years 
after Abijah. 

21-14-1. — In spite of the great speech to the Israelites professing 
loyalty to God, Abijah was a filthy polygamist, and so was himself a 
continuous breaker of God's law. I Kings 15 :3 shows that he was an evil 
king, and so his professed loyalty to God would call forth only contempt 
from Israel on that occasion. He had twenty-two sons and sixteen 
daughters. 

2-5. — Asa, one of these twenty-two sons, had evidently been carefully 
brought up. He was a good man, and faithful to God. The great battle 
which had been lately fought between Judah and Israel gave quiet to the 
country, and Asa gave his attention to destroying idolatry in his kingdom. 
AYhat a quiet, restful picture is this. 

6-8. — Asa also gives attention to the strengthening of the kingdom 
against the day of need. Five hundred and eighty thousand men were 
made ready for war in case of future need. But had he given more 
attention to instructing the people in the law of God it would have been 
n far more certain defense to the nation. 

9-15. — Authorities suppose that these were not Ethopians from south 
ol the Nile cataracts, but Arabian Ethiopians — wandering tribes. The 
battle took place in the southern part of Judah. Gerar was one of the 
dwelling places of the patriarch* Isaac. The Judcans took a great amount 
of spoil. 

Ch. 15:1-7.— The prophecy of Azariah was a strong commendation of 
Asa's course in looking to God for help. Benjamin clung to Judah in the 
separation. 

8-15. — Verse 8 shows that idolatrv was in the midst of the nation and 



354 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

kept lifting its slimy, snaky head, having constantly to be watched and 
put down. King Asa repaired the temple porch, gathered his people, 
offered sacrifices to God, and made a covenant with all the people that 
whoever would not serve the Lord should be put to death. Many came 
from Israel to Judah when they saw how Judah prospered. 

16-17. — Even his mother was degraded from her station because she 
had been guilty of idolatry. The idolatry in the royal household was the 
curse of the nation. It made it very difficult to banish from the people. 
Verse 17 indicates that these high places (groves for idolatrous worship) 
which Asa had once destroyed kept springing tip in spite of his vigilance. 
Asa meant to do right, but there were enemies in his own household. 

18, 19. — Asa's care for the house of God showed the general trend of 
his character. Had he always sought diligently to God for direction he 
need not have made some blunders which he did later. 

Ch. 16:1-6. — Biblical critics think this thirty-sixth year was calculated 
from the separation of the kingdoms, and that this event occurred in the 
sixteenth year of Asa's reign. The great number of Israelites who were 
coming to Judah led the king of Israel to make a military station at 
Raman, six miles from Jerusalem, a point which the people must pass on 
the road to Judah, so that he might stop the flow in that direction. Now 
Asa makes his great blunder. Instead of looking to the Lord for help, 
he sends and hires the Syrians to fight Israel, so as to draw their attention 
away from Judah and stop the building. While the king of Israel was 
thus diverted Asa destroyed the work at Ramah and used it to fortify 
two cities for himself near Jerusalem. 

7-9. — The rebuke of the Lord's prophet ought to have been taken to 
heart by a man like Asa. The prophet intimates that both Syria and 
Israel would have been delivered into the hand* of Asa had he relied 'on 
God, but that now the gift from the temple to Syria would rouse Syria's 
avarice and the act would make Israel only a more bitter enemy, and give 
him future trouble with both, instead of having both delivered into his 
hand and made powerless to molest him in future. 

10. — But Asa fell from his royal dignity and went into a rage. Who 
else he punished besides this seer and how, we are not told. 

11, 12. — The disease mentioned is thought to have been gout. The 
physicians of those days were generally Egyptian charm doctors, prac- 
tising incantations and magic. Such senseless quackery was a shame to 
a man of God, yet such were often employed about royal courts. 

13, 14. — It is shown here that Asa prepared a sepuleher for himself in 
Jerusalem. Whether the burning mentioned refers to the burning of 



II CHRONICLES. 355 

spices or the cremation of the corpse it is impossible to say, but the former 
is far more probable. 

Ch. 17:1-6. — Jehoshaphat was also a good king. He followed up the 
work his father Asa had begun. He copied after David (verse 3). 
He destroyed the worship of idols. 

7-9. — His school for instructing the people in the law was the first 
systematic attempt of the kind of which we have any record, and no 
greater work could have been done to insure the perpetuity of the nation. 
Had that work been continued Judah never would have fallen. 

10, 11. — The teaching of the people produced immediate fruits. 
Respect and fear at once began to be shown to Judah b} r all the 
surrounding nations. Along with that respect came presents. 

12-19. — Jehoshaphat's greatness was a mighty comment. Why was 
Judah so blind and foolish as not to continue so valuable a line of work ? 
He was the greatest king as to his resources since the days of Solomon. 

Ch. 18 :l-3. — Now Jehoshaphat makes the mistake of his life in joining 
with the abominable Ahab. This identical story has been given in I Kings 
22. Jehoshaphat wanted the word of the Lord back of what he did. (But 
why did he not seek it in regard to joining with Ahab?) Ahab called 
Micaiah under protest. 

4-27. — The lying imp, Zedekiah, who had tried to make a great 
impression with his iron horns, resorted to the argument of blows when 
this prophet of the Lord exposed his hypocrisy. Verse 24 was a sharp 
retort, and would furnish material for future thought on the part of 
Zedekiah. Ahab tries to vent his spleen upon the prophet by putting him 
in prison, but the prophet's final crushing shot showed no fear. 

28-34. — Ahab was slain, as he deserved to be. Only the policy of the 
battle (verse 30) saved Jehoshaphat from fatal results of his evil 
company. 

Ch. 19:1-3. — Jehoshaphat was rebuked by the prophet Jehu when he 
returned to Jerusalem for the evil company he had been connected with. 
Verse 2 was a most stinging rebuke, and but for verse 3 would have been 
crushing. 

4. — Possibly the experience of the above made the king all the more 
diligent to help the people, as recorded in verse 4. 

Verses 5-7 are fully in line with verse 4. The masses should be 
instructed, and those in authority commanded as in verses 6 and 7, and 
immediately deposed and punished if they do not obey. No authority 
should be allowed to command other than righteously. 

8-11. — The supreme court of Judaism consisted of representatives 



356 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

from Levit.es, priests and chiefs of the fathers. The king arranges and 
sets this court to its function, charging it similarly, to be just, and do 
its work in the fear of God. 

Ch. 20:1, 2. — The old enemies of Israel now rise again. Moab and 
Amnion were the two children of Lot by his daughters after the destruc- 
tion of Sodom. 

3-13. — The king's fast and prayer was indicative of the true faith. He 
was in earnest. He accorded to God the power and pleaded the promises. 

14-17. — The prophecy of Jahaziel was God's assurance to the king and 
his people that all would go well. The Lord gives instructions about how 
to proceed. 

18, 19. — The public praise on the part of the king and his people was 
comely. It showed faith. It inspired all Judea with hope and confidence. 
It called attention to God as the protection of Israel. 

20-25. — The Judeans went out against the enemy not as a fighting 
army, but as a triumphal procession. In just what way the enemy were 
turned against each other we are not told, but they destroyed one another 
and left Judah the work of gathering the spoils. 

26-30. — Berachah means "benediction." Such a method of having 
victory would have the effect of throwing into a panic the surrounding 
nations and insuring peace to Jehoshaphat. 

31-34. — Certain high places would be retained in spite of all the king's 
vigilance, because many of the people were vile idolaters. 

35-37. — This league with a wicked king was a disgrace to Jehoshaphat. 
About some things he learned wisdom slowly. The prophet foretold the 
disaster to the ships, and it happened as he foretold. 

Ch. 21 :l-7. — Here it becomes evident that Jehoshaphat had made a 
great mistake by associating with the depraved Ahnb. His son Jehoram 
had married Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab and the virago Jezebel. That 
union immediately bore fruit. Athaliah was a red-handed murderer like 
her old brute mother, and Jehoram was soon about as bad as either, as 
verses 4-6 show. Verse 7 shows the far reaching influence of a godly life. 

8-10. — Edom had been made a tributary of the Hebrew kingdom in 
the days of David, and had remained so until now. Libnah was on the 
southern border of Judah. It had been conquered by Joshua, and was 
assigned to the Levites. 

Verse 11 shows exactly whither the king was tending. The mark of old 
Jezebel was set upon Jehoram, and Judah was going with a high hand 
to destruction by the same route by which Israel had gone. Jezebel was 
leading Israel into her hell-born idolatry, and all the while was counseling 



II CHRONICLES. 357 

Athaliah to drive Judah into the same condemnation. No doubt Jezebel 
was an oft visitor to the court royal of Judah. 

12-15. — That heaven-directed messenger ^Elijah, who had rebuked 
Israel by the trial of fire on Mount Carmel, who had slain Baal's prophets 
there, whom Jezebel had tried to kill and failed, whom AhaziatTs war 
captains and their fifties tried to take and failed, sends a written message 
to this reprobate King Jehoram, scathing him without mercy and 
denouncing judgment paralyzing to contemplate. 

16-20. — The incorrigible king even in the face of such calamity would 
not repent. (Hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.) Philistia and 
Arabia came, fulfilling the decree, spoiling the king's house and carrying 
captive his family, and yet he was impenitent. Finally came that 
loathesome disease which made him a pitiable object to be abhorred, 
and from which he died unwept and unhonored, the first of the seed of 
Abraham whose children had gone into captivity since the Exodus. 

Ch. 22:1-4. — Ahaziah, the only son of Jehoram, who had escaped, 
followed the abominations of his accursed mother, who seems to have 
escaped the captivity of her dead husband's family, probably because at 
the time of that trouble she had taken refuge with her old mother in the 
kingdom of Israel. Far better would it have been for Judah had they 
both been slain with the rest of their evil company. 

5-9. — His going with his uncle Joram, king of Israel, to fight the 
Syrians, and his visiting that wounded king, proved his deserved destruc- 
tion. Jehu slew Joram, king of Israel, and old Jezebel and the family 
of Ahab, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, and forty-two of his relatives (not 
brothers), who had just then gone to visit the house of Ahab. Only 
respect for his grandfather, Jehoshaphat, allowed Ahaziah to be taken to 
Jerusalem and given burial. 

10-12. — The wretch Athaliah seeing that Jehu had destroyed the family 
of Ahab, resolved to destroy the royal house of David, even though to do 
so she must slay her own grandchildren, who were probably all of tender 
age. The baby, Joash, was hid from her. She was trying to fasten Baal 
worship on Judah, as her mother had done upon Israel. The pity is that 
Jehu did not find and slay her with the rest of Ahab's house. In case 
one of the young princes became king she knew that his mother would 
take her place as queen mother. 

Ch. 23:1-21. — Jchoiada was high priest. He took into confidence with 
him a certain five men, collected the Levites for a guard, and put the 
young king on. the throne. When Athaliah heard the noise and came to 
the temple shouting "treason" they dragged her out and slew her. 



358 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jehoiada then made a covenant with the people to serve the Lord, and 
they destroyed the place of Baal worship and killed the priest of Baal. 
The high priest tried to restore the order of things set by David. 

Ch. 24:1-3. — This young king who had been hid in the temple, and 
whose authority was upheld by the priests and Levites, makes a good ruler 
under the eyes of Jehoiada, and things prospered in the kingdom of 
Judah. 

4-14. — x\fter the six-year usurpation of Athaliah the temple would 
be likely to need repair. Everything which could be carried off and 
destroyed would be taken and turned to use in Baal worship, and the 
temple would be neglected. For some reason, however, the gathering by 
the Levites for that purpose was not a success. The young king then took 
the work of collecting under his own special charge. Money came in 
abundance to repair the house and to replace the vessels of the temple 
which had been carried away or destroyed. 

15, 1G. — The old high priest died at one hundred and thirty years of 
age, full of honor. When he died he was ten years older than Moses when 
he died. Burial within the cities was prohibited, but in Jerusalem 
exception was made for the royal family and persons of distinguished 
merit. 

17-22. — For fifteen years, during the reign of her husband Jehoram, 
her son Ahaziah and herself, Athaliah had been fastening idolatry upon 
Judah. The princes and chief men had no doubt become largely addicted 
to it. Now that the firm hand of grand old Jehoiada was removed, these 
princes with a great show of loyalty ask the privilege which their fathers 
had, of worshiping at home, without being compelled to go to Jerusalem. 
The granting of the request had the effect of bringing on another scourge 
of idolatry. Jerusalem itself was full of it. The warnings of the prophets 
were unheeded, and when at length the high priest sounded mighty 
warnings against them, they conspired against him and stoned him to 
death. And the king was involved in this deviltry. Place, power and the 
deceit of smooth villains had drawn him into ingratitude teward the 
family of the high priest deserving of everlasting contempt, and as the 
dying martyr said, "The Lord did look upon it and require it." Judah 
was soon to drink a bitter cup. 

23-27. — A little army of Syrians came against Jerusalem, slew the 
princes and carried away their spoil. They had shed the blood of God's 
prophet, and their sin brought upon them their own richly deserved death. 
Had they obeyed the priest instead of slaving him, no such calamity 
would have come upon them. The king, already smitten with loathesome 



II CHRONICLES. 859 

disease, was slain by two half-breeds, who were probably his nurses. He 
was denied burial among the kings. 

Ch. 25 :l-4. — Amaziah began his reign as a reasonably good king. He 
slew his father's murderers, a just act, for although Joash deserved death, 
yet they had no right to kill him. 

5-10. — The king was about to go on an expedition against Seir. He 
made the mistake of hiring from the king of Israel an army to help his 
own. At the request of the prophet he dismissed them because of their 
idolatrous character. They were very angry (for the price had been paid 
to their king and the soldiers must depend upon spoils for their pay. 

11, 12. — Amaziah was successful in his battle, as the prophet had 
foretold, conquered Seir and took large spoil. 

13. — After the army of Judah had gone on this expedition the hired 
Israelite army took revenge on the defenseless cities of Judah on their 
way home, murdering and pillaging. 

14-16. — How the king was led into the false worship of Seir is beyond 
comprehension. It shows what a hold idolatry had upon the nation. The 
Lord's prophet was unheeded, and he could clearly see that after such 
treatment the Lord would destroy this fool king. It would have been an 
act of mercy to Judah could a Moses have arisen to have slain every 
person in the kingdom who was even tolerant of idolatry. It was greater 
mischief to let them live and do their dirty work than it would have 
been to sweep them into their graves. It was costing the lives of 
thousands in every generation. 

17-24. — This war between Judah and Israel probably grew out of the 
late devastation of the Israelite army. The king of Judah desired to 
punish the act. The answer of the king of Israel showed that he was 
angry with Amaziah. But the king of Judah did not consider that he 
had grossly insulted God since the battle against Seir. The result of that 
battle with Israel ought to have brought this quack king to his senses, 
but it did not. It took the conceit out of him, and he lost his treasures 
and captives, and had his city wall spoiled and the temple stripped of its 
valuables. But sad to say, his meanness seemed to be left intact. 

25-28. — Amaziah was also slain by conspirators. What a sad condition 
has settled down on the kingdom of David. One word answers all 
inquiries — sin. 

Ch. 26:1-15. — In the reign of Uzziah one expression is very significant 
! — as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. He was 
helped at home and abroad, in great things and in small. Note carefully 
verses 1-15. 



360 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

16-21. — Verse 16 states a lamentably sad fact. Many people can 
withstand adversity — few can withstand prosperity. The loathesome 
disease of leprosy was put upon this sacrilegious king when his anger 
rose against those whose authority he had sot at naught. God smote him 
for his contemptible conduct, and he was forever after denied access to 
the house of God as well as to society. Jotham, his son, began to exercise 
the duties of king. 

22, 23. — The king was buried not in the sepulcher of the kings, but 
near it. What an exceedingly sad history that the man of these first 
fifteen verses should be the outcast of verse 21 because of his sin. 

Ch. 27 :l-9. — Jotham was a good king. Verses 5 and 6 show something 
of his prosperity. We have every assurance that faithfulness to God will 
count quite as much for prosperity in this day as in that. The man who 
faithfully serves God will be faithfully prospered by the power of God. 

Ch. 28:1-4. — The miserable Ahaz was an idolater, and used his royal 
[power and influence to establish this rotten and execrable curse on Judah. 
He himself set the example of this heathen worship before his people. 

5-15. — Judgment followed swiftly. Judah was defeated by the com- 
bined forces of Syria and Israel, and a second time the Hebrews went 
into captivity. A great amount of spoil and two hundred thousand 
captives were carried to Samaria, but a prophet of the Lord stirred up 
the godly portion of the kingdom of Israel, and made them see that such 
a violation of the law of God (Lev. 25:46) would recoil in curses upon 
them, hence verses 14 and 15. 

16-25. — The abominable idolater Ahaz did not learn from this experi- 
ence. He sends to God's enemies, Assyrians, for help against Edomites 
and Philistines. His hired help only distressed him, and his idolatry 
crushed him into ruin. He was a poor, idolatrous fool, and worst of all, 
had not common sense enough to see it. 

26, 27. — When he died he was denied burial with the kings because of 
bis contemptible character. 

Ch. 29:1, 2. — Hezekiah was another good king. He patterned after 
David. It becomes easier to understand why it is stated that David was 
a man after God's own heart when we compare David's reign with the 
most of the kings of Israel and Judah. When the kings did right, it was 
always said that they did according to David, showing the esteem in which 
his general character was held. 

3-11. — His miserable father, Ahaz, had closed the temple and estab- 
lished idolatry. The temple and the worship of God had been neglected, 
and the vessels of the temple taken for other uses. It is almost needless 



II CHRONICLES. 361 

to say that under such circumstances the temple would become filthy. 
Hezekiah properly ascribes the national calamity to their neglect of 
their duty to God, and proposes to immediately reform. 

12-19. — The Levites were not allowed in the temple, but the priests 
brought the sweepings out to the Levites and they carried it away. 

20-36. — Now that the temple was ready for occupancy the offerings 
were made for the kingdom, for the temple, for the priests and for the 
people. The number seven signified completeness. Levites were put in 
place to lead the praise service with musical instruments. While the 
offerings were being made, the praise continued. After that, all the 
people, led by the king, bowed in worship, after which the singers sang 
again. The king now calls these reconsecrated priests to offer the people's 
voluntary sacrifices, and so many had been brought that Levites had to 
be called io help the priests prepare the offerings for sacrifice. This 
remarkable revival of true worship was a most refreshing experience for 
all the people as well as for the king. 

Ch. 30:1-12. — This invitation to the Passover was sent out in the reign 
of Hoshea, last king of Israel after some of the people had been carried 
captive, but before Hoshea and the whole kingdom was carried captive 
by Shalmanescr. Since they could not make ready for the feast in the 
fourteenth day of the first month, it was resolved to keep it on the 
fourteenth day of the second month, a liberty which being allowed 
sometimes to individuals (Num. 9 :6-14) was assumed under such circum- 
stances to be allowed to all. The character of the people of the northern 
kingdom was shown by their way of treating these messengers (verse 10), 
but that there were faithful ones left in Israel was shown by verse 11. 

13-27. — The altars which x\haz had built in Jerusalem were broken 
down. Many, especially of the Israelites, had not properly prepared 
themselves for the service as the law demanded, but at the earnest prayer 
of Hezekiah they were spared from disastrous results for their neglect, 
and the occasion became one of long-to-be-remembered gladness. The 
law provided for seven days of the feast, but the time was doubled on this 
occasion because of the long previous neglect of the feast. 

Ch. 31 :1. — After the inspiration of this assembly the people went out 
through Judah and destroyed the altars and places of idolatrous worship 
which had been set up under Ahaz. 

2-21. — The king now uses care to provide for the continuance of 
worship. The priests and Levites, who had been forced to get their living 
in some other way, were provided for, that they might give their whole 
time and attention to their sacred duties. When the people saw that the 



362 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

true worship was to be revived they brought willingly. These supplies 
were kept about the temple to feed all those employed about the temple 
duties. 

Ch. 32 :1. — The Assyrians were anxious to conquer Judah. An immense 
army was sent into the Hebrew kingdom, fully expecting that only a short 
time would be required to conquer the country. 

2-8. — King Hezckiah at once set to work to strengthen his kingdom. 
By reference to II Kings 18:13 it will be found that many cities were 
taken, and Hezekiah doubted his ability to hold out against him, and even 
sent him a large present from the temple. Nevertheless, the king of 
Judah looked to God for deliverance, which came speedily. 

9-19. — The greed of the king of Assyria was his destruction. He 
determined to conquer and subject Judah to his tribute. The force 
which he sent against Jerusalem reviled God and the king and the people, 
and threatened the city with destruction. But they had not taken into 
their fighting calculations the God of Abraham. Hezekiah had. 

20-23.— The prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah cried to the Lord for 
help. As an answer there came that terrible slaughter mentioned in 
II Kings 19 :35-37. The defeated old king of Assyria went home to be 
slain, and the nations around learned to honor Judah. 

24-2 G. — The fact comes to light here that this honest king could not 
stand success. In great danger he called upon the Lord and was delivered. 
Large prosperity spoils more men than it makes. The Lord knows his 
creatures too well to allow us too much greatness. But the king saw his 
mistake and humbled himself again. Ve^se 12 speaks of the sickness 
from which he recovered when occurred the incident of the sun dial. 
(II Kings 20:1-11.) 

27-30. — This king was a man of much public spirit, ne spent great 
labor in caring for public interests. The man who is careful and solicitous 
about his private business will be likely to be diligent in his public 
capacity. 

31. — Verse 31 states a great truth. After the king's recovery from 
sickness an embassy was sent to him from the king of Babylon congratu- 
lating him on his recovery. It was a good chance for Hezekiah to 
impress upon them a knowledge of the true God, by whose care the king 
had come back again to life. But instead he foolishly attempted to 
entertain them by showing them his treasures, so tempting their greed 
and bringing about a plot to afterward destroy Jerusalem for its wealth. 

32, 33. — Because of his great goodness and diligence in the service of 
God and of his people, Hezekiah had large honors showed him at his 



II CHRONICLES. 363 

death. No doubt his close association with the prophet Isaiah helped to 
make him the good king that he was. A wise person seeks good com- 
panions. 

Ch. 33 :1-10. — Manasseh began his reign as an evil king, introducing 
all the abominations of idolatry. Evidently he lacked proper training, 
and was doubtless greatly worked upon by a strong party which must 
have existed in favor of idolatry. 

11. — But God's judgment was swift. Verse 12 may be read, "Took 
Manasseh alive." This smart king who had proposed to govern Judah 
his own way tasted his folly. 

12-17. — The lesson had its effect. The king was brought to his senses. 
What follows shows that he became truly repentant. God was merciful, 
and Manasseh had opportunity to try his powers at undoing his own 
meanness. Verse 17 shows, however, that he had started a fire which 
he could not put out. 

Verses 18 and 19 suggest other writings which have not come down 
to us. 

21-25. — Another evil result of Manasseh's wicked course cropped out 
in the character of his son. His early course of evil had stamped itself 
on his son Amon, and doubtless the idolatrous party used that fact to 
fasten the evil course upon Amon, carefully remitting any reference to 
God's judgment and Manasseh's repentance. His evil career was brief, 
and the death he suffered was as good as he deserved. That, however, 
did not justify the conspirators in their unlawful course, and they, too, 
deserved their fate. 

Ch. 34:1-7. — The character of Josiah was refreshing. He heaped 
infamy upon the graves of those abominable personages who had con- 
tended for and taken part in idolatry. And they deserved it. Their 
bones had no right to remain in honorable graves. It was a frightful 
thing to an ancient to think of desecrating a grave, and Josiah's act 
would set his people to reflecting on the evil of idolatry and the ever- 
lasting disgrace of their dead relatives and friends who had practised it. 
Such a course would deter the living from a similar course. 

8-13. — Idolatry being destroyed, the king now turns his attention to 
the repair of the neglected temple. It is to be noticed that the money 
for this purpose was raised from among those who had belonged to the 
upper kingdom (Israel), as well as from Judah. Although that people 
had about one hundred years before been carried captive, yet numbers 
of them had been sent back, while the poorer people of the land had been 
left from the first as vine dressers and tillers of the soil. 



364 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

14-28. — In his righteous act of repairing the temple another blessing 
came to the king and his people. The neglected law was found, brought 
to the king and read to him. He at once saw the evil which it threatened, 
and sent to inquire of a prophetess of the Lord concerning it. Her 
answer was that the evil which it threatened would come, but for the 
sake of Josiah's just character the judgment would be deferred until 
after his death. 

29-33. — The king had this book read to the collected nation, and 
caused them to take a solemn pledge. The energy which he displayed 
in this regard prepared the nation for his next great act. 

Ch. 35:1-19. — In the law were given directions about the yearly 
observance of the Passover. It is supposed the ark was removed from 
its place while the temple was being repaired, and the king now urges 
the Levites, who were relieved of the work of carrying it as the law 
demanded them to do in the wilderness, to give their attention to other 
religious duties. Verse 7 indicates that the king gave lambs to such as 
could not furnish them, the Israelites, for instance, whom the Assyrians 
had stripped of everything valuable. 

20-27. — The reign of this king might have been much longer had he 
kept himself free from entangling alliances. It is supposed that Josiah 
recognized his kingdom as a tributary to Assyria, so that he felt himself 
in duty bound to oppose the march of Egypt against Assyria. But he 
had no right to consider himself a vassal of any power, or to be obligated 
to fight any of the devil's battles. His blunder at this point cost him his 
life. The prophet Jeremiah greatly lamented him because of his just 
character. 

Ch. 36:1-3. — The people made Jehoahaz king, but after the king of 
Egypt had finished his expedition against Assyria he took Jehoahaz off 
the throne of Judah and put the kingdom under tribute. 

4-8. — The king made Eliakim king, and took Jehoahaz to Egypt. 
After eleven years the king of Babylon carried Eliakim captive to 
Babylon. Two kings of Judah (brothers) were now in captivity, one in 
Egypt, the other in Babylon. 

9, 10. — The son of the Babylon captive was now put on the throne of 
Judah. Most of the valuable things of the kingdom of Judah had been 
carried to Babylon. Jehoiaehin was evil, like the two before him (his 
father and his uncle), and so God permitted that after three months the 
king of Babylon should carry him away also. His brother, Zedekiah, 
was put in his place. 

11-13. — Zedekiah reigned eleven years wickedly. He had taken a 



EZRA. 365 

solemn oath to be faithful to the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar), but 
he broke his word. 

14- 1G. — The picture of the pollution of the temple by the people and 
their villainous treatment of the messengers of the Lord who warned 
them of their iniquity is a full explanation of the calamity which follows. 

17-21. — In that great punishment mentioned in verses 17-21 the whole 
kingdom was made desolate, everything of value was carried to Babylon 
and the temple destroyed. The havoc was frightful. The warning of 
the prophets was fulfilled, and the land lay desolate for seventy years. 

22, 23. — After Babylon was destroyed by Persia, as Daniel foretold to 
Belshazzar, Cyrus proclaims himself about to build another temple to 
the God of heaven at Jerusalem and calls for volunteers to go and do the 
work. 



EZRA. 



INTRODUCTION- TO EZRA, NEIIEMIAH AND ESTHER. 

These three books tell us of things which came to pass after Israel and 
Judah have been carried into captivity and Palestine made a wilderness. 
At this time all the books of the Old Testament have been made except 
the last three. Ezra shows how a certain prince, by the consent of the 
Medo-Persian Cyrus who had conquered Babylon, was allowed to bring 
the Jews back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and temple. Ezra soon 
after brings back another company of Jews to Jerusalem and assists 
in the work of making them into a nation. Soon after this Nehemiah, a 
Jew who was an officer of the Persian court, was commissioned to rebuild 
the city walls at Jerusalem, and the events of Esther come in between the 
sixth and' seventh chapters of Ezra, happening in the land of captivity 
and supposed to be a part of the records of that heathen government, 
which accounts for the book not containing the name of God. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter .1. 

1-4 Proclamation of Cyrus. 
5-1 1 The offerings. Return of the sacred vessels. 

Chapter 2. 
1-70 The list of Jews who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. 



366 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 3. 

1-6 Their observance of the offerings and feasts. 
7 Preparation of material for the temple. 
8-13 Foundation of the temple laid. The rejoicing. 
Chapter 4. 

1-3 Request of the Samaritans. Its refusal. 
4-24 Spite of the Samaritans. Hindering of the work of building. 
Chapter 5. 

1, 2 Prophecy of Haggai and Zechariah. Result. 
3-5 Attempt of the enemies to hinder the work. 
6-17 Letter of Tatnai and Shetharboznai to Darius. 
Chapter 6. 

1-5 Search of Darius. Its result. 
6-12 . Decree of Darius. 
13-15 Completion of the temple. 
16-22 Its dedication. The Passover. 
Chapter 7. 

1-10 Going of Ezra to Jerusalem. 
11-26 Letter of King Artaxerxes sent by Ezra. 
27, 28 Ezra's thanksgiving. 
Chapter 8. 

1-14 The list of Jews who returned with Ezra. 
15-20 The priests brought by him. 
21-23 Ezra's fast and prayer for protection. 
24-30 Committal of the treasures to the priests. 
31, 32 Time of the departure for Jerusalem. 
33-35 Delivery of the treasures at the temple. The offerings. 

36 Delivery of the king's commissions. 
Chapter 9. 

1, 2 Complaint of the princes to Ezra. 
3, 4 Ezra's astonishment and grief. 
5-15 Ezra's confession. 
Chapter 10. 

1-4 Confession of the people. Their request of Ezra. 

5 The covenant. 
6-9 The assembly called by the princes and elders. 
10-14 Ezra's charge. Confession of the people. Their proposition. 
15-17 Execution of the reform. 
18-44 A list of the transgressors. 



EZRA. 367 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-4. — In the year 536 B. C, Cyrus founded the Persian empire 
by consolidating with his own country (Persia) the countries of Media, 
Babylon and Chaldea, which he conquered. This was seventy years after 
the spoiling of Jerusalem by Babylon, and, as the prophet had foretold 
.(Jer. 25:12, also 29:10), Babylon was conquered and the conqueror, 
Cyrus, was very kindly disposed toward the Jews, and favored them as 
shown in this proclamation. It is likely that the language of verse 2 
grew out of the impressions made upon Cyrus by Daniel, who was a chief 
officer at Babylon at the time of its conquest by Cyrus. He had explained 
the handwriting on the wall on the night before Cyrus took the city. 
Daniel could show Cyrus how Isaiah had, more than two hundred years 
before Cyrus was born, prophesied of him by name, and it was most likely 
at the instigation of Daniel that Cyrus made this decree. 

5-11. — Judah and Benjamin had composed the kingdom of Judah. 
The Levites from the northern kingdom (Israel) had nearly all gathered 
to the kingdom of Judah. Yerse 6 indicates that some who were not 
Jews aided the enterprise by their gifts. Cyrus returned to the Jews the 
vessels of the temple which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem. 
Sheshbazzar was the Persian name given to Zerubbabel. He was born 
at Babylon, but was of the royal line of David and heir to the crown 
of Judah. 

Ch. 2 :l-70. — Chapter 2 gives a list of those who returned to Jerusalem 
with Zerubbabel. They were reckoned as a colony of Persia, subject to 
Cyrus. It is likely that these separated as far as possible to the cities of 
their ancestors. The whole company amounted to about fifty thousand. 
Of course great numbers of the captive Jews preferred to remain in the 
land of captivity rather than leave their positions and the wealth they 
had gathered to return to the land of their fathers. Verse 68 indicates 
that the sight of the temple in ruins stirred the spirit of the returned 
captives so that they offered freely for its restoration. 

Ch. 1 :6. — The seventh month of the Jewish sacred year corresponded 
to the latter part of September and first of October. As soon as the 
returned captives had built for themselves temporary habitations they 
cleared away the rubbish and reared the altar on its old foundation. 
They felt their need of God, especially because of their fear of the people 
around them. They wanted protection. They wanted their sins forgiven 
and the divine blessing upon their national work and their preparation 
to rebuild the temple. The law required a burnt offering both morning 



368 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

and evening each day. The feast of tabernacles was at the end of the 
grain and grape harvest in the autumn. Five days before this feast week 
was the great day of atonement. The returned captives carefully 
observed all the Lord's commandments now. The captivity entirely 
cured them of idolatry. Verse 5 shows how willingly they offered to the 
Lord, and verse 6 indicates that after they began it they kept it up 
regularly. 

7. — They opened a contract with the Tyrians for workmen and timber, 
just as Solomon had done. 

8-13. — In the second month of the second year after the return the 
foundation of the temple was laid. Jeshua was high priest, but the 
one mentioned in this 8th verse was not the high priest, but the Jeshua 
mentioned in chapter 2 :40. He was probably a skilful workman, and 
so was set with the Levites to oversee the work of building. The language 
of verse 12 is supposed by many to indicate that the contrast between 
this temple and that of Solomon was painful because of the inferiority 
of this one to the former one. But while some who knew of the glory 
of departed days may have had that feeling, the majority of the returned 
exiles, being born in captivity and having had no experience of the 
former glory of this chosen family, hailed the new temple enterprise with 
unmixed joy, and shouted their gladness vehemently. 

Ch. 4:1-3. — Two hundred years before this time, when the northern 
kingdom (Israel) was carried captive, their country, which had now 
come to be named Samaria (from its capital city), was colonized by 
people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath and Sepharvaim. They 
were idolaters, but had of course some of Israelite descent among them. 
After their colonization in Samaria by the king of Assyria they had 
been so wicked that the ravages of wild beasts among them was so 
manifestly the judgment of God upon them that they appealed to the 
king of Assyria, who sent them a captive priest of Israel to mix the 
worship of God with their idolatry. So they "feared the Lord and served 
their graven images." These Samaritans wanted the returned captives 
from Babylon to allow them to help in the temple building, but were 
flatly and finally refused. The Jews evidently thought they had more 
than enough of association with idolaters. This refusal greatly angered 
the Samaritans. 

4-24. — These Samaritans now try to stop the Jews from building. 
Cyrus was engaged with wars in the east of his empire, and left the 
affairs of his government in the hands of his son, Cambysses, who was 
hostile to the Jews. About six years later Cyrus died (529), and 



EZRA. 369 

Cambysses (called in verse 6 Ahasueras) reigned about eight years. 
Then Gomati (who falsely passed himself off for Smerdis, another son 
of Cyrus who had been murdered) seized the throne of Persia and 
reigned for eight months. He is called in verse 7 Artaxerxes. In his 
short reign occurred the incident of verses 7-24. In order to secure 
himself in his stolen throne he had remitted the taxes of the people, and 
it was but natural that he should take the side of the Assyrian complaints 
against the Jews. Hence the order of verse 21. However, there need to 
have been but very brief delay in the work, if indeed any at all. The 
order of Cyrus to them to build was positive. During the remaining 
six years of his reign and the eight years of Cambysses that order was 
in force, and the Jews should have followed it, and paid no attention to 
the vaporings of the Samaritans. Now comes the first positive order to 
stop ihe work, but the usurper was soon removed from the throne of 
Persia, and in 521 Darius took the throne, who proved to be a friend of 
the Jews. For one year of the reign of Darius the Jews let their work 
of temple building lay idle, making in all fifteen years since the Samar- 
itans began to hinder their work. 

Ch. 5:1, 2. — Just here should be read the books of Haggai and 
Zechariah. These two prophets were captives who had returned to 
Jerusalem. The returned Jews had been busy in these twenty years in 
building for themselves good houses. As usual in such cases they were 
neglecting the work which they owed to the Lord. The prophecies of 
Haggai and Zechariah stirred them up to see the falsity of their position. 
The people pretended to believe that the time had not yet come for 
rebuilding the temple, and relaxed into religious sloth, negligence and 
selfishness. Now they are set to work again in the matter of rebuilding. 

3-5. — Immediately the Samaritan enemies challenged their right to 
work at the temple building. Tatnai governed the Persian empire west 
of the Euphrates subject to Darius, and Palestine was at this time part 
of it. The work of the prophets in stirring up the people from their 
religious lethargy had been so well done that they worked right on now 
while Tatnai, ihe governor, was investigating the truth of their answer to 
his questions. They gave proper answer to the governor's questions, 
and worked right on while he satisfied himself regarding it. Tatnai's 
method of investigation seems to have been a discreet one. 

Verses 6-17 is a copy of Tatnai's letter to Darius. In it he states the 
progress of the building, his questions to the Jews, their answer (verses 
11-16), and requests that search be made in the government records to 
find whether or not these things be correct. 



S70 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 6:1-5. — The king was Darius Hystaspes. The suggestion of 
Governor Tatnai was followed by the king, and the result of the search 
was of course favorable to the Jews. The decree of Cyrus was found 
among the records of the kingdom, and so the Jews were shown to have 
warrant for what they had done, and full authority to carry their work 
through to a completion. 

6-12. — In view of this Darius orders Tatnai not to interfere with the 
work. Moreover, he makes a new decree, ordering Tatnai to take of the 
public income west of the Euphrates River and pay the expenses of this 
building and also of the sacrifices which the Hebrew law commanded 
them to offer, that the priests might pray daily for the king. The 
additional decree of verses 11 and 12 was made no doubt in view of the 
mean opposition of the Samaritans. The meanness and audacity of their 
methods had reacted upon them, and now the king's decree not only 
obliges them to assist in paying for. the continuance of the work, but 
puts their lives in immediate danger if they attempt to delay it. And 
they were ordered to aid it speedily. 

18-15. — The prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah had stirred up the 
people to activity in the matter of building the temple, and this favorable 
decree still further roused the spirits of the people, and they speedily 
completed it. Lightfoot says, Its foundation was laid in April, B. C. 
536, and it was completed February 21st, 515, twenty-one years after it 
was begun. The aged ones who had wept at the laying of the foundation 
would now most of them be dead. Adar was the name given after the 
Babylonian captivity to the twelfth Hebrew month. 

16-22. — The dedication was an occasion of exceeding great joy to the 
Jewish people. In the midst of the rejoicing over the restored temple" 
and hearty expression of piety among the people in sacrifices, the 
Passover season comes, the fourteenth day of the first month, and all the 
multitude who had prepared themselves by separating themselves from 
their evil associations and who had been circumcised, kept the feast. 
The king of Assyria meant Darius, who was now king over Assyria 
because that kingdom was now a part of the kingdom of Persia. 

Ch. 7 :1-10. — Ezra, it will be seen, was a descendant of Aaron. This 
Artaxerxes mentioned here was a son of Darius, and now that Darius 
was dead he is on the throne of Persia. Ezra seems to have been a man 
high in authority under the king. He was very learned in the law, and 
so was highly reverenced by the Jews. In 458 he took another company 
of Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem. The journey occupied four months. 



EZRA. 371 

Verse 10 shows the qualities of a great leader. Ezra had prepared his 
heart to seek the law, to do the law and to teach the law. 

11-2G. — The letter which the king sent by Ezra gave perfect liberty to 
all the Jews who wished, to go to Jerusalem with Ezra. It commissioned 
Ezra to inquire and report to the king about Judah and Jerusalem. It 
gave into his hand the offering of the king and his counselors to the God 
of Israel, and also that of all the Jewish people. It gave to Ezra the 
privilege of the king's treasury for any additional needs. It made a 
decree to the treasurers west of the Euphrates Eiver to aid Ezra with 
anything he needed up to a certain amount. (Verse 23 indicates their 
faith in the God of the Jews.) The decree exempted the temple attaches 
from tax, and commissioned Ezra to institute a government according to 
the laws of the Hebrews. 

27, 28. — Ezra recognized God as the giver of all these favors, and 
renders devout thanksgiving such as was becoming to him in view of 
these benefits. 

Ch. 8:1-14. — The number in this list amounts to seventeen hundred 
and fifty-four. That means adult males. Counting women and children 
the whole company would amount to nearly seven thousand. 

15-20. — It cannot be told where was the river mentioned in verse 15. 
It was the place where Ezra gathered them together to prepare for the 
departure., Ezra, finding no Levites in the company, sent especially 
for some. The Nethinims were the descendants of the Gibeonites, who 
performed the slave duties of the temple. (Josh. 9:27.) 

21-23. — Ezra before starting holds a fast and prayer meeting to ask 
the Lord's direction as to the route and also his protection. He had 
undoubtedly spoken much to the king about the Lord's protection of his 
people, and did not want to ask for an escort. The Lord graciously heard 
and prospered him. 

24-30. — Ezra wisely put the collected treasures into the care of twelve 
selected Levites, making careful record of the amount. He charged 
them to keep it safely and carry it to Jerusalem to be delivered at the 
temple. The combined amount would aggregate about two and one-half 
millions of dollars. This public act would prevent all suspicion of 
irregular dealing by Ezra and the chief priests as well, for the amount 
was made public, and had to be accounted for at the temple in Jerusalem. 

31, 32. — The time of the departure for Jerusalem was two days before 
the Passover. It is evident from the language that bands were lying in 
wait along the way which would have plundered this company had they 
dared to do so. 



372 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

33-35. — When the treasure was delivered at the new temple in Jeru- 
salem it was weighed and a record kept of the weights, so making it tally 
with Ezra's record. A great number of burnt offerings were offered at 
the time by these returned exiles. Gladness was increasing as these 
wanderers kept gathering, after their seventy years of punishment for sin, 
to the land of promise. The journey as already noted took four months. 

36. — When the message of the king of Persia was delivered to the 
territorial officers west of the Euphrates they were obliged to immediately 
give aid. The law of the Medes and Persians was extremely severe on 
those who failed or refused to obey. 

Ch. 9:1, 2. — The great joy of Ezra and his company at so large 
evidence of divine favor was soon to be changed into mourning, lum- 
bers of the people, even of the priests, had been guilty of marrying 
Gentile women, contrary to the law. No doubt such began to copy the 
manners and religion of the heathen around them. Had not this matter 
been speedily corrected the nation would soon have lapsed again into 
that sin for which they had been carried captive to Babylon. 

3, 4. — When he learned this, Ezra at once saw the great danger, and 
was overwhelmed with astonishment and grief. It would indeed be a 
hard thing to reform these evils, because the reform would involve the 
breaking up of relations, family ties and affections already formed. It 
was a most trying ordeal, and Ezra, to show how consuming was the grief 
upon him, rent his garments and plucked out his hair and beard, sitting - 
paralyzed by his grief until the evening sacrifice (three p. m.) Those 
who feared the Lord gathered about Ezra, and much public attention 
would be directed to him and the cause of his trouble. 

5-15. — Now Ezra goes to his knees before God, and by his example in 
so doing led the people to offer to God the sacrifice which was better than 
the blood of slain beasts, viz., a broken and penitent spirit. In his 
confession Ezra owns the enormity of their sins since they began to be 
as a nation, and that their captivity had been sent as a just punishment 
for those sins (verses 6 and 7) ; that by the mercy of God a few of them 
have been allowed to return again to inhabit tne land of promise and 
rebuild the temple (verses 8 and 9), and declares there can be no excuse 
for breaking again the plain command of God (verses 10-12), especially 
since they could see that these things brought calamity upon them 
(verses 13-15). 

Ch. 10:1-4. — This object lesson had its effect. Ezra's trouble had 
produced a sensation. The people were now truly penitent. A propo- 
sition came from a leading man, whose father and five uncles were 



NEHEMIAH. 373 

guilty of this matter. The suggestion was a good one and radical, and 
Ezra was asked to head the work of reformation. 

5. — This gave Ezra a good chance, and he was not slow to use it. He 
answered the request made of him hy compelling all Israel, priests and 
all, to take a solemn oath to do as Shechaniah had suggested. 

G-9. — A proclamation was now made throughout all the land that all 
the Hebrew people should be gathered together at Jerusalem within 
three days. Those who would not come were to lose their property and 
place among the Hebrew people. Xot all those returned exiles were of 
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but they lived in a territory formerly 
occupied by these tribes, and so are here called the men of "Judah and 
Benjamin." The time was about the end of our December. This was 
the rainy season in Palestine. 

10-14. — Ezra's charge was direct and pointed. He asked them to 
confess their sins and turn away from them; The people promised to do 
as he had said, confessed their error, but pleaded that because of the 
vast number of transgressors and the state of the weather they be allowed 
to return home and come by appointment before the authorities until 
all the offenders be dealt with. 

15-17. — This suggestion was adopted by Ezra, a commission was 
appointed, and three months spent in the execution of the plan. 

18-44. — According to Ezra's careful custom an .accurate record was 
kept of the transgressors. This record would give ample opportunity 
for action in case any of these lapsed again into this forbidden practice. 
"Doubtless an adequate provision was made for the repudiated wives and 
children according to the means and circumstances of the husband." 
(J. F. B.) 



NEHEMIAH 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-3 Report of Hanani to Xehemiah. 
4-1.1 Xehemiah's grief and prayer. 

Chapter 2. 

1, 2 The king's inquiry of Xehemiah. 
3-8 Xehemiah's answer and suggestion. The king's gram';. 
9, 10 Effect of the king's order to the governors. 



374 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

11-16 Nehemiah's night ride about Jerusalem. 
17, 18 His address to the Hebrews. Their indorsement. 

19 Ridicule of their enemies. 

20 Nehemiah's answer. 
Chapter 3. 

1-32 The wall builders. Their order. 
Chapter 4. 

1-3 Wrath and mockery of their enemies. 
4-6 Prayer and progress of Nehemiah. 
7-11 Conspiracy of the enemies. 
12-23 Nehemiah's armed guard. 
Chapter 5. 

1-5 Complaint of the people about their debts. 
6-13 Nehemiah's correction of the abuses. 
14-19 ^"ehemiah's governorship. 
Chapter 6. 

1-14 Attempts of the enemy to harm NehemfSh. 
15, 16 Finishing of the wall. Result. 

17-19 Secret correspondence of some Jewish nobles with the enemy. 
Chapter 7. 

1-4 Nehemiah's order about the opening of the gates. 
5-73 The captives who returned with Zerubbabel. 
Chapter 8. 

1-8 Reading of the law to the people by Ezra. 
9-12 Consecration of the day. 
13-18 Observance of the feast of tabernacles. 
Chapter 9. 
1-10-39 The great fast. 

1, 2 The assembly and separation. 

3 Reading of the law and confession. 
4-37 Confession of the nine Levites. Historic review. 
38 The covenant. 
Chapter 10. 

1-28 The subscribers to it. 
29-39 Points of the covenant. 
Chapter 11. 

1-3 Selection of dwellers at Jerusalem. 
4-19 Their names. 
20-36 Other residences of the people. 



NEHEMIAH. 375 

Chapter 12. 

1-9 Names of the priests and Levites who came with Zerubbabel. 
10-21 A priestly line. 
22-47 Other Levites and their duties. Dedication of the walls. 

Chapter 13. 

1-3 Separation from the mixed multitude. 

4, 5 Quartering of Tobiah in the temple. 

6-9 Nehemiah's reformation of the abuse. 
10-14 Appointment of the portion for the Levites. 
15-22 Nehemiah prohibits Sabbath desecration. 
23-31 His heroic treatment of the marriage law breakers. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-3. — This first part of verse 1 shows who is the author of this 
book. Chisleu corresponded to the latter part of November and the 
greater part of December, B. C. 44{» It was the twentieth year of the 
reign of Artaxerxes, ninety years after the first Jews returned under 
'Zerubbabel, and thirteen years after Ezra took his colony to Jerusalem. 
Authorities quite generally agree that the incident of Esther took place 
within the dates covered by Ezra, shortly after the first Jews returned 
and before the going of Ezra to Jerusalem. Shush an was the capital 
of ancient Susiana, east of the Tigris Kiver, a province of Persia. Hanani 
had gone to Jerusalem and returned to Persia. Verse 3 indicates that 
the returned captives were scoffed at and reproached by the tribes about 
Jerusalem because their authority to rebuild had been extended only to 
the temple and the private dwellings, while the walls that defended the 
city were lying in a heap of ruins as Nebuchadnezzar had left them at 
the destruction of Jerusalem one hundred and sixty years before. 

4-11. — Nehemiah was grief-stricken. He was burdened for the honor 
of God's cause. He fasted and prayed, and in his prayer confessed the 
sin of his people, pleaded the promises of God for pardon, and asked 
the Lord to give him favor with the king, whose cup bearer he was, 
that the king might grant him his request. 

Ch. 2:1, 2. — Esther was at this time queen. Nisan was about four 
months later than the month Chisleu, in which Nehemiah had heard the 
report. Generally the immediate servants of the king were very cheerful. 
They were expected to be. When the king" noticed and inquired about 
Nehemiah's grief, he had reason to be afraid, for that generally meant 
imprisonment or death. 



376 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

3-8. — Nehemiah's ready and earnest answer commended itself to the 
king, and he asked Nehemiah what was his desire in the matter. The 
cup bearer had a plan, and was ready to go and work it out when 
opportunity offered. He made respectful request of the king to that 
end. The queen being Esther, probably emboldened Nehemiah to make 
his request, and may have influenced the king much in granting it. 
Mordecai was at this time the king's prime minister, Haman having 
been hanged. The king granted Nehemiah's request, and at his sugges- 
tion wrote letters to the governors west of the river to give protection k> 
Nehemiah on his way to Jerusalem and to the keeper of the king's forest 
to give timbers for the walls. Nehemiah recognized in all this the hand 
of God, as shown by the last expression in verse 8. 

9, 10. — The word Horonite may be properly translated Moabite. 
These old enemies of the Hebrews when they saw this Hebrew made 
deputy governor of Judah, accompanied with military guard and invested 
with authority to rebuild the walls of this ancient city of Jerusalem, 
were filled with rage. They remembered their former experience with 
this nation in the days of Saul and David. Iso doubt in these days they 
were boldly proclaiming that the Hebrews were getting their just dues 
for driving the original inhabitants out of Canaan. 

11-16. — Nehemiah kept his plans concealed until he was ready to act. 
His counselors were few and confidential ones meanwhile, and he went 
out by night so as to attract no notice to his proposed work. After he 
had matured his plan of operation he would make it known to the 
returned exiles through their proper authorities. This survey of the 
conditions would enable him to speak from personal knowledge when 
the matter was discussed with the authorities. 

17, 18. — Now that he was ready for a forward move in the matter, 
Nehemiah proposed his plan to the people, calling attention to the 
condition of the city walls and offering to lead the work of building them. 
The sight of a devout Hebrew, fresh from the Persian capital, high in 
favor with the king and having authority and resources to back his 
proposition, being also humble and pious enough to himself take the 
load in the work, powerfully moved the people, and with one accord they 
said, Let us build. 

19. — At first the enemy tried to kill the enterprise by ridicule. In 
addition to that they attempted to add the element of fear by suggesting 
treason and rebellion. 

20. — Both elements of the attack failed utterly. Xehemiah looked to 



NEHEMIAH. 377 

the Lord of heaven for encouragement and protection, and his answer 
showed it. Determination is unmistakable here. 

Ch. 3 :l-32. — Eliashib was grandson of Jeshua, the first high priest 
after the return from captivity. He and his priests take the lead and set 
the example in this good work. The sheep gate was near the temple, 
and was probably named from the sheep brought through it for sacrifices. 
It is claimed by authorities that the word Meah here means a hundred, 
and so the sense is that the priests built a hundred cubits of the wall, as 
far as Hananeel. The men of Jericho refers to the returned captives 
who had settled in Jericho. The names of those who builded were kept 
because it was an act of great honor to take part in this noble task. The 
broad wall mentioned in verse 8 was a piece of wall broken down by 
Joash, king of Israel, and rebuilt by Uzziah so strongly that the Chal- 
deans found it so hard to demolish that they left it standing. The 
daughters mentioned in verse 12 were probably rich women who made 
themselves responsible for the expense of a certain part of the wall. All 
classes, from the richest to the poorest slaves, had a share in this great 
work. The rebuilding of the wall would make Jerusalem begin to look 
like its former self. 

Ch. 4:1-3. — The success of the wall building put Sanballat and Tobiah 
in a frenzy. Sanballat in the presence of his people and his army 
ridiculed the feebleness of the Jews, and mocked at their sacrifices and 
the haste with which they builded the walls. He insinuated that they 
were using rubbish out of which to build the walls. Tobiah added that 
a fox climbing over it would break down the wall. 

4-6. — The prayer of Nehemiah shows that their provocation must 
have been very great. Such prodigious and persistent taunts coming 
from the rulers of the land, and of course from all their underlings as 
well, would tend to greatly discourage the builders. But Nehemiah's 
faith and earnest encouragement, however, kept the people to their 
work, and the wall rose to half its height about the entire city. Those 
who pray always progress. 

7-10. — "When the enemies saw that their ridicule and taunts failed to 
stop the work and that the wall was really and rapidly growing, they 
became desperate and resorted to violent methods. !N"ehemiah met their 
conspiracy with prayer and with armed watch. Verse 10 indicates that 
the builders were sometimes much discouraged, and their Samaritan 
enemies were persistent in their determination to stop the work by force, 
and boldly announced their plan to kill the builders. Josephus says that 
many Jews were killed. It wai such experiences as these which made 



378 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

the bitter feelings which for centuries existed between Jews and 
Samaritans. 

12-23. — Verse 12 shows that the enemy had the Jews nearest to them 
thoroughly frightened. Nehemiah promptly set an army in order, and 
encouraged the people to fight. When the enemy heard this, they were 
afraid to show themselves. So Nehemiah returned to the work, having 
half the people armed and the other half working. Even the workers 
had their weapons of war handy. Xehemiah set trumpeters so that any 
part of the workers who might be suddenly attacked could quickly call 
help. At night the workmen slept in the city, with their clothes on. 
The narrative shows how much vigilance is required on the part of those 
who would succeed. 

Ch. 5 :l-5. — In addition to all this just mentioned another trouble 
arose, greater than all others. Those Jews who had money were loaning 
it at a ruinous rate of interest to their poorer neighbor Jews, and had 
taken mortgages on all they had. Some were so hopelessly involved that 
even their children were being sold into bondage. The taking of the land 
and vineyards out of the hands of their rightful owners in this manner 
shut out all possibility of their being able to ever pay these debts and 
redeem their belongings. They could stand against their united enemies, 
but their false friends were in a fair way to defeat the whole object of 
the return to Canaan. 

6-13. — Xehemiah, when he heard this, was filled with righteous wrath. 
He called these rich usurers before an assembly and scathed them until 
they hung their heads in shame. He contrasted this treatment of their 
Jewish brethren with his own dealings with them, and charged these 
usurers to cease such dealings and restore to their owners the estates, and 
part of the money. They promised to do so, and Nehemiah made them 
take an oath before the priests to do so, and then, by a symbol, invoked 
a solemn curse upon every one who failed to keep his oath. That was a 
joyful day for the returned captives. 

Verses 14-19 show that Nehemiah was appointed deputy governor 
when he came to Jerusalem. It further shows how he used his authority 
during those twelve years which he remained at Jerusalem the first time. 
[Nothing better illustrates the real character of Xehemiah than these 
acts. He is willing to be treated of God as he has treated others. 

Ch. 6 :l-4. — Now the enemy resorts to an infmous bit of deceit to try 
to kill Nehemiah. But he sees through their mask and knows their 
hypocrisy, and four times sends them word that he is too busy to come 
to meet them. The fifth time Sanballat sent an open letter in which he 



NEHEMIAH. 379 

claimed that it was reported that jSTehemiah had a plot laid to make 
himself king when the walls were finished. Nehemiah answered him 
that all that story originated in Sanballat's own mind. Sanballat's next 
move was to hire the son of a priest to pretend to prophesy that the 
Samaritans would come in the night to slay Nehemiah, and try to induce 
him to hide in the temple. It is not clear why they tried this plan, unless 
it was either a plot to kill ^Tehemiah, or else bring him into contempt 
with the Jews by having him profane the temple with his presence. But 
Nehemiah was not to be caught. He utterly, refused. 

15, 16. — In spite of all the opposition and deceitful acts of the enemy, 
the wall was finished. Nehemiah's calm and straightforward determina- 
tion filled the enemy with despair. They saw that the Lord was with 
Nehemiah. 

17-19. — By means of some of those unlawful marriages spoken of in 
Ezra, the abominable Tobiah was so connected with some of the renegade 
Jewish nobles that they helped him to plot against Nehemiah. It is 
supposed by some that sometime in the stage of the work Nehemiah 
returned to the Persian court and afterward came again to Jerusalem. 

Ch. 7:1-4. — The walls now being completed it was necessary to put in 
charge of the gates such men as could be certainly trusted. This near 
relative of Xehemiah was one, and the other one was the trusted officer 
under Xehemiah's rulership at Jerusalem. Usually the gates of a city 
were shut at sunset and opened at sunrise, but in this case the order was 
to leave them closed until the sun was far up in the sky, thus insuring 
that everyone should be astir within the city when the gates were opened, 
and that they should be closed in the evening before any of the inhabitants 
retired (verse 3). After that they were to set a watch about all the walls 
of the city, each watchman to be as near as possible to his own house. The 
walls had been built on the old foundation, making a great enclosure, but 
the houses -within were hastily and poorly built and much space was 
between them, owing to the fewness of the inhabitants. 

5-73. — The register here taken would show any difference which 
existed between the company now and that which came under Zerubbabel. 
Ezra had brought other captives after Zerubbabel, and the years that had 
intervened would make much difference in the list of returned exiles. 
The first register was made at Babylon; this second was made at Jeru- 
salem after the walls were finished. These registers kept by the Jews 
were very useful in preserving the purity of the race and showing who 
ought to minister at its altars. 

Ch. 8 :l-8. — It is not known whether Ezra remained at Jerusalem after 



380 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

his first going there, or whether he had returned with Nehemiah. The 
assembly of the people at Jerusalem on this occasion was the seventh 
month of the sacred year and New Year's day of the civil year, and was 
kept as the feast of trumpets, lasting two days. The water gate was at 
the south wall, the gate through which the Gibeonites brought water into 
the temple. The law required a public reading of the Scriptures every 
seventh year, but it had long been neglected. Thirteen persons were with 
Ezra upon the platform, probably as interpreters and expounders of what 
he read. The work mentioned in verse 8 would require many helpers 
for the vast multitude. After the experience of the captivity the people 
were very hungry for the long neglected word of God. Ezra read for 
half a day, and all this while the people eagerly drank in his words. 

9-12. — The latter part of verse 9 shows the effect of the reading of the 
law to the people. Evidently their minds were in proper frame for it, 
and they were mightily moved by it. The command about the consecra- 
tion of the day will be understood by recalling that on the tenth 4 day of 
this t month was the day of atonement, after which came the feast of 
tabernacles lasting one week. Furthermore, it was fitting that the people 
be joyful because they had again heard the words of their long neglected 
law. 

13-18. — When they came to that part of the law which related to the 
feast of tabernacles which was now upon them, they saw what was their 
duty according to the law. Immediately they acted upon it, and bringing 
the branches of trees they kept the feast with such an outgush of gladness 
as had not been since the days when Joshua first led the people into this 
promised land. Yerse 17 does not mean that the feast had not been kept 
since the days of Joshua, for it had, but since that time the unity and 
joy of the people's minds had never been so great as on this second 
entrance to Canaan. The eighth day was a great assembly. (See John 
7 :37.) Throughout the feast Ezra read the law to the people day by day. 
The feast closed on the twenty-second day of the month. 

Chs. 9 and 10. — Two days later the people assemble again, this time 
for a fast, and the expression of those feelings of penitence which had 
been roused by the reading of the law, and the expression of which 
feelings had been suppressed during the feast. Now they propose to keep 
the law, and begin by separating themselves from such as are not of them 
and in sympathy with their laws. * * * They read in the law, and 
when the law convicts them, instead of fighting it, they confess their sins 
and promise to do better. Here is the secret of all progress. * * * 
The Levites represent the law. They acknowledge God as the Creator 



NEHEMIAH. 381 

and preserver, the leader of Abraham, the giver of Canaan, the deliverer 
from bondage, the leader through the wilderness, the giver of the law 
and of bread from heaven. They confessed the sin and rebellion of the 
people on their way to Canaan, and God's forbearance and goodness to 
them. They acknowledge that God had given them Canaan, having cast 
out their enemies to do so, and yet they were forced to own that in spite 
of all this, they had rebelled against God and slain his prophets. Having 
been repeatedly delivered into the hands of their enemy and repeatedly 
rescued when they cried to him, despite all, they had continued so to 
sin against him that finally they went into captivity (verse 30), and 
again by God's great mercy had been brought again to Canaan (verse 31). 
They owned the goodness of God in all that he had done, and their own 
wickedness, and acknowledged themselves responsible for being at this 
time mere slaves in the land of promise. (Verses 32-37.) * * * 
They now make a formal covenant, and the heads of the tribes and the 
priests and Levites publicly subscribe to it. * * * Here follows a 
list of those who subscribed, kept for future references. Such a document 
would have great influence upon the people when they again fell into 
temptation to sin. * * * They took the most solemn pledge to keep 
the law, not to intermarry with the people of Canaan, to keep the Sabbath, 
to sustain the house of God, and bring in year by year the first fruits 
of all their produce to sustain the priesthood and the ordinances of 
religion as the law demanded. 

Oh. 11 :l-3. — The lack of dwellers at Jerusalem made it necessary to 
select by lot a certain number to dwell there. The sparseness of the 
population left the city in a semi-helpless condition. It was something 
of a sacrifice to give up one's possessions and the increase which the 
yearly toil brought, to dwell in the city. Such an arrangement was 
necessary, however, to properly defend the capital and the national 
government of the Jewish people. 

4-19. — A record of these dwellers was kept just as other records were 
kept, for future reference. 

20-36. — The record of the other residences of the Jews would also be 
valuable in determining future titles to lands and other possessions. 

Ch. 12:1-9. — It is probable that this list of priests and Levites had 
been drawn up by Zerubbabel. 

10-21. — This list is one out of which the genealogical table of Matthew 
and Luke are produced. 

22-47. — Jerusalem was the headquarters of the Jewish nation, and 
the only place in which sacrifices were offered. And so it would be the 



382 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

place where the greatest number of Levites would be employed. When 
the walls were dedicated (12:27-43) a great and imposing procession 
was formed, and the Levites were made musicians for the occasion, as 
well as appointed to assist in other religious services of the occasion. It 
was a period of great rejoicing in the Jewish nation. 

Ch. 13 :l-3. — The reading of the law also showed the people that the 
Moabite must be excluded from the Jewish nation. Accordingly all of 
that nationality were shut out. It was highly necessary also, in order 
that Israel be not tempted to follow the abominable idolaters of that 
people. The Moabite nation had long been a stumbling block in the way 
of true religious progress in Israel. 

4, 5. — This miserable Tobiah, who had so opposed the Jews in building 
the walls, was an Ammonite. ~Ro wonder Xehemiah, on his return, was 
righteously indignant, and unceremoniously cast this wretch's trumpery 
out of the temple. He ought to have put Eliashib out of office. The 
room seemed to have been fixed up to accommodate this vile deceiver on 
his occasional visits to Jerusalem. 

6-9. — We are not told when Xehemiah left Jerusalem, or how long he 
staid, but he did return, and on his return to Jerusalem corrected this 
abuse at once, and restored the room to its proper use. 

10-14. — This people seemed to have neglected or refused to pay their 
tithes, probably because disgusted at the mal-administration of Eliashib 
in spending it in entertaining this Ammonite heathen. The priests and 
Levites had probably been scattered to their country inheritance's in order 
to make a living. ISTehemiah reformed these abuses, recalled the Levites 
to their duties, and set the people to properly supporting them. Men 
of decency and honesty were set to act as treasurers of the fund and 
insure its right use. 

15-22. — Nehemiah's treatment of the Sabbath breakers furnishes a 
good example for the nations. He ordered the gates to be closed and left 
closed on the Sabbath. These profaners attempted to carry on their work 
outside the walls, but when Nehemiah threatened to lay hands on them 
they discreetly withdrew. Levites were set to the gates to guard this 
matter in future. 

23-31. — Still there remained some who persisted in breaking the law 
regarding marriage with heathen. When Nehemiah failed by persuasive 
powers to reform this abuse he resorted to heroic treatment, and so fully 
justified his course by reference to preceding Jewish history that they 
had to admit the correctness of his position. A grandson of the high 
priest had married a daughter of Sanballat. Xehemiah chased him 



ESTHER. 383 

out. The whole context shows that if persuasion fails to accomplish a 
needed reform, force should be used. In this sense Nehemiah was an 
ideal ruler. 



ESTHER. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1.-9 The royal Medo-Persian feast. 
10, 11 The king's order to the queen. 

12 Her refusal. His anger. 
13-20 The king's council about the matter. 
21.22 The king's decree. 

Chapter 2. j 

1-4 The gathering of virgins. 
5-11 The two captive Jews at Shushan. 
12-14 The king's method of choosing a wife. 
15-20 Selection of Esther by King Ahasuerus. 
21-23 Discovery by Mordecai of a plot against the king. 

Chapter 3. 

1-4 Mordecai's refusal to bow to Haman. 
5, 6 Hainan's murderous resentment. 
7-15 His plot against the Jews. 

Chapter 4. 

1-3 Grief of Mordecai and the other Jews. 

4-9 The story of the plot carried to Esther. Mordecai's charge to her. 
10-17 Correspondence between Esther and Mordecai. 

Chapter 5. 

1-3 Esther's appearance before the king. 

4-8 Her banquet. The king and Haman guests. 
■■ 9-14 Haman's gallows for Mordecai. 

Chapter 6. 

1-3 The king's discovery of Mordecai's service. 

4-9 His consultation with Haman. 
10, 11 His order to Haman. 
12-14 Haman's grief. 



384 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 7. 

1-4 Esther's petition at the banquet. 
5-7 Astonishment and wrath of the king. 
8-10 Execution of Haman. 
Chapter 8. 

1, 2 Setting of Esther over the family of Haman. Mordecai honored. 
3-6 Esther's petition to have the death decree reversed. 
7-14 The answer. 
15-17 Mordecai's advancement. 
Chapter 9. 

1-16 The Jewish defense. Execution of ten sons of Haman. 
17-32 Institution of feast days in honor of this event. 
Chapter 10. 

1-3 Greatness of Ahasuerus and Mordecai. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-9. — All indications point to the fact that the events of this 
book come in between the sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra, from B. C. 
462 to 452, a period of ten years. The great majority of the Jews alive 
at the time of Cyrus' proclamation had been born in captivity, and had 
gathered much wealth about them which it was not easy to leave. This 
history of Esther begins about the fourth year of the reign of 
Artaxerxes, and so about sixteen years before the first events recorded 
in Nehemiah. Some think this book a bit of record taken from the 
chronicles of this heathen kingdom, since it does not contain the name 
of God. It is noted that such great feasts as this were common with 
wealthy Eastern monarchs. For six months the great assembly was 
engaged in studying the greatness of the king and his government, and 
probably the last seven days spent in a feast within the garden of the 
royal palace. Since the men and women of that age did not mingle in 
society, Vashti, the queen, made a feast for the women at the same time. 
The Medo-Persian empire was at this time the principal government of 
the earth. 

10, 11. — By the seventh day of the feast the king and his principal men 
would be in a sort of drunken debauch. The seven men mentioned were 
eunuchs who had charge of the royal harem, or the collection of wives 
usually made by heathen monarchs. ' 

12. — Jamieson says, "The refusal of Vashti to obey an order which 
required her to make an indecent exposure of herself before a company 
of drunken revelers was becoming both to the modesty of her sex and 



ESTHER. 385 

her rank as queen, for, according to Persian customs, the queen, even 
more than the wives of other men, was secluded from the public gaze ; 
and had not the king's blood been heated with wine, or his reason over- 
powered by force of offended pride, he would have perceived that his own 
honor, as well as hers, was consulted by her dignified conduct." 

13-20. — The wise men were probably "the magi, without whose advice 
as to the proper time of doing a thing, the Persian kings never did take 
any step whatever; and the persons named in the following verse were 
the 'seven counselors' (Ezra 7:14) who formed the state ministry. The 
combined wisdom of all, it seems, was enlisted to consult with the king 
what course should be taken after so unprecedented an occurrence as 
Vashti's disobedience of the royal summons. It is scarcely possible for 
us to imagine the astonishment produced by such a refusal in a country 
and a court where the will of the sovereign was absolute. The assembled 
grandees were petrified with horror at the daring affront; alarm for the 
consequence that might ensue to each of them in his own household next 
seized on their minds, and the sounds of bacchanalian revelry were 
hushed into deep and anxious consultation what punishment to inflict 
on the refractory queen. But a purpose was to be served by the flattery 
of the king and the enslavement of all women. The counselors were too 
intoxicated or obsequious to oppose the courtly advice of Memucan. It 
was unanimously resolved, with a wise regard to the public interest of the 
nation, that the punishment of Vashti could, be nothing short of degra- 
dation from her royal dignity. The doom was accordingly pronounced 
and made known in all parts of the empire." (J. F. B.) 

21, 22. — The language of verse 22 indicates that in addition to the 
royal decree concerning Vashti, there was opened a clause relating to 
the general subject of home rulership. 

Ch. 2 :l-4. — "In the despotic countries of the East the custom obtains 
that, when an order is sent to a family for a young damsel to repair to 
the royal palace, the parents, however unwilling, dare not refuse the 
honor of their daughter, and although they know that when she is once 
into the royal harem, they will never see her again, they are obliged to 
yield a silent and passive compliance. On the occasion referred to, a 
general search was commanded to be made for the greatest beauties 
throughout the empire, in the hope that, from their ranks, the discon- 
solate monarch might select one for the honor of succeeding to the royal 
honors of Vashti. The damsels, on arrival at the palace, were placed 
under the custody of Hege, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, 
i. e., the chief eunuch, usually a repulsive old man, on whom the court 



386 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

ladies are very dependent, and whose favor they are always desirous to 
secure." (J. F. B.) 

5-11. — The Hebrew name of this woman, Hadassah, meant Myrtle, 
but on her introduction to the royal harem her name was changed to 
Esther, which means the star Venus, indicating beauty and good fortune 
(Gresenius). Mordecai came daily as near as was allowable to the harem, 
where he probably heard something of Esther through the eunuchs. He 
had been a father to this girl, and at his direction she had for the present 
concealed the fact that she was a Jew. Just what Mordecai's position 
was about the palace we are not informed. 

12-14. — A whole } f ear was spent in these preparations (verses 12-14). 
Each maiden in her turn was taken to the king's house, and on the 
morrow was taken to a secondary department of the harem, and did not 
dare to come again into the king's presence unless he sent for her. The 
harem itself was established on a system of slavery worse than death. 

15-20. — The selection of Esther as queen took place in the seventh 
year of the king's reign, three or four years after the feast in which 
Vashti rebelled. The tenth month was that of the Jewish sacred year, 
the fourth of the Jewish civil year, corresponding to parts of our 
December and January. The time was not far from our Christmas. A 
great feast was made in honor of the occasion, gifts were sent. The 
release mentioned was likely some remittal of taxes made in honor of 
this occasion. 

21-23. — The plot against the life of the king discovered by Mordecai 
was probably the outgrowth of the divorcing of Yashti. Some of her 
friends had been the means of stirring up the eunuchs of the harem to 
make this plot against his life in revenge. Mordecai told it to Queen 
Esther, and she certified the matter to the king in Mordecai's name, and 
the matter was transferred to the public records. The king, perhaps, 
knew nothing of Mordecai, and for the present he received no recognition 
for his services. But all things come to him who waits. 

Ch. 3 :l-4. — Agag seemed to be a title of the kings 'of Amalek (I Sam. 
15). Haman was considered by the Jews a descendant of Agag, the 
Amalekite, hence their hatred of him. See Ex. 17 :8-14. Haman was 
made prime minister, a very important office. He occupied the elevated 
state chair set apart for that dignitary. All the other officers and 
attendants about the palace bowed to him, but Mordecai would not, and 
when asked about the matter frankly told why. Such an attitude of 
reverence is due only to God r but this scion of a doomed and accursed 
race demanded homage as if he were God. Those who observed Mordecai's 



ESTHER. 387 

presistent refusal finally carried the word to Hainan that the case might 
be tested. 

5, 6. — When Haman learned of this refusal he was furious. No doubt 
he knew something of the history of his people and their connection with 
Israel and the decree that had gone out against them from God, whom 
Israel served. Now, he thinks, is just the time to defeat that prophecy 
and wipe out the whole family of Jews from the Medo-Persian kingdom. 
Little did he think what his rage and diabolical plot was about to cost 
him. 

7-15. — "In resorting to this method of ascertaining the most auspicious 
day for putting his atrocious scheme into execution, Haman acted as 
the kings and nobles of Persia have always done, never engaging in any 
enterprise without consulting the astrologers, and being satisfied as to 
the lucky hour. Vowing vengeance, but scorning to lay hands on a 
single victim, he meditated the extirpation of the whole Jewish race, 
who he knew were sworn enemies of his countrymen, and by artfully 
representing them as a people who were aliens in manners and habits, 
and enemies to the rest of his subjects, procured the king's sanction to 
the intended massacre. One motive he used in urging his point was 
addressed to the king's cupidity. Fearing lest his master might object 
that the extermination of a numerous body of his subjects would seriously 
depress the public revenue, Haman promised to make up the loss. I 
will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the king's treasuries. This 
sum, according to the Jewish talent, will considerably exceed one billion 
five hundred millions of dollars, an immense contribution to be made 
out of a private fortune. But classic history makes mention of several 
persons whose resources are almost incredible." (J. F. B.) 

It can be seen where Haman expected to get this immense price when 
we consider the last clause of verse 13. The red-handed murderer 
expected to kill and plunder by wholesale. Words fail to express the 
deviltry of this black scheme. Swift messengers carried the edict 
translated in all languages to every province of this greatest empire. 
The edict would, of course, include all the Jews in Jerusalem, for Judea 
was at this time a part of the Medo-Persian empire. 

Ch. 4:1-3. — The grief of Mordecai and the other Jews would be 
inexpressibly great. No wonder the last clause of the 'former theme 
says the capital city was perplexed. What language could tell how the 
kingdom would be rended by the execution of that terrible edict. No 
wonder the cry was long and bitter. 

4-9. — Mordecai's great grief would attract the attention of the attend- 



388 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

ants of the palace, and word would be carried to Esther. She in her 
seclusion would not find out anything of the matter in any other way. 
When Mordecai refused clothing sent by her, she sent a specially 
appointed officer to know the cause of his grief. In connection with his 
reply, stating the reason, Mordecai charges her to supplicate the king for 
the lives of her people. 

10-17. — Esther sends word to Mordecai of the difficulty in getting 
audience with the king. Mordecai replies in substance, You are sure to 
be destroyed anyhow if you don't get consent of the king to counteract 
this abominable edict; and at the same time he expresses faith that G-od 
would send deliverance to Judaism from some other source. Esther 
tells Mordecai to appoint a fast for her among the Jews, and that she 
and her Jewish maidens would fast also, and that after three days she 
would take the risk and go before the king, and if she was not put to 
death for the intrusion, she would do what she could for the relief of the 
awful condition. 

Ch. 5 :l-3. — Esther put on her royal apparel as a necessary preparation 
to enter the king's presence. "The palace of this Persian king seems to 
have been built, like many more of the same quality and description, with 
an advanced cloister over against the gate, made in the fashion of a large 
penthouse, supported only by one or two contiguous pillars in the front 
or else in the center. In such open structures as these, in the midst of 
their guards and counselors, are the bashaws, kadis and other great 
officers accustomed to distribute justice and transact the public affairs of 
the provinces." (J. F. B.) 

4-8. — Her invitation of the king to a banquet would at once please him 
and make the way easier to voice her request. Haman would also be 
exceedingly pleased by this honor, and would urge on the king to grant 
any request made by her, thinking thus to afford himself further honors 
and greater recognition. Her request at this banquet was that they two 
might come to another banquet on the morrow, when she would make 
known her special request. 

9-14. — The monstrous wretch Haman went out with a glad heart; alas, 
it was his last glad day. As he passed the king's gate he frothed with 
anger because Mordecai would not bow to him. He boasted at home 
to his friends and his wife about his great station and his latest honor, 
but whined about his wounded pride. His wife, like old Jezebel, had a 
remedy. Make a gallows seventy-five feet high, speak to the king, and 
hang him tomorrow before the banquet. Merry Haman made the gallows. 
Little did he think who was to hang upon it. The criminal suggestion 



ESTHEE. 389 

of this tigress was to be to her own grief, to enter like iron into her soul. 

Ch. 6:1-3. — Why the king could not sleep on that night we are not 
told, but whatever may have been the local reason, God's hand was in the 
matter. Early in the morning Hainan would ask to have Mordecai 
hanged, and unless the king immediately discovered his services, that 
request would likely be granted. In the official records was written every 
occurrence worthy of note. It would make interesting reading. Monarchs 
often had these records read to them. When the king learned how his life 
had been saved he at once became interested in the man who had saved 
him, and having learned that no reward had been given him, he set his 
mind to work to fix on a plan. 

4-9. — Early in the morning Haman comes to present his request. That 
day he was to go to the second feast to which he had been invited by 
Esther. He did not want his pleasure spoiled by the presence of a hated 
Jew about the court who would not bow to him. When the king learned 
that Haman was in the court, he asked him the question of verse 6. It 
was customary for kings to take the advice of their first rank adviser in 
such matters. The selfish fool, Haman, was so full of himself that he 
did not for a moment doubt that the king meant Haman. The answer 
he made was a purely selfish one. What would he have answered had he 
known that Mordecai was to be the one honored ! 

10, 11. — The king's command to Haman to do to the Jew Mordecai 
as he had suggested for the man whom the king wanted to honor, was 
paralyzing to Haman, but he dared not refuse, and further, he dared not 
now tell his plan about Mordecai. It was most galling to carry out such 
an order, but he had to do so, and the moment he was released he hastened 
home to pour out his grief to his friends. 

12-14. — The counselors of Haman, and his wife who had advised the 
gallows to be made on which to hang Mordecai, agreed that Haman would 
now likely fall before Mordecai. Their consultation was cut short by 
the royal messengers who came to call Haman to the banquet. It is said 
to have been a custom at such feasts to send a messenger direct to each 
guest at the day and hour appointed to announce that all things are ready. 

Ch. 7:1-4. — Probably nothing tasted well to Haman at that banquet. 
The thought of Mordecai would make him wretched, yet he had to seem 
pleased. But when Esther made known her request it must have been 
to both the king and Haman like lightning when there are no clouds. 
Haman likely had no intimation that the new queen was a Jewess, and 
did not know Mordecai's relation to her. The first part of her request 
would almost take away the breath of both the king and Haman. Verse 3. 



390 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

As she proceeded with her explanation (verse 4) light would begin to 
dawn on the guilty mind of Hainan, and he would begin to wish himself 
a thousand miles away. He remembered the price paid by him for the 
privilege of killing the Jews. Her way of putting the statement of 
verse 4 was best calculated to rouse the king's resentment. 

5-7. — This next scene could not be adequately described in words. The 
king demanded to know who had conceived such a design. If he knew 
at this time that she was a Jewess and thought of the contract he had 
made with Ham an, then the point of his question was, Who had the 
audacity to form such a monstrous plot. I doubt if the king knew 
the details of Hainan's plot against the Jews; possibly Haman had 
represented to him a "certain class of people" without specifying who 
they were. Haman would hardly have dared to specify to the king that 
all the Jews were to be killed. Esther now boldly charges Haman with 
being a wicked enemy, and one who was not only outraging her people, 
but doing irreparable injury to the interests of the king. When the king 
arose in his anger and went out of the banquet room, Haman attempted 
to beseech Esther for mercy. Here is a suggestive spectacle — Haman, a 
short time before the lord of a great plot to murder and plunder a nation 
of Jews, now cringing in mortal terror before a single Jewish woman, 
begging her to save his life. Sometimes at least God visits speedily the 
results of wrong doing on the doers. Better at any time in the history 
of that case been one of the despised Jews under a ban of death than the 
proud Haman in power originating the accursed scheme. 

8-10. — Fausset says, "The king returning at that moment was fired 
at what seemed to be an outrage on female modesty. The covering of the 
face meant that a criminal was unworthy to look on his king's face, and 
so when sentence was pronounced the face of the condemned was always 
covered." Some one of the eunuchs of the palace who knew of the plot 
Haman had made against Mordecai, tells the king of the gallows, and the 
feet of this "gigantic criminal" was taken in the very net he had spread 
for another. How richly he deserved judgment without mercy. 

Ch. 8 :1, 2. — The supposition is that all the property of Haman was 
confiscated and given to Esther as some compensation for the peril in 
which she had been placed. She tells what relation Mordecai is to her, 
and that, in addition to the services he had rendered to the king, would 
make him at once a favorite. So he is made one of the seven counselors, 
and given the place of prime minister, which Haman had held, and 
clothed with all his authority. Esther now appointed Mordecai to have 
charge over her estate, so that the great wealth which formerly belonged 



ESTHER. 391 

to Hainan was now in the hands of Mordecai — all because Haman was 
a proud, selfish and bloodthirsty wretch. 

3-6. — Esther now makes a tearful petition to the king to reverse the 
decree. His holding of the royal scepter to her meant that her request 
was granted, and she might stand before him. And her request of him 
to send messengers undoing the mischief of Hainan's decrees was suc- 
cessful. He gives her assurance that her people shall not be destroyed. 

7-14. — The king according to the custom of his government could not 
ignore or directly reverse an order once given out, but he did in another 
way what she asked. He allowed Esther and Mordecai to write other 
letters to those one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, and seal the 
letters with the king's authority, granting the Jews the right of self- 
defense, giving them not only the right to slay those who might attack 
them, but to take their property for a spoil. This second decree was 
pushed with very great haste. 

15-17. — Xow that Mordecai had become the chief man in the kingdom 
next to the king, was so highly honored and was chief agent in carrying 
out the reverse decree, the Jews not only greatly rejoiced, but many 
people through fear of them cast their lot with the Jews. .Thus their 
party grew, not only in favor, but also in numbers. 

Ch. 9:1-16. — When the time came for the slaughter the Jews were 
thoroughly prepared for the defense. The rulers and all the officers of 
the province, since the}' now feared the power of the prime minister 
Mordecai, were on the side of the Jews, and the result was that the 
whole tide of battle went in favor of the Jews. Ten sons of Haman, who 
were probably very active in trying to carry out the execution of the Jews, 
were slain in the fight. Some interpret the language of verse 13 to mean 
that Esther was unnecessarily vindictive. But it is wisely suggested that 
the enemies of the Jews may have concealed themselves the first day and 
attempted 'to break out on the Jews the next day after the time had 
expired in which they were allowed to defend themselves. The order of 
the king allowing the Jews to continue their defense, and publicly hang 
the dead bodies of Hainan's sons slain the day before, thus branding 
them with public infamy, would permanently discourage the enemy in 
making any further attempts against the Jews. However, the Jews were 
wise that they took no spoil, thus proving that they were not red-handed 
murderers and robbers, plundering for spoil, but civil subjects fighting 
for their lives and possessions. 

17-32. — Adar was made up of parts of our February and March. The 
first defense was made on the thirteenth day, and ' all through the 



392 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

province the people of the Jews feasted and made merry next day. But 
in Shushan, the palace, the work of defense extended over two days, so 
they did not feast until the fifteenth. Mordecai commanded that both 
these days be made feast days for all time to come. This was published 
to all the provinces. It is suggested that the name Purim (plural of Pur, 
meaning lot) was given by the Jews in derision, since Haman had 
carefully cast lots to find a lucky day on which to carry out his plans. 
Jennings says, "Pur, in the Persian language, signifies lot ; and the feast 
of Purim, or lots, has a reference to the time having been pitched upon 
by Haman through the decision of the lot. In consequence of the signal 
national deliverance which divine providence gave them from the in- 
famous machinations of Haman, Mordecai ordered the Jews to com- 
memorate that event by an anniversary festival, which was to last for 
two days, in accordance with the two days' war of defense they had to 
maintain. There was at first a slight difference in the time of this 
festival, for the Jews in the provinces, having defended themselves 
against their enemies on the thirteenth, devoted the fourteenth to fes- 
tivity, whereas their brethren in Shushan, having extended that work 
over two days, did not observe their thanksgiving feast till the fifteenth. 
But this was remedied by authority, which fixed the fourteenth and 
fifteenth of Adar. It became a season of sunny memories to the universal 
body of the Jews ; and, by the letters of Mordecai, dispersed through all 
parts of the Persian empire, it was established as an annual -feast, the 
celebration of which is kept up still. On both days of the feast the 
modern Jews read over the Megillah or Book of Esther in their syna- 
gogues. The copy read must not be printed, but written on vellum in the 
form of a roll; and the names of the ten sons of Haman are written on'it 
in a peculiar manner, being ranged, they say, like so many bodies on a 
gibbet. The reader must pronounce all these names in one breath. 
Whenever Hainan's name is pronounced, they make a terrible noise in 
the synagogue. Some drum with their feet on the floor, and the boys 
have mallets with which they knock and make a noise. They prepare 
themselves for their carnival by a previous fast, which should continue 
three days, in imitation of Esther's, but they have mostly reduced it to 
one day." 

Ch. 10:1-3. — It is thought by some that the tribute here mentioned 
was levied because of the expenses incurred in this terrible event men- 
tioned. The language of verse 3 would be very natural in view of the 
event just related. 



JOB 



INTRODUCTION. 

Uz is supposed to have been in the northeast of the Arabian Desert 
(the land lying between Syria and Babylon). It is supposed that Job 
lived before Abraham, and if so the book is to be read between chapters 
11 and 1.2 of Genesis. The reasons for this view are that Job lived two 
hundred years, one hundred and forty years after this great trial, and 
says nothing of the Mosaic law, or God's dealing with Israel, or the 
destruction of Sodom or Gomorrah, but does speak of the flood, and 
describes the manners and customs of the early patriarchs. Dr. Hales 
also calculates that the stars referred to in this book were the constella- 
tions of 2130 B. C, or 184 years before the birth of Abraham. There 
is much conjecture, but no argument, to disprove that Job was a real 
person. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-5 Job's character and wealth. 
6-12 Talk between God and Satan about Job. 
13-19 Destruction of Job's possessions and family. 
20-22 Its effect. 
Chapter 2. 

1-6 Second talk between God and Satan about Job. 
7, 8 Affliction of Job's body. 
9, 10 Its effect. His wife's advice. 
11-13 Job's three visitors. 
Chapter 3: 

1-26 Job's curse upon the day of his birth. 
Chapter 4. 
1-5-27 Speech of Eliphaz. 

1, 2 Apology for speaking. 

3-11 Admonition to Job to retain his former wisdom. 
12-21 His vision. 
Chapter 5. 

1-7 Conclusion from the vision. 
8-27 Advice to appeal to God. 



394 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 6. 

1-7-21 Reply of Job to Eiiphaz. 
1-7 Extent of his grief. 
8-13 His desire of death. 
14-30 His reproof of his friends. 

Chapter 7. 

1-21 Job's excuse for his desire. 
1-5 His affliction. 
6-11 Certainty of death. 
12-21 Horror of his life under God's critical espionage. 
Chapter 8. 
1-22 First speech of Bilclad to Job. 
1-3 His reproof. 
4-7 His suggestion. 
8-19 Precedent. His argument. 
20-22 Its application to Job. 

Chapter 9. 

1-10-22 Reply of Job to Bildad. 

1-23 Hopelessness of justification when God condemns. 
24 His complaint of the predominance of the wicked. 
25-10-17 His terror of God's judgment. 
18-22 His complaint that God gave him being. 

Chapter 11. 
1-20 First speech of Zophar. 

1-12 His reproof of Job. 
13-20 His advice to Job. 

Chapter 12. 

1-14-22 Eeply of Job to Zophar. 

1-6 His reproof of their egotism. 
7-25 Job's argument about God's power. 

Chapter 13. 

1-19 Job reproves the conduct of his three friends. 
20-14-22 His address to God. 

20-28 His appeal for ease from God. 

1-12 His plea for God's favor. 
13-22 Job's desire for death. 



JOB. 395 

Chapter 15. 
1-35 Second speech of Eliphaz. 

1-16 His contention with Job's course of reasoning. 
17-35 His discourse on the condition of the wicked. 

Chapter 16. 

1-17-16 Job's second answer to Eliphaz. 
1-5 His estimate of his friends. 
6-] 6 Statement of Job's condition. 
17-19 His assertion of his purity. 
20-17-9 Job's appeal to God. 

10 His request of his friends. 
11-16 Statement of his hopes. 

Chapter 18. 
1-21 Bildad's second address. 

1-4 His reproof of Job. 
5-21 Discourse on the wicked. 

Chapter 19. 
1-29 Job's second answer to Bildad. 

1-4 Job's reproach of his friends. 
5-20 Statement of the calamity from God upon him. 
21-29 Appeal for pity. Confidence of the resurrection. 

Chapter 20. 
1-29 Zophar's second address. The wicked. 

Chapter 21. 
1-34 Job's second answer to Zophar. 
1-15 Prosperity of the wicked. 
16-21 Their constant danger. 
22-34 Future punishment of the wicked argued. 

Chapter 22. 
1-30 Third speech of Eliphaz. 

1-11 His accusation of Job. 
12-20 God's espionage over men. 
21-30 His exhortation to Job. 

Chapter 23. 

1-24-25 Job's third reply to Eliphaz. 

1-12 Desire to plead his cause direct with God. 
13-17 Job's terror of God's course with him. 



396 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 24. 

1-16 Evil deeds of the wicked described. 
17 Their terror. 
18-25 Job's belief concerning their end. 
Chapter 25. 

1-6 Third speech of Bildad. Impossibility of justification. 
Chapter 26. 
1-31-40 Reply of Job to Bildad's third speech. 

1-4 Inefficiency of Bildad's instruction. 
5-14 Job's discourse on God's knowledge and power. 
Chapter 27. 

1-7 Job's utter repudiation of hypocrisy. 
8-23 His confirmatory discourse. 
Chapter 28. 

1-28 Contrast between knowledge of nature and the higher 
wisdom. 
Chapter 29. 

1-25 Job's public standing in his prosperity. 
Chapter 30. 

1-15 His contemptuous treatment in adversity. 
16-31 Extent of his calamity. 
Chapter 31. 

1-40 Job's vindication of his private character. 
1-12 His chastity. 
13-15 His just treatment of employes. 
16-23 His charity. 
24-28 His humility. 
29-31 His forgiveness. 
32 His hospitality. 
33, 34 His confession. 
35-37 Appeal to the Almighty. 
38-40 His just dealing. 
Chapter 32. 
1-37-24 Speech of Elihu. 

1-22 His apology. 
Chapter 33. 

1-7 His appeal to Job. 
8-30 His answer to Job's assumption. 
31-33 His challenge to Job. 



JOB. 397 

Chapter 34. 

1-37 His reproof of Job. 
Chapter 35. 

1-16 His appeal to human judgment. 
Chapter 36. 

1-21 His argument of God's justice. 
22-37-24 Discourse on God's power and wisdom. 

Chapter 38. 

1-40-2 God's address to Job. The Almighty wisdom and power. 
1-3 Challenge of Job's attention. 
4-7 Formation of the earth. 
8-11 Fixing the place of the sea. 
12-15 Supplying of light. 

16 The springs of the ocean. 

17 The kingdom of death. 

18 The extent of the earth. 

19-21 The source of light and darkness. 
22, 23 The formation of snow and hail. 
24-28 The sending of rains. 
29, 30 Formation of ice. 
31, 32 Influence of the stars. 
33-38 Wielding of the elements of nature. 
39-41 Provision for the lions and ravens. 
Chapter 39. 

1-4 Laws of the wild goats and hinds. 
5-8 Freedom of the wild ass. 
9-12 Untamable nature of the unicorn. 
13-18 Nature of the peacock and ostrich. 
19-25 Nature of the horse. 
26-30 Instinct of the hawk and eagle. 
Chapter 40. 

1, 2 God's challenge to Job. 
3-5 Job's answer. 
6-41-34 God's address concluded. Man's comparative insignificance. 
6-8 God's rebuke of Job's policy. 
9-14 Job's lack of power. 
15-24 Description of the behemoth. 
Chapter 41. 

1-34 Description of the leviathan. 



398 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 42. 

1-6 Job's answer. Confession and repentance. 

7-9 God's order to Job's friends. 

10 Job's restoration and great prosperity. 
11-15 His friends, possessions and family. 
16, 17 His age and death. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-5. — Job doubtless did the best he knew. That was perfection. 
The counting of wealth by the amount of live stock was common to the 
patriarchal age, as was also the custom of sacrificing by the head of the 
family without any fixed time or place. Verse 5 shows that Job was 
religious in fact as well as in name. The existence of such a man as Job 
outside of Judaism is another proof that in all ages God had faithful 
followers. 

6-12. — By the sons of God here is doubtless meant angels. Satan was 
at this time a false angel, but it is doubtful if he had yet openly rebelled 
against God. The transactions recorded in this book were probably a 
part of the very plan by which God has been legally and openly convicting 
Satan through the ages. Later, possibly about the days of Jesus, he 
openly rebelled and was denied longer access to glory as the accuser of 
men, being cast out through the battle mentioned in Jude. (See Rev. 
12:7-13). Satan brings a false accusation against Job, and in order to 
prove it false God permits him to spoil Job's property, but not to touch 
Job's person. 

13-19. — The hand of Satan is plainly manifest in this rapid succession 
of awful calamities. They gave Job no time to recover from one fiery 
ordeal before another came. The Sabeans here mentioned were roving 
bands of the desert. Chaldea was the land of which Babylon became the 
capital. Some authorities explain that the fire mentioned in verse 1'6 
means the burning wind of Arabia, which the Turks call "wind of 
poison." The last calamitous bit of news, that of the death of the 
children, was the last and greatest stroke which could befall the belong- 
ings of Job. It is supposed that the expression "young men," better 
rendered young people, included the daughters. 

20-22. — Job's grief was indescribable. The rending of the garment 
and shaving of the head both were symbols of grief. Job did both to 
intensify the idea. He fell to the earth, but worshiped God. The 
expression "mother's womb" was a common name for the earth. Job 
worshiped God when it cost him something to do so. 



JOB. 399 

Ch. 2:1-6. — In this second talk between God and Satan the old arch- 
enemy thought that although his first argument had signally failed, he 
yet had a stronghold. He says in substance, "Job enjoys health and 
strength, and so does not care much what becomes of his worldly interests 
so long as he retains these." And it is not to be denied that there are 
people of that "fat, lazy, animal" order in the world. Again God gives 
Satan opportunity to do his worst with Job's body, but not to take his life. 

7, 8. — It would be impossible to estimate the intensity of Job's pain. 
He was a festering mass of sores. Ashes were a sign of mourning, and 
Job put his whole body in the midst of them. A potsherd was a piece 
of broken crockery ware. 

9, 10. — Job evidently received the affliction as coming from God. He 
reproached his wife for her wretched advice, and expressed his faith in 
God, who wisely mixes with the acknowledged good of this life some 
undesirable experience which we mistake for evil. Job had patience, but 
neither he nor others could know how much he had until he was tested. 
This test was to himself and all the world a blessing in disguise. Satan 
in trying to do his worst, immortalized Job, and gave an everlasting 
object lesson on faith to all created intelligences. 

11-13. — There is much conjecture but no certain knowledge as to who 
were these three friends and whence they came. It matters not. In 
time of grief too great to be comforted by words, the sympathizers sat in 
silence usually for about seven days. 

Ch. 3 :l-26. — Job's curse on the day of his birth is put in the strongest 
language he could command. He doubtless felt as he said, but could his 
vision have reached into the future this present cause of bitter sorrow 
would have at once been shown to be an occasion for unspeakable 
rejoicing. What Job in his bitterness was condemning, was to yield the 
peaceable fruit of righteousness to him, by his being exercised thereby; 
just as will every evil which Satan brings upon any child of faith. Read 
Job's anathema (chapter 3), arid compare his wish for death with what 
he now enjoys in immortality because of his faithfulness in the great trial 
of his faith. 

Chs. 4r and 5. — In his first speech Eliphaz first of all apologizes for 
addressing Job in this hour when silence is so sacred. * * * He 
reminds Job that in time past Job has shown great wisdom and greatly 
helped many not so wise or so strong as he. In verse 6 he greatly 
reproaches what seems to be Job's failure to follow his own advice with 
which he had formerly helped so many. To strengthen this former 
confidence he refers to God's care for the righteous (verse 7), his 



400 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

visitation upon the wicked (verses 8 and 9), and pictures the helplessness 
of strength independent of God (verses 10 and 11). * * * Whether 
the vision here mentioned was a dream, or simply conclusions drawn from 
a dream does not appear. The conclusions were, that if mortal man is 
ever just, God is certainly much more so. Since God is able to detect 
folly in angels, he is certainly able to see even greater imperfections in 
mortal creatures, and therefore if they conceive right, how much greater 
must be God's adherence to just principles. 

* * * Call now in this time of your extremity on any mortal and 
see if you can gain the aid you seek. The wrath you display, and your 
envy of the evil ones who seem to prosper, are killing upon you. The 
foolish whose apparent prosperity you envy, stand in daily likelihood and 
ultimate certaint} r of the grief to which their course of life deserves to 
come. While there is nothing inherent in the earth which gives rise to 
affliction or trouble, yet it is the common lot of all men. Who then of 
the human family can help you, however you may seek to them rather 
than to God. * * * The advice to appeal to God rather, was sound 
not only in view of his power and his usual policy (verses 8-16), but 
because of the blessed results which would come from taking chastisement 
from the hand of the Almighty, and so coming in harmony with his 
providence and into league with his power and resources. (Verses 17-26.) 
All this seemed right enough, but did not really concern Job's case. 

Ch. 6 :l-7. — Job's answer to Eliphaz was to the effect that the argument 
of Eliphaz was not relevant to Job's case. First of all, his affliction was 
unspeakable, and because of its weight his words had welled up rashly. 
The terrors which the Lord had brought on him were like an over- 
whelming army in array against him. Even the brute does not cry out 
without cause, and man will not eat unpalatable food without seasoning, 
and so he argues, in the case of Job's outcry and rebellion against these 
calamities they should be considered before he is condemned for not 
drinking the cup. 

8-13. — Therefore he desires death, and pleads that God would cut him 
off, so that he might at least have the relief that death would bring from 
his tortures. Could he have that granted (verse 10) he would harden 
himself to bear the pain which brings forth death, and take comfort in 
the fact that he had not repudiated the claims of God upon his life. For, 
he adds, my strength is not the strength of stone or brass. "I am a man 
of flesh, helpless, and my reason distracted." 

14-30. — To such a one his friends should show kindness lest he be 
made to forsake the Almighty. But you have not been kind. Your 



JOB. 401 

reasonings reminds one of the wet weather brooks in the desert which 
swell and gorge with ice and snow, but. vanish in warm weather so that 
the traveling caravans look in vain and search to no purpose for water 
and are put to confusion (verse 20) from lack of it. You see the terror 
under which I groan and are distracted out of your proper senses. I did 
not ask you for presents, or to bind yourselves in any way to deliver or 
redeem me, but if you can teach me, do so. Your argument thus far 
amounts to nothing. You ought to be able to judge by my looks whether 
or not I am a deceiver, and I ought to be able to discern injustice, and 
now if you can find it in me, point it out. 

Ch. 7 :l-5. — The warfare of life is compared by Job to the toil of a 
hired servant, longing for the coming of the evening when he should 
receive his pay. He speaks of his weary pains and restless tossings and 
the persistence of his disease, clearly indicating that after it all he looked 
for immortality. 

6-11. — Seeing that at best death was sure and soon and his life had in 
it nothing to be desired, Job complains of his lot, no doubt remembering 
his former prosperity. Yerse 9 does not contradict the previous thought 
of immortality, but refers to the fact that he who dies is known no more 
in this life. 

12-21. — Job complains that his life is a terror to himself under the 
critical eye of God. Even his night visions are frightful to him so much 
so that he declares that he would choose death rather than his miserable 
existence. The expression "my bones," verse 15 of the revised version, 
refers doubtless to his wasted condition. Some authorities contend that 
what Job said he loathed was the thought of strangling or suicide. If 
you read "shall" instead of "would" in verse 16, that thought seems to be 
strengthened. Yerses 17-21 seem to be a complaint to God for his critical 
inspection of Job's life. All these are Job's reasons why he desires to die. 

Ch. 8:1-3. — Bildad evidently thinks that Job's attitude is a reflection 
on the justice of the Almighty. 

Yerses 4.-7 voice his suggestion in the case. He assumes that Job's 
children have sinned or that he himself has sinned, and that Job has 
neglected to supplicate for them or else failed to get himself right in 
God's sight, hence God does not hear Job's prayer. 

8-19. — And so, argues Bildad, let us look to the past for a precedent. 
Since a man does not live long enough for extensive observation, they 
must look to the accumulated records of the past. The rapidly growing 
rush or flag which so flourishes when the mire and water abounds, withers 
more rapidly than other herbs when these conditions fail. So of him 



402 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

who in most favorable circumstances prospers in forgetfulness of God. 
Trouble comes and all fail him, even his best supporters denying his 
acquaintance, and so his place is filled by others who know not nor care 
not of him. 

20-22. — Bildad's application of this argument to Job was put in a 
way calculated to make it most effective. The suggestion that Job had 
sinned and the argument and illustration about the end to which sinners 
come was meant for Job to apply to himself, and now that he may not be 
chagrined over impeachment, Bildad says in substance, God is about to 
fill you with laughter and rejoicing and put your enemies to shame, of 
course assuming that Job would first repent, as Bildad had suggested. 
The whole was artfully put. 

Ch. 9 :l-23. — In verse 2, "with" were better rendered "before," i. e., 
in the sight of. The thought here is, if God attempts to pick flaws in a 
character he will find them, and no one can present a character free from 
them. Verses 5-11 express the power of God. Verses 12 and 13 express 
the helplessness of those who attempt to stay up those who contend with 
God. In the revised version "Bahab" in verse 13 should be rendered 
"arrogancy," i. e., the arrogant fighters against God. Verse 15 voices 
the thought that Job had rather make peace with one who had a case 
against him than to plead his own righteousness before God, for (verses 
16-18) Job's experience is so bitter that he declares he could not believe 
that God answered his prayer even though he give audible response to 
the request. Therefore (verses 19-23) he despairs of acquittal if 
arraigned before such a bar, and declines to attempt an} r defense of 
himself, since with all his feeling of innocence he thinks that condem- 
nation would be sure. 

24. — The complaint of verse 24 is a bitter one. The wicked have their 
way. Error is on the throne and truth is the dungeon. Many a toiling 
soul has sorrowfully thought that at times, even if he has not voiced it. 

Verses 25-35 and 1-17 of chapter 10 describe Job's helpless terror. 
The days are flying, but if he attempts cheerfulness God terrifies him 
with agony, and he has no hope of vindication, for there is no peacemaker 
to stand between him and God. Hence Job is weary of life, and bitter 
against God. (Chapter 10:1-17.) 

18-22. — Because of all this Job complains that God did not let him die 
from birth, and asks that God may cause his troubles to cease that Job 
may have a little ease before he goes. 

Ch. 11 :1-12. — The third man of Job's visiting friends now puts in his 
speech. The Hebrew word here rendered "lies" were better rendered 



JOB. 403 

"devices/' One authority renders the passage thus, "Should men bear 
thy boastings with silence ?" It has been noted by students of this book 
that there is little in this speech which had not already been said by the 
other two. He accuses Job of holding himself clean in God's sight, but 
Job did not say so. He simply argued that his calamities could not be 
a result of sins committed by him, as the other friends had charged. The 
entire gist of the argument is defective in that there is assumed as the 
basis of this argument what is not true. 

13-20. — The advice to Job to turn to God, put away his wickedness, 
and so be able to look God in the face, must have been very provoking to 
Job, since he was conscious that what he was suffering was not the result 
of his sin. Especially was it wearisome to him because it had before 
been urged upon Job in the argument of the others, and had been 
answered by him. Their bright pictures of the happiness that should 
come to Job after his repentance, and their dark pictures of the end 
of the wicked was far from comforting him when he could see so clearly 
the folly of their argument. 

Ch. 12 :l-6. — The sarcasm of these words of Job in verse 2 must have 
been biting. They fully understood that Job was not much impressed 
with the force of their arguments. Their egotism was taken to task in a 
way which they could not misunderstand. He repudiates their insinua- 
tions of superior wisdom, and labels their words as mockery of him, 
comparing himself to a burned out torch in their eyes, and in answer to 
their claims referring to the well known prosperity of evil men. 

Job's argument about God's power in verses 7-25 show that Job could 
make a better speech on that line than his would-be instructors. Doubt- 
less he so intended. As the ear learns sounds and the mouth learns 
tastes, so all these things mentioned in this discourse teach the almighti- 
ness of God. 

Ch. 13 :1-19. — From that he passes to a reproof of his friends for their 
course toward him. What I have been taught from my own observation, 
argues, says he, that I am not lacking in the kind of knowledge which you 
bring. But I wish to address the Almighty, not you babblers, and would 
esteem it your best evidence of wisdom to hold your tongues. The word 
"lies" in verse 4 means false reasoning. They were contending that God 
always dealt with men in this world according to their character, all of 
which Job held as sophistry. Verse 8 carries about this sense: In this 
controversy between God and myself will you blindly show partiality 
toward God without being able to show reason for it? Is God's curse 
enhanced by seeking out such as you to contend for him, or will you mock 



404 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

him by bringing his claims into such contempt ? If so, according to my 
knowledge of him yon may surely expect reproof from God. Be silent 
and let me speak, and I will take the consequences. Yerse 14 conveys 
the idea of excruciating pain, in which case any animal is wont to grasp 
the pained portion in its teeth, as it were to bite it out. The figure is 
used by Job to express his pain. Job expresses his faith, but insists on 
his right to argue the case, and expresses confidence in his ultimate 
acquittal, thus giving the highest evidence of his conscious innocence. 

20-28. — Now turning from them, Job makes a pitiful appeal to God 
for ease. He desires that God may ease his pain and take away Job's 
fear of him that he may address God confidently. Verses 22 and 23 
indicate that Job was willing to investigate and hold up his case to Mght, 
but verses 24-28 show that God had so overwhelmed him that he felt 
himself incompetent to discuss the matter. 

Ch. 14. — Verses 1-12 give the grounds of the above plea. Man is a 
helpless mortal creature, and for the Creator to enter into minute 
particular judgment with such a one, leaves him literally no hope. When 
his days are spent he has no possibility of further probation in this life, 
whereas even a tree which dies may sprout up again. And so the 
conclusion is, Be merciful and do not afflict me too severely. 

The thought of verses 13-22 is that the grave would be a desirable 
release from the tortures which Job was suffering, and when God's wrath 
was past Job would appear before him in an investigation of Job's case. 
The figure of verse 17 is that of sealing up in a bag treasures which had 
been counted; so he felt that his sins had been laid up against him, 
read}?" to be presented. And so just as the Lord changed the mountains, 
removed the rocks, wore away the stones and destroyed what grew out of 
the earth, so the hope of man was destroyed when God entered into 
particular judgment with him. Verse 20 is expressive of the set, 
despairing countenance of him who goes from the judgment seat 
convicted. 

Ch. 15 :1-16. — In this second speech of Eliphaz he contends with Job's 
course of reasoning, but as a matter of fact he does not answer it. The 
language of verses ,4-6 does violence to the cause of Job. They are not 
just. Verses 7-13 are mere raillery. Verses 14-16 are the only passage 
in it all which might be mistaken for argument, and they are sophistry. 
They are in direct conflict with all the precepts and exhortation of 
the truth. 

17-35. — The discourse on the condition of the wicked is equally faulty. 
What is there said is often true, perhaps most often true, but it is not 



JOB. 405 

always true, and the fault of all the logic of Job's friends was that they 
assumed that it was always true. Many unrepentant sinners enjoy the 
best that this world furnishes, and go hence unpunished. Verses 17-35 
are valuable only as describing what often takes place, perhaps often 
enough to be counted a fair rule, but not always does it take place so, and 
in such a case as this of Job these words furnish no clue to the solution. 

Ch. 16:1-5. — Job could readily see the emptiness of such a course of 
reasoning in his case. He cries out in desperation, Won't you ever stop 
talking ? Why do you again dip into this case ? Eeverse our conditions, 
and I could easily rail at you, but 'I would not. I should use all my 
wisdom and all my s}'mpathy to aid you. 

6-16. — As verse 6 indicates, when Job attempted to vindicate himself 
his friends heaped up reproaches against him. If he suffered in silence, 
they charged him with enduring deserved punishment. Terse 7 mav 
mean, God has made me weary with these sufferings, and your line of 
argument has turned all my friends against me. The pain of Job's 
condition is vividly brought out in these verses. He felt the wear which 
brings old age; he felt the arrows like the arrows of an enemy entering 
his soul ; he felt that God had forsaken him in the hour of need, and that 
he had come weeping to the valley of shadows, only to find no relief. 

17-19. — And in the light of all the above Job continues to protest that 
unrighteousness on his part cannot be an explanation of his calamity ; he 
says, I have done right, and my asking has been only for things worthy. 
I think the thought of verse 18 is, earth do not drink up my blood and 
let my cry be unheard, the latter clause being subordinate to the first. 
Verse 19 indicates that both heaven and earth knew Job's record. "On 
high" may be rendered in high places, that is, it was public. Job was 
sure of his purity because he knew his own life and intentions. 

20-17-9. — Turning from humanity, from whom Job was not able to 
extract sympathy, he appeals to God; he wishes somehow that a man 
might talk face to face with God as with a human being, and especially 
so because he felt that his time was precious, his spirit was spent, and so 
the grave was near at hand, and yet men were persistently and ruthlessly 
mocking him with their interpretations. So he asked God to be surety 
for him, for he can find no trusty human with whom to strike hands, since 
they seem to be incapable of understanding the case and so putting 
themselves in the way to be honored helpers of his cause. He regards 
them about as useless as flatterers. Job contends that such friends had 
made him a by-word, and filled him with sorrow. Therefore, he contends, 
the astonishment this shall cause to upright men shall be the means of 



406 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

stirring them up against hypocrites and causing them to determinedly 
maintain their own cause. 

10. — Job, however, causes his friends to understand that their room is 
more desirable than their company, for, he adds, I can find no wisdom 
in yau. 

11-16. — He asserts that his life, his plans and his course of reasoning 
are spoiled, he sees no hope before him but the grave. No doubt the 
relief he found in that was principally the hope that it would bring him 
relief from his pains, and for that reason he welcomed it (verse 14). 
Terse 15 and 16 seem to indicate that those who see Job's hope, must 
like him first pass through death. Here seems to be another indication 
of Job's belief in immortality. 

Ch. 18 :l-4. — Bildad begins his second address by reproving Job's line 
of argument. They charge him with considering them as beasts and 
raging in his anger as if everything were to be made subordinate to his 
interests. It was a most violent misinterpretation of Job's attitude. 

5-21. — His discourse on the wicked might have been well enough in its 
place, but was conspicuously irrelevant to the case in hand, as were many 
of the speeches before it. It is founded on the assumption that Job was 
a sinner, and therefore was suffering righteous vengeance for his sins, a 
justice which must be recognized in the universe. Most that is stated 
here is generally, but not always, true, but it is never safe to assume that 
human suffering is always evidence of sinfulness. 

Ch. 19 :l-4. — Job's answer to this speech begins with a counter reproach 
of his friends. He tries to stir up shame in them for their persistent 
nagging of him, and in despair of making them understand his condition, 
he says, If I have erred the error is between myself and God. The wonder 
is, that the people who had self-respect would have continued their 
unsolicited discourses after hints, solicitations, commands and pleadings 
to desist. 

5-20. — Now, continues Job, if you will continue your course, hear my 
views. "God has overwhelmed me, and I am crying out of the midst of 
violence (so the word "wrong" should be translated), but I cry in vain." 
All the deplorable things mentioned in verses 8-20 Job believed that God 
had brought upon him. He could not understand it, not knowing the 
end, much less could his would-be comforters, since their faith was not 
so strong as Job's. 

21-29. — His appeal for pity, growing out of his situation, was most 
touching. "Why do you, also, persecute me ?" he asks. He feels confident 
that if his arguments were written and understood they would produce 



JOB. 407 

their desired effect. Here again Job clearly states his confidence in the 
resurrection. No prophecy of the scripture is more beautifully suggestive 
than this concerning the latter days, which means the days of the estab- 
lishing of Christianity on the earth. "In my flesh/' he says, "I shall see 
God/' which perfectly accords with the statement of the first resurrection 
in Revelation. He implores them to stop their persecution lest trouble 
come upon them as a result. 

Ch. 20:1-29. — The second address of Zophar was another rehash of 
what had been said before. He argues that the triumphing of the wicked 
is short, after which he shall perish from among men, a statement in 
general, perhaps, though not always, true. Wickedness does not always 
receive its 'dues in this life, though doubtless it always does in the next. 
The oppression and violence of wickedness in this life does not always 
bring that restlessness which it should, and God does not always pay 
on the completion of any given work, though he always pays. The address 
is interesting and suggestive, as expressive of what sooner or later comes 
to pass in the case of a wicked man. Very often it is verified in human 
history, and it was doubtless from these instances that Zophar was 
arguing a universal rule. 

Ch. 21 :1-15. — Again Zophar is answered by Job. You attempt to 
console me. You can best do that by listening to my argument, then if 
you want to continue to mock me, mock on. My complaint was not made 
to man, and men are not called on to answer it, but if it were made to 
man, still it would be legitimate, for listen and be quiet a moment. The 
very remembrance of my trouble puts trembling into my bones. Now 
Job states a fact patent to every close observer (verses 7-15). No matter 
what may be said of the end of the wicked, it is undeniable that they do 
in this world often flourish like the green bay tree, and take the very 
attitude, if indeed they do not use the very language of verses 14 and 15. 
His own suffering and the prosperity of the wicked constitute an 
argument in the mind of Job that he has reason to complain. 

16-21. — But, continues Job, their prosperity ("good") is at the disposal 
of God. Job's difficulty was in understanding why God permitted them 
to prosper. He denies that wickedness is found in him, and so marks 
the contrast between himself and the wicked. Granting, says Job in 
answer to the words of Zophar, the constant danger to which the wicked 
are exposed, yet it would seem (verse 17) that they get only their common 
proportion of trouble along with the righteous. And therefore Job argues 
that the wicked must lay up for himself and his a future store of trouble. 



408 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Such trouble is illustrated on the material side by the cutting off of the 
sinner's life and posterity (verse 21). 

22-34. — Job does not presume that he shall be able to teach God, seeing 
the source of earth's highest knowledge is in him, and so the two 
conditions contrasted in verses 23-26 argue a future state in which to 
make right what is manifestly unequal here. Your argument is wrong. 
You say I am wicked, and ask me to point out the habitation of the 
prosperous wicked (meaning by that, that they cannot be found). But 
you are wrong. There is a day of destruction for the wicked reserved of 
God, but who is able to rightly repay him in this world ? He shall simply 
fare the common fate of men (go where all others shall follow him, i. e., 
to the grave). Wherefore, cease your arguments, for they are /untenable. 

Ch. 22 :1-11. — In his third speech Eliphaz plainly declares what before 
he had only intimated. He attempts to show that a man cannot become 
so profitable to God as to be a necessity to him. His uprightness is no 
gain to the Almighty. This judgment has not come upon you because 
God fears you and is therefore disabling you, but because of your great 
wickedness. The charges of verses 6-9 are of just such oppressions as a 
rich man would be likely to be guilty of. Therefore the conclusion of 
verses 10 and 11. 

12-20. — Verses 12-14 are a statement of God's omniscience. Yerses 
15-17 seem to be an undoubted reference to the flood, verse 17 picturing 
the moral condition which brought it on. The latter part of verse 18 is 
thought to be a sarcastic repetition of Job's language in chapter 21 :16. 
The filling of their houses with good things was not a source of anxiety 
to the righteous, knowing as they did that their substance would be 
quickly consumed, while the belongings of the righteous would remain 
under God's protection. 

21-30. — The exhortation to Job would have been excellent had he been 
a proper subject for such an exhortation. The language was correct 
enough, but strangely misapplied. Job was not a sinner, as Eliphaz 
concluded him to be. It was Eliphaz who was wrong, and not Job. 
God was hearing the prayer of Job, though neither Job nor Eliphaz could 
realize it. Little did he think when he uttered verse 27 that he himself 
would shortly ask Job to pray for him. 

Ch. 23 :1-12. — Yerses 1-9 are expressive of Job's intense desire to get 
hold of God. Perhaps language is powerless to express the efforts he had 
made to change his condition by prayer, but all seemed to be of no avail. 
Just as sometimes now, so then it seemed God is nowhere. Job declares, 
I would like to plead my cause with him and receive his answer, and he 



JOB. 409 

expresses his opinion that that answer would be favorable to Job (verses 
7 and also 10). Yerses 11 and 12 reiterate Job's claim to uprightness. 

13-17.— But, reiterates Job, God is pursuing his own course, and none 
has power to change his methods of procedure. Therefore Job was 
terrorized by his consciousness of that fact, insomuch that he would have 
preferred even death before his troubles came. 

Ch. 24:1-16. — Job's description of the evil deeds of the wicked is very 
vivid and exceedingly true. The question with which he opens the 
description is a leading one unanswered to Job, and unless viewed from 
God's standpoint unanswerable. Every declaration in verses 2-16 is so 
manifest as to need no interpretation and no comment. It is well, 
however, to note that all wickedness is rebellion against light. 

17. — The terror described in verse 17 is no doubt common to sinners 
whenever they can be induced to stop and think of their condition. The 
true end of evangelistic preaching is to induce thoughtless ones to so 
think as to bring them to a consciousness of their own condition; this 
is the first step in the right direction. 

Yerses 18-25 clearly show Job's thought regarding the end of the 
wicked. He was not envious of •them, as is clearly indicated by his 
conception of the end which is sure to come. Sudden curse, drouth, 
oblivion, harshness, uncertainty of life, temporary exultation followed 
by everlasting debasement, were all in store for them, and, concludes Job, 
if that be not correct, who can show its falsity. 

Ch. 25 :l-6. — Bildad, in his third speech, attempts to show that no man 
can be justified in God's sight. Even the heavenly bodies, he contends, 
are impure in the sight of God. How much more so then should be 
mortal man — a most fallacious argument. 

Ch. 26:1-4. — This reply of Job to Bildad's third speech covers six 
chapters, and ends the great controversy between Job and his friends. 
And first of all Job answered to this sophistry of Bildad, "What help 
has such argument ever given to anyone in need?" This was the most 
overwhelming answer which could have been given. The figure of 
interrogation in each of these sentences is equivalent to a declaration of 
the contrary in every case. Thus he says in the latter part of verse 3, 
"Thou hast not correctly stated the case. (Yerse 4) Thou hast uttered no 
words of consequence, and no one has been encouraged by you," the 
word spirit being in this place a synonym for the word courage. 

5-14. — And now Job continues, and demonstrates that he can teach 
his would-be instructors in discoursing on God's knowledge and power. 
Magee translates verse 5, "The souls of the dead tremble under the waters, 



410 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

and their inhabitants." This he claims is equivalent to saying, Not only 
does God's power exist, as. Bildad says, in high places, but reaches even 
to the places of the dead. The word "hell" is "sheol," and means the 
place of departed spirits both good and bad, being equivalent to the 
Greek word "hades." It is supposed that verse 7 indicates that the north 
is the highest part of the earth, and so Job starts from that point as a 
beginning. Yerse 8 figures the clouds holding water like a sack. Verse 
9 makes the firmament above our heads a throne above which God sits, 
and verse 10 is the expression of his saying to the sea, "Thus far and no 
farther shalt thy proud waves come." "The crooked serpent" in verse 13 
may mean a group of stars, known as the serpent. 

Old. 27 :l-7. — Job denies vehemently that he harbors any hypocrisy. The 
statement of his case in verse 2 was true so far as Job's knowledge of it 
extended, and verses 3 and 4 declare Job's lofty character. I will not, he 
says, justify you in your statement of the case by admitting your view 
to be correct. I will hold to what my judgment teaches me to be correct 
(verse 6), and will hold as enemies those who persist in convicting me of 
injustice. Could Job have understood how that, for a wise purpose, 
Satan was allowed to do these things which Job here supposes God to be 
doing, the whole thing would have been clear to his mind, and Job would 
have borne his afflictions and uttered far different sentiments. Job used 
the light he had, but like all finite beings, he had a limit to his under- 
standing. 

Verses 8-23 are themselves a proof of Job's sincerity. He knew as well 
as any living man the helpless state of a hypocrite, even though he may 
flourish for a while in worldly matters. Hence he draws from his own 
observation and judgment this lesson, stating in verses 14-23 his con- 
clusion. 

Ch. 28 :l-28. — In his contact between the knowledge of natural things 
and higher wisdom, a picture of mining is used. Taking the torch and 
searching in the underground cavern, "The stones of darkness and the 
shadow of death," the springs which burst out in the process of digging 
are drained away and dried up so as to offer no impediment to the miner. 
It is observed that the first clause of verse 4 should be rendered, "The 
flood breaketh out at the side of the stranger," i. e., the new-comer into 
regions heretofore unexplored. Verse 5 may very aptly refer to the act 
of ploughing. The path referred to in verses 7 and 8 probably means 
the channels formed by men in engineering and tunneling, such as 
indicated in verses 9 and 10. Verse 11 finds a great exemplification in 
such works as the dikes of Holland. But, to contrast, "Where is the place 



JOB. 411 

of wisdom?" Xot in the mine. Not in the sea. Wisdom cannot be 
bought. It cannot be valued. Search through the physical earth and you 
cannot find it, but you may find it in God, its great source (verse 23). 
Hence the wise and logical conclusion of verse 28. 

Ch. 29 :l-25. — Job's description of his prosperity in former years is 
something remarkable. His standing in the public estimation is just 
what is to be expected under such circumstances. It is the expression of 
that principle embodied in the saying that "Nothing succeeds like 
success." 

Ch. 30 :1-15. — It is not a matter of wonder that Job felt keenly the 
position he now holds. No doubt Job had often discoursed publicly on 
the value of uprightness and religion, and his own honor and prosperity 
had caused the enemies of righteousness to lay their hands on their 
mouths and slink away into their dark retreats. But it was unspeakably 
sweet to them, now that something had befallen Job which' neither they 
nor he could understand, to hold him in contempt and shout for joy 
at his downfall. Even those who professed to be his friends blamed him 
now, though had they been wise enough to see it, it was a greater honor 
to be Job's -friend now than in the days of his prosperity. But his 
enemies, such as described in the latter clause of verse 1 (what com- 
parison had they with such a man as Job, against whom in his prosperity 
even the ravages of time and age seemed to make no progress — verse 2), 
such enemies, living like wild beasts in the desert (verses 3-7), they 
spitting in Job's face and offering him every indignity — such treatment 
was the hardest of all things earthly to bear. 

16-31. — Xow Job passes again to describe his own bodily affliction. 
Some suppose that verse 18 mentions a symptom of the disease known as 
elephantiasis, in which the body enlarges to such proportions that the 
garments become too tight to be worn. The language of verses 19-24 
was according to the best light Job had. The great mistake he made was 
in drawing from his partial knowledge a conclusion which reflected on 
God, rather than asking God for increase of light and understanding to 
see the facts as they were. Verses 27-31 are expressive of exceeding great 
suffering. 

Ch. 31 :l-40. — In this vindication of his past private character Job calls 
in review his policy concerning chastity. His wisdom and observation had 
taught him that the portion which God gave to the unchaste was punish- 
ment and destruction. All law (the expression of God's habits) showed 
that the conduct which flowed from unchastity merited merciless pun- 
inshment, and worked inevitable destruction. He calls upon himself the 



412 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

most scorching anathemas as deserved recompense to him if he be speak- 
ing other than the truth regarding his past conduct on this point. 

* * * In his statement of just treatment of his employes he sums up 
the essence of the whole matter in verses 14 and 15, stating the principle 
of freedom and equality of individual rights. * * * His statement 
of his past history regarding charity is its own best comment, and his 
anathema (verse 22) is evidence of the truthfulness of his representation. 

* * "* Yerses 24-28 declare in the strongest possible language that 
Job was not blinded by his prosperity into forgetfulness of God or led to 
glorify himself for his gains. "His mouth kissing his hand" would be 
equivalent to his saying, By mine own hand have I begotten all this. 

* * * Job had no vindictive spirit, even though his employes or 
associates thought they had the' best of cause for revenge. * * * The 
stranger knew Job by his good works to the stranger that was within 
his gates. Here is an illustration of the law of God being written on the 
heart of man. * * * Jamieson says of verse 34 that it is the apodosis 
to verse 33, and should be rendered, "Then let me be fear-stricken before 
a great multitude, let the contempt of families terrify me, let me keep 
silence (the greatest disgrace to a patriot heretofore so prominent in 
assemblies) and not go out of the door." *:*..* Again in his agony 
Job appeals to the Almighty, and expresses desire that anyone who has 
just charges against him may formulate them in writing. I would 
receive such a record gladly, he declares, and in answer to it would recite 
the very details of my life, taking up the case with a princely bearing 
of confident acquittal. * * * Lastly he appeals to the very land 
itself from which came all his increase to witness that the methods of 
making it yield him grain were just, and adds, If not, let thistles grow 
to me instead of wheat and cockle instead of barley. Here he rests his 
case. 

Cli. 32 :l-22. — The three had ceased their argument seeing that they no 
Longer had hope of convincing or silencing Job. Elihu construed Job's 
argument as a reflection upon God's justice and wisdom, and because 
the three friends gave no just answer to that impeachment Elihu was 
exasperated with both parties. In his apology he declares that he had 
been dumb in the presence of age, and yet the spirit of the Almighty 
being the source of understanding he seems to infer that he who has that 
spirit has a right to speak. He expresses disappointment that wisdom 
is often found lacking in those who have opportunity to possess it. Yerse 
11 indicates that he had listened to the whole course of the argument, and 
verse 13 expresses his belief that had they convinced Job by their 



JOB. 413 

argument they would have glorified their own wisdom in the matter 
rather than God. The essence of verse 14 is, "Since none of Job's 
scathing words have been directed toward me, I can answer him with a 
fraternal spirit" (unlike that of his three friends whom he seems to be 
now addressing). The pronoun "they" in verses 15 and 16 probably 
refers to the three friends. Verses 18-20 are expressive of Elihu's 
confidence in his view of this case, and the remaining verses express his 
determination to be just in his treatment of it. 

Oh. 33 :l-7. — In his appeal to Job, Elihu says, "I will be just and frank 
with you, answer me if you can, and accept me in God's stead according to 
your wish." (Chapter 31:35.) 

8-30. — Elihu regards verses 9-11 as assumption to the point of injus- 
tice. Seeing that finite cannot comprehend the methods of the infinite, 
he has no right to make such declarations. Even in visions and dreams 
God overturns the plans of men and guides their operations into new 
channels, that he may keep them in line with God's will and preserve 
them from destructive passions and other dangers, even finding it neces- 
sary at times to inflict pain and disease for a time, but all such is followed 
by gracious deliverance to those who seek God for deliverance. The 
momentous truth of verses 23-30, which have been from the beginning 
an element of God's character, is the substance of the great redemption 
scheme as embodied in Jesus Christ, the great antitype in whom is the 
sufficiency of all the sacrifices made since the constitution of the ages. 
It is God's way of righting all wrongs. 

31-33. — The challenge to Job was, "Speak in answer to these points, or 
hold your peace while I continue the argument which you by your silence 
approve." 

Ch. 34:1-37. — If the former be true, then Elihu calls all to witness 
against Job's words in verses 5 and 6. I think, however, these words of 
Elihu misrepresent Job's declarations. In chapter 27:2-6, Job claims 
righteousness only in the sense that his troubles were not punishment for 
wickedness, as his friends claimed. Hence Elihu's conclusion in verses 
7-9 is injustice to Job's case. Job did not use the language of verse 9. 
Elihu had misinterpreted him. Verses 13-15 express the view that God 
is subordinate to no one, and that from him goes the spirit which if he 
shonld withdraw would leave all humanity to perish. The idea that Job's 
words put him on the side of him that hated right or condemned God 
was itself rank assumption- Hence the whole of this reproof from verses 
10-37 is a misfit as applied to Job. The language is true enough, taken 
abstractly, but however true may have been Elihu's charge of assumption 



414 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

on the part of Job (the sequel shows that to have been a just charge), 
this assumption that Job charged the Almighty with perverting justice 
was itself unjust and no answer to Job's argument. 

Ch. 35:1-16. — In the appeal to human judgment (chapter 35) he 
proceeds on the same false assumption. Job never took the view of verses 
2 and 3. (See chapter 2:10.) In his anguish of pain and desperation 
of effort to receive from God a reason for his affliction he asked questions 
not as reflections upon God, but whose answers would throw light on his 
case. Considered abstractly, this answer would be valuable for those cases 
which it fits. Its gist seems to be, "Men who do right or wrong, help or 
hurt only their fellow men, not God, and those who cry out under 
oppression fail to receive help only because they do not look to God for 
it/' Hence the fact that many cry seemingly in vain, he says, means 
simpty that they have not humbled themselves before God, a line of 
argument which, taken with verses 15 and 16, is clearly intended to 
cover Job's case. 

Ch. 36:1-21. — In his discourse on God's justice (chapter 36) Elihu 
states much general and valuable truth, but in verses 16-18 falls into 
the same blunder which the other friends of Job have been making. We 
know the language of verse 17 to be false, as Job had repeatedly shown, 
yet this young man with the positiveness of }^outh had reiterated without 
evidence what he had been blaming Job's friends for asserting without 
proof. 

The language of verses 22-37-24 are beautiful in concept and expres- 
sion, a picture of God's character as shown by his power and fatherly 
goodness. The clouds, the lightnings and thunders, the snow and rain, 
the tornadoes, cold, and the return of fair, warm weather, all make a 
beautiful picture of God's providential care for his children. This part 
of the speech is very beautiful, but it is more than likely that Job could 
have excelled it. Be that as it may, this argument was not at all 
relevant to the case under consideration further than this : Had Elihu 
stopped at verse 30 of chapter 33 in his simple answer to Job's too great 
assumption, this last beautiful discourse would have been a fitting finale, 
and full of suggestiveness regarding man's proper attitude even of 
inquiry from such a beneficent father. 

Ch. 38 : 1-40-2. — Now appears the value of revelation from God to man. 
It is apparent in what we have studied of Job that man's ingenuity has 
been taxed to its utmost to explain such human suffering as here recorded, 
and that it has failed. It has been noted by authorities that no better 
argument on those lines have ever since been produced, and so if they 



JOB. 415 

were failures, likewise have been all similar ones since. Man's unaided 
reason cannot reach correct conclusions concerning God and his govern- 
ment. Hence he has wisely given us the Bible, and the events of this 
book are supposed to have taken place before any written revelation had 
been given to man. We are not informed why Job did not answer Elihu. 
Possibly because he thought there was nothing to answer, and having had 
so much of fruitless controversy, Job had no disposition to review it, 
especially with a still younger and confessedly less mature person. Some 
authorities think that no chance for reply was given, but that verse 2 
in chapter 37 means that a muttering storm was approaching, and that 
Elihu being overpowered by the majesty of God displayed in it, concluded 
his speech in a hurried and agitated manner, and that God appeared to 
Job amid this storm. Just what is implied in the expression of verse 1 
we are left to infer. It is a possible thing that God put into the mind of 
Job the revelation of this address by displaying before him his power in 
the tornado. It will be noticed that the theme which this thirty-eighth 
chapter introduces extends to verse 3 of chapter 40. Some think that 
verse 2 refers to Elihu. Others hold that God meant it to apply to Job. 
In this discussion of his wisdom and power God refers (verse 4-7) to 
his formation of the earth, the ideas of measuring and fastening being 
employed to carry out the figure of a building here used. * * * 
Verses 8-11 are a beautiful complement to Gen. 1 :6-10. ^Yhen the waters 
which hung about the earth in vapor were divided into liquids and gases 
the sea which dropped from the air was enveloped by the clouds as a new- 
born infant with a swaddling band, and then God gathered the universal 
ocean into seas by breaking and folding the crust of the earth and 
permanently confining, by gravity, the sea to its depressions. * * * 
God's fixed law causes the morning to return with unvarying exactness, 
frightening the wicked from his night deeds. The turning of the earth 
into daylight (similar to the ancient way of turning clay to a seal) 
brings the multitudes who in darkness seem dead (inert) into living 
activity, and the wicked, to whom night is day, are driven out and their 
plans frustrated. * * * It is said that mighty springs, like great 
rivers, burst from the earth in the depths of the sea; one, it is said, near 
the coast of Florida makes a visible impression on the ocean's surface. 
The kingdom of death with its incomprehensible vastness may furnish 
us ground for speculation, but we have no, certain knowledge of it. 
* * * The extent of the earth was an unsolved problem to man in 
Job's day, and is yet, for that matter. * * * Similarly the origin of 
light and darkness were matters of profound speculation. Verse 21 



416 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

suggests that length of days has helped you little in the settlement of 
these questions. * * * As a comment on verse 23, see the story of 
the plagues of Egypt and the conquest of Canaan. Josh. 10:11. Xo 
doubt such instances often occurred in those early days in that climate. 
* * * The laws of the distribution of the winds which brought the 
rains over all the earth were a profound enigma to the human family, 
and are yet very little understood. * * * We know that cold freezes 
water, but who can tell why w T ater expands when it changes to ice ? Thus 
the ice is made to cover the face of the deep. * * * The stars 
mentioned in verses 31 and 32 are constellations whose attractive forces 
were supposed to exert great influence on the earth. * * * What 
man can wield the elements of nature ? Even though every phenomenon 
is governed by law, yet who but God who made the law can govern it? 
Verse 38 may be read, "When the dust is turned into mire, etc." * * * 
The reference to the feeding of the horde of wild animals and the birds, 
the operation of laws that govern the multijDlication of wild beasts (verses 
1-4), the sustaining of the wild ass which must get its living from the 
desert (verses 5-8), the inability to tame the unicorn into anything of 
fitness for domestic purposes (verses 9-12), the beauty of the peacock 
and apparent senselessness of the fleet-footed ostrich (verses 13-18), 
the well known and pre-eminent usefulness of the horse (verses 19-25), 
the admirable instinct of the hawk and eagle — every point of the above 
address leads up to the grand challenge, "If you think yourself able to 
pass judgment on the doings of him who ordered all these things, then 
give satisfactory answer to the above questions." Attention is called to 
the fact that God did not give answer to the difficulties which had 
embarrassed Job and his friends. The gist of the matter is, "Submission 
to the supreme, the great, the wise God." When Job learned the lesson 
of submission, his cause which he had so earnestly sought to win by 
argument was gained. "Submission" is the key to the entire story of Job. 

3-5. — Job begins to see the point at once. I will argue no further, says' 
Job. The laying of the hand on the mouth meant silence. The Hebrew 
for vile does not imply guilt, but' insignificance when compared with 
God, before whom Job will not presume to speak. 

6-11-34. — In rebuking Job's policy, God does not attribute to him 
guilt, but shows him that his judgment is defective, and that in his 
eagerness to compass results he has failed in his methods to observe due 
modesty of judgment toward God. * * * And now, God concludes, 
do these things of verses 9-13, and I will own your sufficiency to save 
yourself. Of course this challenge was only a negative way of stating 



JOB. 417 

Job's lack of power, and so of convicting him of undue haste in his 
method of argument. Job had fully and correctly answered those who 
presumed to instruct him, but after answering them he had gone beyond 
his prerogatives and said things which reflected on the moral government 
of God. * * * God's description of the behemoth and the leviathan, 
the king of land and water in the animal kingdom, caps this rising climax 
of the discourse on God's power, and by contrast, man's utter insignif- 
icance, as shown by his helplessness to control these immense creatures. 
Only God who made them could control them. The reference to Jordan 
40 :23 indicates that the writer was familiar with that river, but does not 
prove that the animal mentioned was a dweller about the Jordan. The 
better translation is, "Though a river be violent he trembleth not, he is 
secure though a Jordan swell up to his mouth," w T hich means that he 
can live either on land or in water. In the description of the leviathan 
(verse 8) the thought is, if you attempt to lay your hand upon him you 
will have cause to remember the attempt, and you will not try it again. 
Verse 11 begins a detailed description of his make-up. Who went before 
God in this matter and instructed him. Since God is the author of him, 
he declares (verse 12), I will not hesitate to fully describe his parts, 
power and proportion, and so he continues to the end of the chapter. 
The word "neesing" (verse 18) means sneezing. 

Ch. 42 :l-6. — Job has now caught the true idea. If I cannot manipu- 
late the plain works of God, can I presume to take issue with and 
reconstruct God's ideas? The only thinkable answer is a negative. 
Hence seeing that verse 2 is true, Job concludes just what God charged 
in opening chapter 38 :2, that he was hiding true knowledge from his 
eyes by uttering words without adequate understanding — the statement 
of a most woeful and universal error. Viewing his afflictions in the light 
of God's supreme wisdom and his beneficent providence, Job concludes, 
What before I had only in theory, I now have in experience (long- 
suffering with evil), wherefore of his impatient haste he repented most 
humbly. 

7-9. — God's order to Job's friends was a complete vindication of Job's 
course, barring the correction of indiscreet judgment which God had 
made in him. It was fitting that they who had falsely accused Job, who 
was right, should seek his prayers in their behalf. Such a course would 
cause them to make complete acknowledgment to Job as well as to God, 
and the prayer would make Job in real earnest about forgiving them. 

Verse 10 is a most remarkable statement. I think we always get most 
in our efforts to help others. In his religious zeal for others Job forgot 



418 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

his own great sorrows, and when his mind turned back to them they 
had gone forever. 

11-15. — When the evidence of this great calamity departed his friends 
returned, bringing him gifts, and again he started in life and prospered 
prodigiously. 

16, 17. — It is supposed that Job was seventy years of age when his 
calamity came upon him. 



PSALMS. 



INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS. 

This book is a collection of sacred songs composed at different times 
and by various authors, to be sung in the public services of the Hebrews. 
It is supposed that the book in its present form was arranged by Ezra 
and his companions. It will be noticed that David is a chief author. 
The plan of these writings is to put into the songs of a people the 
religious history, instruction and prophecy which God gave them for 
national and individual guidance. This perhaps more than anything 
eise has worked to preserve the identity of the Jewish people, and keeps 
David forever in remembrance as a man after God's own heart. 





ANALYSIS. 


Psalm 


1. 


1-3 


Happiness of the righteous. 


4-6 


Unhappiness of the wicked. 


Psalm 2. 


1-3 


Eage of the nations. 


4-9 


God's dealing with them. 


10-12 


Advice to rulers. 


Psalm 3. 


1-8 


Security of God's protection. 




1, 2 David's distress. 




3, 4 God's interposition. 




5-8 David's confidence. 


Psalm 


4. 


1 


Appeal to God for aid. 


2,3 


Hopelessness of defeating God's servant. 


4,5 


Exhortation to them to repent. 


6-8 


David's joy and confidence. 



PSALMS. 419 

Psalm 5. 

1-3 David's plea to be heard of God. 
4-6 The Divine attitude toward good and evil. 
7-10 Prayer for guidance, and divine dealing with his enemies. 
11, 12 Prayer for aid to the righteous. 

Psalm 6. 

1-7 David's appeal to God for relief. 
8-10 His assurance. 

Psalm 7. 

1, 2 David's cry to God for help. 
3-5 His appeal for divine judgment as to his doings. 
6, 7 His prayer for help against his enemies. 
8-16 His confidence in God's just government. 
17 His thanksgiving. 

Psalm 8. 

1-9 The divine glory as shown in his works. 

Psalm 9. 

1, 2 David's praise. 
3-6 Overthrow of his enemies. 
7-10 Continuance of God's reign. 
11, 12 Its character. 
13, 14 David's plea for personal help. 
15-20 His faith. 

Psalm 10. 

1-11 Presumption of the wicked. 
12-18 God's help implored against them. 

Psalm 11. 

1-3 David's rebuke of his friends' conclusion. 
4-7 His confidence in God's providence. 

Psalm 12. 

1-8 The decline of godliness. God's care for his own. 

Psalm 13. 

1-4 His prayer for aid. 
5, 6 The expression of confidence. 

Psalm 14. 

1-6 Ignorance and corruption of the atheist. 
7 Desire for the deliverance of captive Israel. 



420 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Psalm 15. 

1-5 Mature of a righteous man. 
Psalm 16. 

1-11 Praise for comfort and confidence. 
Psalm 17. 

1-15 Prayer for defense against enemies. 
Psalm 18. 

1-50 A song of praise for God's blessings. 
Psalm 19. 

1-11 The declaration of God's glory by his works. 
12-14 Prayer for guidance. 

Psalm 20. 

1-9 The psalmist's prayer and confidence. 
Psalm 21. 

1-13 A song of thanksgiving and confidence. 
Psalm 22. 

1-21 A prayer of distress. 
22-31 An expression of confidence. 
Psalm 23. 

1-6 Expression of confidence in God. 
Psalm 24. 

1, 2 God's authority. 

3-6 His standard of discipleship. 

7-10 Exhortation. 
Psalm 25. 

1-22 Prayer for help and expression of confidence. 
Psalm 26. 

1-12 Expression of personal character. 
Psalm 27. 

1-14 Trust in God's help against enemies. 
Psalm 28. 

1-5 Prayer for salvation from the wicked. 
6-9 Praise for help. 
Psalm 29. 

1-11 Ascription of glory due to the Almighty. 
Psalm 30. 

1-12 A psalm of praise for help. 



r 8 ALMS. *i*l 

Psalm 31. 
1-24 David's prayer against his enemies. 

Psalm 32. 
1-11 A talk on pardon and promise. 

Psalm 33. 
1-22 Reasons for praising God. 

Psalm 34. 
1-22 Praise for experience. Exhortation to others. 

Psalm 35. 
1 -28 Prayer against enemies. Their dealings described. 

Psalm 36. 

1-4 Description of the wicked. 

5-9 The mercy of God. 
10-12 Prayer for God's children. 

Psalm 37. 

1-40 Exhortation to patience. Comparison of righteous and evil men. 
Psalm 38. 

1-22 Plea for God's compassion in distress. 
Psalm 39. 

1-13 Need of self-restraint and divine help. 
Psalm 40. 

1-10 Benefit of trust in God. 
11-17 David's prayer. 

Psalm 41. 
1-4 Remembrance of the poor. 
5-9 David's complaint of his enemies. 
10-13 His prayer. 
Psalm 42. 

1-4 The soul's longing for God. 
5-11 Encouragement to trust God. 
Psalm 43. 

1-5 David's prayer for help and promise of joyful service. 

Psalm 44. 

1-8 God's favors to his chosen people. - 

9-16 Their present evil condition. 
17-22 Their faith. 
23-26 Their prayer. 



4?2 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Psalm 45. 

1-17 The majesty of Christ's kingdom. 
Psalm 46. 

1-11 The confidence of believers in God. 
Psalm 47. 

1-9 Exhortation to praise God for his kingdom. 

Psalm 48. 
1-14 The glory of Zion described. 

Psalm 49. 
1-20 The insufficiency of riches. Piety contrasted. 

Psalm 50. 

1-6 God's kingly majesty. 
7-23 Insufficiency of religions ceremony without obedience. 

Psalm 51. 
1-19 David's prayer for pardon of his great sin. 

Psalm 52. 

1-9 David's prophecy against a persecutor. 

Psalm 53. 

1-5 Corruption of man without God's spirit. 

6 Prayer for salvation. 

Psalm 54. 

1-5 David's prayer against his enemies. 

6, 7 His confidence. 
Psalm 55. 

1-23 A prayer of distress against deceitful enemies. 

Psalm 56. 

1-8 Complaint against enemies. 

9-13 Confidence in God. 

Psalm 57. 

1-6 A prayer in great danger. 

7-11 The psalmist's praise. 

Psalm 58. 

1-8 Prayer against those who pervert justice. 

9-11 Confidence of answer. 

I 

Psalm 59. 

1-15 A prayer for deliverance from cruel enemies. 
16,17 Praise. 



PSALMS. 423 

Psalm 60. 
1-12 Prayer for aid against the enemies of Israel. 

Psalm 61. 

1-8 Pledge of future service. 

Psalm 62. 
1-12 Confidence in God expressed. 

Psalm 63. 
1-11 Desire for God. Praise and confidence. 

Psalm 64. 
1-10 Prayer for deliverance, and expression of faith. 

Psalm 65. 

1-4 Praise for divine goodness. 
5-13 Illustration of Almighty power. 

Psalm 66. 

1-20 A song of exhortation, vow and experience. 
Psalm 67. 

1-7 A prayer for the enlargement of God's kingdom. 
Psalm 68. 

1-35 Exhortation to praise God for his mercy, care and works. 
Psalm 69. 

1-36 A prayer for help against the wicked. 
Psalm 70. 

1-5 Prayer against the wicked and for the godly. 
Psalm 71. 

1-13 David's prayer for himself against his enemies. 
14-24 His confidence and praise. 
Psalm 72. 
1-15 David's prayer for Solomon. 
16-20 The everlasting name. 

Psalm 73. 

1-15 Cause of a prophet's temptation. 
16-28 God's plan of dealing with man. 

Psalm 74. 

1-8 Complaint of the destruction of God's house. 
9-23 Prayer for help. 

Psalm 75. 
1-10 A psalm of praise. The psalmist's vow3. 



424 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Psalm 76. 

1-12 Declaration of God's majesty. 
Psalm 77. 

1-20 Comfort in trouble by a study of God's providence. 
Psalm 78. 

1-72 Story of God's dealing with his chosen people. 
Psalm 79. 

1-13 Appeal to God for help to Jerusalem against enemies. 
Psalm 80. 

1-19 Prayer for the deliverance of the chosen family. 
Psalm 81. 

1-1 6 Exhortation to praise God and why. 
Psalm 82. 

1-8 The psalmist's message to the judges. His prayer. 

Psalm 83. 

1-18 Complaint and prayer against the enemies of God's people. 
Psalm 84. 

1-12 The blessings of God's sanctuary. 
Psalm 85. 

1-13 A prayer for the continuation of God's mercies. 
Psalm 86. 

1-17 Prayer for God's help. 
Psalm 87. 

1-7 The glory of Zion described. 
Psalm 88. 

1-18 A complaint to God. 
Psalm 89. 

1-37 The psalmist's song of mercies. 
38-52 His complaint and prayer. 
Psalm 90. 

1-11 Complaint of the brevity of this world's good. 
12-17 Prayer for God's help. 
Psalm 91. 

1-16 The safety of the lovers of God. 
Psalm 92. 

1-1 5 Reasons why it is proper to praise God. 
Psalm 93. 

1-5 The might of God's rule. 



PSALMS. 425 

Psalm 94. 
1-23 The psalmist's plea for justice. 
1-7 His appeal to God. 
8-11 His warning to evil doers. 
12-23 Blessedness of affliction under God's hand. 
Psalm 95. 

1-11 Exhortation to praise God and why. 
Psalm 96. 

1-13 Exhortation to praise God. 
Psalm 97. 

1-12 The influence of God's kingdom among men. 
Psalm 98. 

1-9 A general exhortation to praise. 
Psalm 99. 

1-9 A call to the people to worship God. 
Psalm 100. 

1-5 Eeasons for cheerful service. 
Psalm 101. 

1-8 The psalmist's promises. 
Psalm 102, 

1-11 The psalmist's complaint. 
12-28 The encouragement of his faith. 
Psalm 103. 

1-22 An exhortation to bless God for his mercy. 
Psalm 104. 

1-35 God's power and care for his creatures. 
Psalm 105. 

1-45 Story of God's dealing with his chosen people. 
Psalm 106. 

1-48 A story of Israel's rebellion against God. 
Psalm 107. 

1-43 Praise for God's care over men in the various pursuits of life. 
Psalm 108. 

1-13 The psalmist's vow and prayer. 
Psalm 109. 

1-31 The psalmist's complaint and prayer against his enemies. 
Psalm 110. 

1-7 A prophetic description of Christ. 



426 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Psalm 111. 

1-10 The praise due God for his. works. 
Psalm 112. 

1-10 The renewal of godliness. 
Psalm 113. 

1-9 The praise due God for his sympathy. 
Psalm 114, 

1-8 The divine aid at the Exodus. 
Psalm 115. 

1-18 A plea for the worship of God as against idolatry. 
Psalm 116. 

1-19 The psalmist's reasons for love to God. 
Psalm 117. 

1, 2 Why God should be praised. 
Psalm 118. 

1-29 The benefit of trust in God. 
Psalm 119. 

1-176 The human relations to the revealed word of God. 
Psalm 120. 

1-7 The psalmist's prayer for deliverance from a slanderer. 

Psalm 121. 

1-8 The safety of those trusting in God. 

Psalm 122. 

1-9 The psalmist's interest in God's house and city. 
Psalm 123. 

1-4 A prayer for God's help against the proud. 
Psalm 124. 

1-8 Praise for God's deliverance. 
Psalm 125. 

1-5 Stability of those trusting in God. 
Psalm 126. 

1-6 The joy of God's people at their deliverance from captivity. 
Psalm 127. 

1, 2 The necessity of God's help. 

3-5 The blessing of children. 
Psalm 128. 

1-6 The blessings of those who fear God. 



PSALMS. 427 

Psalm 129. 

1-4 Praise for salvation from God's enemies. 
5-8 Anathema against the haters of Zion. 

Psalm 130. 

1-8 The psalmist's prayer, hope and patience. 

Psalm 131. 

1-3 Humility of the psalmist. 
Psalm 132. 

1-10 David's care for the ark of the covenant. 
11-18 God's promise to David. 
Psalm 133. 

1-3 Benefit of the unity of good men. 
Psalm 134. 

1-3 An exhortation to bless God. 
Psalm 135. 

1-21 The psalmist's reasons why men should bless God. 
Psalm 136. 

1-26 Exhortation to praise God for his benefits. 
Psalm 137. 

1-9 An incident of the Jewish captivity. 
Psalm 138. 

1-8 The psalmist's praise, testimony and prophecy. 
Psalm 139. 

1-18 Praise for God's providence and mercies. 
19-24 The psalmist's declaration and prayer. 
Psalm 140. 

1-11 A prayer for protection against evil men and their overthrow. 
12, 13 The psalmist's faith. 
Psalm 141. 

1-10 A prayer for God's direction and care. 
Psalm 142. 

1-7 The psalmist's comfort in trouble. 
Psalm 143. 

1-12 The psalmist's complaint and prayer. 
Psalm 144. 

1-15 A psalm of praise and prayer. 
Psalm 145. 

1-21 Praise for God's providence toward men. 



42S BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Psalm 146. 

1-10 Reasons for trusting God rather than men. 
Psalm 147. 

1-20 Eeasons why God should be praised. 
Psalm 148. 

1-14 The praise due God from heavenly and earthly creation. 
Psalm 149. 

1-9 Exhortation to God's people to praise him. 
Psalm 150. 

1-6 Exhortation to praise God with musical instruments. 



LESSOX XOTES. 

Psa. 1. — The first step in the wicked way is to listen to evil counsel. 
A second step is to associate with evil persons. A third step is to become 
one with them in character and so form a part of their crowd. On the 
other hand, in the building of right character the first step is to tak<f 
counsel of the Lord by seeking to his law. A second step is close asso- 
ciation with it by continuously revolving in mind its principles. A 
third step is to become an active fruit-bearing tree, planted by the 
irrigating canals, and so being uneff ected by. drouth. The law of God's 
dealing with the just is this: He shall prosper in all things to which he 
sets his hand. Even Job, in the midst of his inexpressible grief, was 
prospering toward the greatest conceivable attainment. The ability to 
comprehend that fact, even by faith, brings that deep undercurrent of 
happiness which every believer in Christ should enjoy. "We may not 
always be able to rejoice in circumstances, but we may rejoice always in 
the Lord, who can make seeming adversity to prosper us. 

In contrast are the wicked hurled away before adversity like chaff 
blown by wind. And so in the piercing light of judgment, when the just 
are gathered into one great family,* God, whose way is the way of justice, 
will consume wickedness before him, upon which its ruined doers will 
fly the farthest possible from his presence. The saying of God that there 
is no peace to the wicked is clear enough in the light of the future. 

Townsend says that this first psalm was written either by David or 
Ezra, and placed as a preface to the Book of Psalms. 

Psa. 2. — The word heathen were better rendered "nations." The 
ceaseless commotion of the nations in their efforts to find happiness and 
stability without conforming to the principles of righteousness is a 
standing illustration of this scripture. The combinations and cliques of 



PSALMS. 429 

those in authority and their conspiracies against the cause of God and his 
people have become so proverbial that every reform must fight its way 
from the people, and usualty displace all those in control of affairs and 
fill the places by others committed especially to the reform. 

Such efforts are rightly an object of derision to him who from the 
heavens justly rules over all. And not only so, but he shall make known 
his will and bring calamity on the workers of iniquity. Verse 6 no doubt 
refers to the act of David in locating on the hill of Mount Zion the 
temple, the antitype of all whose plan and service was the promised 
Messiah, so that the planting of the temple worship in the midst of all 
Israel was the enthronement of the coming Messiah as the consummation 
of the highest hopes of the nation. Verses* 7-9 are the eternal decree of 
God on which all the scheme of salvation to a fallen race is based. They 
represent the expression of the Father to the only begotten Son, whose 
power and kingdom was to be made world-wide, and the system of 
worship embodied in the Aaronic priesthood was but a part of the greater 
scheme of salvation through Christ for a ruined world. 

Therefore, concludes David, act wisely. Ye who lead the people, serve 
the Lord, and rejoice, the words "fear" and "trembling" denoting the 
possibility of one who thinketh he standeth falling because he fails to 
take heed to his ways and the dangers about him. The expression "kiss 
the son" were better rendered "do the right" or "worship in purity," lest 
God be angry with thee, etc. The revised renders the next sentence, "For 
his wrath will (or may) soon be kindled," i. e., God's wrath. The fact 
that the prophecy does anticipate and embrace the kingdom of the coming 
Messiah does not justify so assumptions a translation as the first three 
words of verse 12 in our English version. 

Psa. 3. — This psalm is supposed to have been written by David when he 
fled before Absalom. The thought underlying it all is that they whom 
God protects are safe. Verses 1 and 2 show the extent and keenness of 
David's distress. The kingdom seemed about to be taken away from him 
forever, so -much so that he had sent back the priests with the ark when 
they started to follow him as he fled from the city, and said to them 
II Sam. 15:25, 26. Every good and successful man has enemies, and 
these were now gathering from their hiding places, and flushed with the 
apparent success of Absalom, were saying loudly, God is no longer on the 
side of David. Such language would sting a man of David's character 
inexpressibly. Xo wonder David went weeping, as he fled an aged exile 
from home, place of worship, prosperity, and seemingly from the face 
of God. 



430 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

But in that dark hour his faith triumphed. Yerses 3 and 4 are 
expressive of what he now believes and what he has before experienced 
in other times of trial. 

In such a confidence, therefore, backed by God's promises, and backed 
by human experience, he is able to find quiet rest and refreshment for 
the duties before him, so that he may by his efforts assisted by the help 
which God provides, receive the end of his faith in the granting of his 
prayer. 

Psa. 4. — It is thought that this psalm has the same historical occasion 
as the third. The strong appeal for aid in verse 1,. citing past favor, 
enlarges David's faith, and in verses 2 and 3 he bursts out in expression 
of confidence. 

What God purposes to do you cannot defeat, and those whom God uses 
to accomplish his purpose you cannot conquer. David was satisfied that 
God was so using him, hence his confidence. The word "leasing" means 
"lying." 

Therefore he makes a strong exhortation to them to repent and to 
show their repentance by righteous deeds and trust in God. Yerse 4 
would indicate that David considers the quietude of the bed chamber 
most favorable for arriving at a correct understanding of the true relation 
of the individual to God. 

Such a faith as that which sings when everything goes wrong with a 
full tide, is the faith which not only begets joy and confidence, but makes 
martyrs and conquerors of common mortals. 

!Neginoth means stringed instruments of music. 

Psa. 5. — Kehiloth means flutes or wind instruments. 

This fifth psalm was also written on the occasion of the flight from 
Absalom. In this one also David begins with a strong petition, addressing 
God as his king, and so interested in his case. No doubt, as the word 
"morning" indicates, he began each day with prayer. 

David's intimate acquaintance with and knowledge of the Lord enabled 
him easily to formulate the declaration of verses 4-6. Evil was sure to 
go down, those who arrayed themselves on its side were sure to fall with 
it, and David well knew that his enemies were men of blood and deceit. 

Xow David makes declaration of his own determination, and pleads 
with God for his guidance and also the interposition of his power to 
overthrow his enemies. 

And in his final plea for the righteous he includes with himself all 
who then or ever after adopt the principles of justice, trust the Lord and 



PSALMS. 431 

love him. Confidently David says, Thou wilt bless such and compass 
them with favor as with a shield. 

These three psalms, three, four and five, were written about 1023 B. C. 

The second psalm Townsend thinks was written 1044 B. C, when 
Nathan delivered the promise to David (I Chron. 17:11). 

Psa. 6. — This is thought to have been inserted by David near the close 
of his life. On what occasion it was produced we are left to surmise. It 
is possible that it might have been on the occasion of the plague. In the 
first seven verses he makes a strong appeal to God for relief from some- 
thing which is oppressing his mortal body until he is fearful of death. 
In verse 3 the word soul is used as a synonym for the person. Sheol 
here means the grave. 

Verses 8-10 express the confidence which came to David after his 
prayer, like the shining of the sun after rain. Says Brown, "Assured of 
God's hearing, he suddenly defies his enemies by an address indicating 
that he no longer fears them. He knows they will be disappointed and 
in their turn be terror-stricken or confounded." 

Psa. 7. — This psalm was written on the occasion of the curses which 
Shimei heaped upon David as he fled from Absalom. There can be no 
question that Shimei would gladly have done as verse 2 indicates, though 
later after Absalom's death when David was about to return to Jerusalem, 
Shimei was among the first to select a large company of his tribe and 
hasten to meet David at the Jordan and beg his pardon and give him aid. 
II Sam. 19 :18.. 

Verses 3-5 indicate David's certainty that he had done the best he 
knew. He felt sure of acquittal from the false charges of Shimei if God 
should pass judgment on his case. 

The prayer of verses 6 and 7 anticipate the pure worship of the true 
God which David would continue at Jerusalem when he returned from 
his exile. The people should again be gathered as they had been, to 
worship God according to the law given to Moses. 

The confidence expressed in verses 8-1 6 is the confidence of every true 
believer in the government of G od, and so each believer in his providence 
can look to the future, assured that in it all wrongs will be made right. 

In view of the above comes the thanksgiving of verse 17. 

Psa. 8. — This also is said to have been produced near the close of 
David's life. As old age whitens his hair and adds new spiritual acquire- 
ments to David's experience, he sees all the more clearly how God chooses 
the weakest things to overturn all conditions opposed to his plan and 
government. A look toward the heavens and the thought of all the 



432 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

wisdom employed in the construction of its worlds, very naturally raises 
the question, "What is this man, of whom thou art so solicitous and with 
whom thou dost so clearly associate?" The answer is (verses 5-8), He is 
the one whom thou has made but little below God (see revised Bible), 
crowning and deputizing him to represent God in controlling animate 
creation. It is difficult to conceive with what masterly skill man might 
through the past ages have done this, and to what heights of attainment 
he might have risen, but for the introduction of sin into the world. 

Psa. 9. — This was written in David's boyhood days when he slew 
Goliath, B. C. 1063. The praise of David was comely on such an event. 

Eead I Sam. 17 : 38-54 in connection with verses 3-6. They will 
furnish the best comment. 

Verses 7-10 were thoroughly illustrated in the after history of David 
as military leader (under Saul) and king. The character of the young 
man who could look forward and see such things regarding God's govern- 
ment as h'e here states, was likely to ripen into the grand religious 
character of the old warrior King David, known over all the inhabited 
earth, and still known in his immortal songs. 

That the declarations of verse 12 are no less true now than then, 
witness for instance the history of our own time. What a cost was slavery 
to this nation, and what a cost will be the accursed liquor traffic yet, 
besides the wealth and heart-pangs it has already cost. 

David's personal plea was a plea as well for everyone similarly afflicted. 
What was true of the people of Israel in the days when this psalm was 
written is true of every soul who today battles with the influence with 
which sin seeks to enslave the world. 

And verses 15-20 are equally true today as then. The nations which 
refuse to recognize the claims of God upon them are doomed to destruc- 
tion. God and all just men are against them, and they must be swept out 
of place to make room for their betters. 

Psa. 10. — This is supposed to have been written by some one at the 
time of the Babylonish captivity, about 539 B. C. The first eleven verses 
give a description of the presumption of those who held Israel in captivity. 
These verses well describe not only the boastings and cruelty of the 
masters over their Hebrew slaves in Babylon, but also describe the 
heartless and arrogant sinners who in this day remorselessly fatten 
themselves on the life blood of their less favored fellows. 

But the rest of the psalm voices the prayer of all faithful sufferers of 
all ages, and in the great final reckoning all that time has failed to 
make right will be properly dealt with. Amid the darkness of the starless 



PSALMS. 433 

night and in the wildest ravings of the most frightful tempest, the man 
of faith can still say, The Lord is king forever and ever. 

The probable order of these ten psalms chronologically is 9, 11, 2, 3, 
4, 5, 7, 6, 8, 10, 1. 

Psa. 11. — This was written by David 1062 B. C, or one year later than 
the ninth psalm. David's victory over Goliath had brought him such 
praise that Saul was jealous and sought to kill him. David's friends 
advised him to flee to the mountains. David, in the first sentence, states 
his faith. The rest of verse 1, and also verses 2 and 3, I regard as the 
advice given to David, and he is asking, Why do you give such advice? 
They say to David, If the foundations* (of government) be destroyed, if 
he who is charged with maintaining government and administering 
justice, himself become an outlaw against law and order, what can a 
just man hope for? All that may seem true enough from a human 
standpoint, but the true answer is found in the following verses. 

God is on the throne. Men talk and act as if he were not ofttimes, but 
David declares, He sees and is putting tests continually to his children, 
but he is arrayed against the wicked, and shall rain destruction upon him. 
The last clause of verse 7 is equivalent to saying, God gives the smile of 
his approval to the upright. We are so constituted here that it is not easy 
to keep this always in mind, yet that truth is so encouraging that God 
has seen necessity to hold it continually before us. Could our mortal eyes 
catch a vision of that throne and that temple, we should find it easy to 
wait patiently for the vindication of the right; but it is a far better 
test of our characters to confidently wait God's issues when we cannot see 
the end of his ways. 

Psa. 12. — This psalm is a product of David's old age. His wide range 
of acquaintance and knowledge of men and human doings led to this 
open and sweeping declaration of verses 1 and 2. Verses 3 and 4 
state the methods and characteristics of evil doers. They regard liberty 
as meaning license to do according to their own depraved desires. To 
forget that -there is a power above which all men are bound to respect is 
the highway to that lawlessness which refuses to acknowledge any earthly 
authority. No being can claim any liberty which works to another's hurt. 
God, who is the embodiment of justice, will use all power against the 
worker of evil, and in favor of the needy and oppressed, even though they 
must walk in the midst of such corruption as that mentioned in verse 8. 

Psa. 1 3. — This is not thought to be a psalm of David, but one composed 
in the Babylonish captivity, about 539 B. C. Its writer voices the 
thoughts of the Hebrew people whose harps are hanging on the willows 



484 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

) 
by the rivers of Babylon. Xaturally the soul long pent up with anguish 
and hope deferred, breaks out in despairing cry, "How long," and prays 
for divine aid against death, which seems crouching like a tiger to spring 
on its prey. 

Then like the sun shines after rain, the faith that is begotten of 
petition names out into an expression of confidence, "I have trusted, I 
shall rejoice, and will sing." The sublimest faith is that which holds on 
to God when the answer seems most unlikely. 

Psa. 14. — This also was doubtless the product of the same circum- 
stances as psalm 13. There were multitudes in Babylon who were 
pointing to captive Israel and tauntingly saying, You see the evidence 
that there is no God, as Israel has claimed, and many in Israel had been 
guilty of saying similar things when they were enjoying peace and plenty 
in the land of Canaan. The word fool is here used to designate one who 
thinks and acts contrary to reason. Their character is well described in 
the following verses, 2-6. It was not that they had not sufficient light 
to begin with (verse 4). They knew, but they were disobedient, and that 
fact accounts for their fear when they think justice about to overtake 
them. Paul uses some of the very language of this psalm in his argument 
in Eom. 3, and declares that it refers especially to the Jew. Of course it 
is plain that it applies as well to the heathen outside of Judaism as the 
heathen within it. The captivity which Israel was suffering was a just 
recompense for such abominable abuse of their light. 

In verse 7 the psalmist breathes a strong desire for the restoration of 
Israel, and speaks of the joy and gladness with which Israel should .hail 
the return from exile. 

If the above be true of the Jewish captives in Babylon, how much more 
was it true of the great family of captives in sin to whom Paul is speaking 
in Bom. 3. The godless man who acts like an atheist is about as bad as 
the person who holds and promulgates the atheist doctrine. 

Psa. 15. — This psalm also is supposed to belong to the period of 
captivity the same as the previous two. The psalmist here describes the 
nature of a righteous man by declaring such a one free from those 
characteristic sins for which Israel had gone into captivity. This lan- 
guage would mean much to Israel in her grief. It was another way of 
saying, "Why is Israel in this land of captivity ? Because we have walked 
not uprightly, did evil, lied, backbit, evil treated and reproached our 
neighbors, esteemed the vile, broke our oaths, took usury and bribes. 
Therefore is this evil deservedly upon us/" 

p sa . 1 6. — Townsend thinks this psalm was produced by David 1044 



PSALMS. 435 

B. C, in the same instance as psalm 2, when Nathan brought the promise 
to David. The psalmist here looks forward to the good that shall come to 
all subsequent believers, as well as the sorrows that shall come upon those 
who turn away to these false gods. He says of himself, The Lord is my 
portion, and therefore the statement of verse 6. The "reins" "were 
the supposed seat of emotion and thought." The word "hell" means the 
place of departed spirits, or the grave. The "Holy One" doubtless refers 
to the promised Messiah, through whom all this promised good was to 
come. See Acts 2, beginning at verse 25; also Acts 13:35-37. 

Psa. 17. — This psalm was written by David when the priests were 
murdered by Doeg. See I Sam. 22:19. David was conscious of doing 
the best he knew, and therefore talked confidently with God about being 
kept by him from his enemies. His utter contempt of their character is 
shown in verse 10. Verses 11 and 12 indicate their zeal to take David, 
hence his prayer of verses 13 and 14. The probable thought of verse 15 
is, Though I am not fed like those just described, yet I shall be satisfied 
from day to day by knowing myself to be like thee. 

Psa. 18. — The date of this psalm is 1019, the conclusion of David's 
wars. See II Sam. 22. Here are the analysis and notes on that chapter; 
compare it with this psalm : 
1-51 David's song of deliverance. 
1-4 The ascription. 
5-25 Why the ascription. 

5-7 David's distress and prayer. 
8-25 God's intervention toward him. 
26-31 The divine character as manifested toward David. 
32-44 God's method of helping David. 
45-51 David's confidence in God. 

This song of deliverance is the eighteenth psalm, showing the occasion 
on which that psalm was written. The small points of difference are 
accounted • for by the supposition that David revised it somewhat in 
preparing it to be sung in the sanctuary service. In the first four verses 
David ascribes to God the supremacy which he holds in David's affections. 

Verses 5-25 plainly answer why God holds that place in David's 
affections. There had been parts of David's life when trouble threatened 
to swallow him up forever, and destroy him from among men. Then he 
called upon God. (Verses 5-7.) 

Verses 8-25 describe the impressions made upon David's mind by the 
success into which God led him. It was an answer to David's prayer for 



436 * BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

protection. Let it.be noticed from the history of David's life that G-od 
uses simple and natural means to answer the prayers of his servants. 

26-31. — We judge a tree by its fruit. We judge the divine character 
b}' its manifestations. What God is to those who trust him, and the 
feeling toward him of those who hate the truth, are the proofs of his 
character. 

32-44. — It should be noticed that God's plan of helping David was in 
causing to prosper David's attempt to help himself. Thus the warrior 
by his efforts grew mighty, and so God has ordered in his natural law 
(God's habits) that a faithful use of that which we have shall increase 
our possessions. 

45-51. — The confidence that asserts itself when nothing but failure 
is visible to other eyes is the faith that most honors God, and he who 
endures with such inspiration and is willing to go forward at God's 
command, is the one whom the Lord can best use. 

Suggestions on chapter 22. Yerse 2, the first word "rock" means "a 
place of concealment." Yerse 3, the word "rock" here means "firmness," 
a different Hebrew word from the first. The "horn" of an animal was its 
weapon of defense. 

David's wanderings in the wilderness and flights for his life are filling 
his mind doubtless when he writes verses 5-7. The word "hell" means 
place of departed spirits, and the word "sorrows" were better rendered 
"cords," i. e. ? death was seemingl}'- making a great effort to catch David. 
Yerses 8 and 9 indicate that human conditions were mightily disturbed, 
and earth governments mightily shaken. Yerse 10, God manifested 
himself so mightily that the dark clouds about David proved to be only 
God's way of approach to better things for David. Yerse 11, and God's 
manifestations to David were swift like the flight of winged creatures 
and the winds. Yerse 12, who can tell how often the darkness and the 
waters and mists aided David in his flights. Yerse 15, arrows may refer 
to any pestilence. Yerse 16, "The removing of the waters of the sea so 
that the bottom is visible may be a general description of any earthly 
disorder." (J. F. B.) 

26. — God renders to each according to his work. Yerse 27, With the 
forward thou wilt wrestle, i. e., God resists the one who takes undue 
liberties, and helps the righteous, as illustrated by his help of David. 
Yerse 34, the hind was noted for its powers of flight up inaccessible 
heights. So God had helped David when pursued to fly swiftly into 
places where he could not be found. Yerse 35, he also made David a 
mighty warrior. Yerse 36, gentleness here means the kindness of a 



PSALMS. 437 

superior to an inferior. Verse 37, David had been given a broader and 
safer path in which to walk. Verse 40, the ancient warrior girded himself 
with a belt to hold out of the way his loose garments, and also as a belt in 
which to carry his weapons. Verse 42, most people are willing when 
trouble comes from which their gods cannot save them to turn to the true 
God. But God will not deliver from trouble those who will not regard 
him in their prosperity. 

Psa. 19. — This psalm was another product of David's old age. Eead 
verse 3 without the italicized words — it means the heavens, firmament, 
day, night, silently proclaim God's glory. And just as the material 
heavens proclaim God, so also is he proclaimed and glorified in his law, 
which produces in the soul of man results no less mighty than those seen 
in the material world. 

Because of the above, therefore, is the prayer of verses 12-14. 

Psa. 20. — This psalm is supposed to have been produced on the war 
with the Ammonites and Syrians, 1036 B. C. (II Sam. 10:17-19). It 
would seem that it is the expression to God of David's constituency in 
his behalf on that occasion, in which they pray for help and express faith 
that the desired help will be granted. The great victories of David were 
no doubt accounted for by the aid he received from the pious people whom 
he represented. Back of every God-fearing ruler should be a God-fearing 
people. 

Psa. 21. — This psalm, like the one before it, probably bears the date 
of 1036 B. C, being composed on the same occasion, the war with the 
Ammonites and Syrians. The writer was probably David, the king, who 
breathes out the utmost confidence in God, and rejoices because of his 
goodness. The word prevent in verse 3 means to go before. The king 
had perfect confidence that what he was not able to do the Lord would 
certainly do if he trusted. The words "swallow up" and "devour" represent 
the removal of the wicked from the earth. Verse 11 shows how like the 
evildoer of today was the evildoer of long ago, and verse 12, showing 
bow the}*" fared then, is a perfect picture of how they will continue to 
fare as long as God is on the throne of the universe. 

Psa. 22. — This is supposed to be a psalm of David probably in some 
time of severe distress. Jesus on the cross used the language of the first 
verse as applying to himself. Whether David wrote this as a prophetic 
psalm or whether he was voicing his own distress, is a matter you must 
decide for yourself. Verse 18 is also applied by the New Testament 
writer to Jesus. Matt. 27 :35. 

Verse 22 also is applied to Christ. Heb. 2:12. So it appears that 



438 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

both the prayer of distress and the expression of confidence are alike 
applicable to Christ, even though both may have been written originally 
to express the experience of the writer. The application of such passages 
as these as made by the New Testament writers show how Jesus was 
tempted in all points according to our likeness, except our habits of sin, 
which had no hold on him, since he never sinned. 

Psa. 23. — This was probably written by David near the close of his life, 
and expresses religious experience under the figure of the shepherd, which 
style of life was so familiar to the shepherd king. To lie down pre- 
supposes fullness. Still waters were deep waters, about which shade 
trees grew, and so this expression indicates cool or pleasant places. Cod's 
feeding and leading is a source of constant renewal of youth. Eestoring 
of soul (verse 3) is equivalent to spiritual refreshment. Yerse 4 is a 
confidence which fears no evil when going even into a deathly shadow. 
The shepherd folded his flock and fed it in plain view of wild beasts, 
which nevertheless could not get at the sheep. Anointing the head was 
an act of honor to the guest. The cup was filled so full that it overflowed. 
David had full confidence that such treatment would continue throughout 
life, and then a still better residence and life would be just begun. He 
would be privileged to dwell forever in the house of the Lord. 

Psa. 24. — This also, like the twenty-third psalm, was a product of 
David's old age. In the first place he recognizes and owns God's complete 
authority over all the earth and its products, since he is its creator and 
preserver. 

The nature of a righteous man, the person in whom God delights, is 
here described, verses 3-6. The hill of the Lord being the eminence on 
which the temple stood, is a representation of that Mount Zion, on which 
stands the heavenly Jerusalem, to which all the tribes of earth go up. 

Verses 7-10 exhort the individual under the figure of a city. Just 
as the city gates are raised to admit a conqueror, so the individual is 
exhorted to open the way for the coming of the king of glory, the creator 
of the world, into his heart and life. 

Psa. 25. — This and the two following psalms are thought to be another 
production of the captivity, composed about 539 B. C. This fact may 
help to explain the latter part of verse 3. Those who had oversight of 
the Hebrew captives in Babylon no doubt made their slavery most galling 
to them by reproaches and cruelty. The language of the psalm breathes 
the spirit of a true penitent seeking for light and wisdom to walk in the 
right way, and undo the errors of the past. Verses 16-19 express the 
overwhelming desire of a distressed and oppressed captive waiting for 



PSALMS. 439 

his release. Such language expresses as well the longing of a soul 
oppressed by the hindrances of this life, and the same importuning 
prayer against them, will bring as certain victory as that which came to 
the Hebrews when they returned from Babylon. 

Psa. 26. — If this psalm be the expression of a captive soul, it is a good 
illustration of the truth that the righteous suffer with the wicked for their 
evil doings. This fact is verified in every age. Eighteousness exalts a 
nation, and every sinner in it profits by the prosperity. Sin is a reproach 
to any people, and every righteous person in the body politic suffers 
from the evil. In so far as they by their influence as citizens might have 
remedied the evil, they of course deserve what they suffer. But in verse 
1 appears the silver lining to the cloud. "I shall not slide." God will 
hold up the righteous man amid all his enemies. The consciousness that 
he is doing the best he knows and seeking still greater light makes any 
soul bold to approach confidently a just God. Such a one can never be 
moved from his prosperity, even though he must for a time suffer on 
account of the evil by which he is surrounded. 

Psa. 27. — This strong expression of confidence in God's help against 
enemies is just such a song as would be likely to be born in the heart of 
a trusting captive who looked to the Lord for deliverance in time of 
trouble, and found help. Who can tell how often in times when sorrow 
and cruelty threatened to overwhelm the captives by the river of Babylon, 
God interfered and overwhelmed the oppressors in their cruelty ? If this 
and the two preceding psalms were written in the Babylonish captivity 
we cannot tell who was the author. It may have been Ezekiel, Daniel, or 
anyone of many God-fearing men among the captive Jews. Verse 5, the 
pavilion or tent of anyone was his private property, where intruders dare 
not come. The secret of his tabernacle would correspond to his own 
private room, a place still more secluded. A rock was a perfectly firm 
place on which to stand. Verse 10 is another way of saying, Even though 
my father and mother should forsake me (a most unlikely thing), yet 
I am sure the Lord would never do so. 

Psa. 28. — This is probably one of David's productions in his old age. 
He recognizes the great necessity for trust in God to keep him from being 
led away from the right by the devices of politicians, whose methods are 
so graphically described in the latter part of verse 3. In times of great 
popularity and power the devout man needs to watch and pray lest he 
enter into temptation. David was evidently taking note of the methods 
of evil men, and was praying to be delivered from their corrupting 



440 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

influences. If he needed such ballast, how much more do we in our day 
of more intimate social relations. 

The praise with which he closes the song is an outgrowth of the faith 
which would take no denial. He believed before he received, that by his 
believing he might receive. 

Psa. 29. — This psalm is also a song of David's old age. It was most 
fitting that the grand old shepherd and warrior king, whose head old age 
was wreathing with a crown of glory, should ascribe to God the glory 
due his name for the loving kindness which had made Israel the great 
nation that it was, and lifted the king into his high and honorable estate. 
David was the very man of all men to say, "0 ye mighty, give thanks unto 
the Lord." David recognized that God had rights which his creatures 
were bound to respect, and the fact that God had in his providence set 
a man in a high place was cause for an increase of gratitude and thanks- 
giving rather than forgetfulness of God. "In the beauty of holiness" 
might be rendered "In his glorious sanctuary." God's mighty power as 
exhibited in the thundering of the seas and the roaring of the winds 
which breaks the trees and makes them shake themselves like calves, the 
sharp lightnings and the roar of thunders, show a reason for the glory 
about which the king has been speaking. The last verse describes God 
as doing within his people what the singer has just been describing him 
as doing in the material world. 

Psa. 30. — This psalm is supposed to have been written by David at the 
threshing floor of Araunah. (See II Sam. 24:15-25.) The historical 
circumstances are probably the best comment on the psalm. Turn back 
and read them and then read the psalm. 

Psa. 31. — This song seems to have been written by David when he was 
being persecuted by Saul. See I Sam. 23, about 1060 B. C. The word 
"ashamed" means "put to confusion."' David fleeing and hiding among 
the rocks naturally thought of the Lord under the figure of a great rock 
of defense. Now he uses the figure of a net, woven like that of a spider, 
to catch him, indicating the secret plans of Saul and his friends to slay 
David. Verse 5 was quoted b}^ our dying Lord on the cross, and we are 
used to think of it as the words of a dying man, but David meant it to 
apply to his daily life amid the activities and dangers of this world. 
Verse 8 is expression of victory thus far, but the next few verses show 
with what mighty surges of grief he was contending. Only God could 
know how David was being assailed and how much it meant to have a 
trust that could tide him over these despairing experiences. Verses 21 
and 22 show that though David had despaired of his life, yet by prayer 



PSALMS. 441 

he had been brought safely through the dangers into loftier hope for the 
future. 

Psa. 32. — The incidents which called out this and the next psalm are 
laid about the year 1034, or twenty-six years after the preceding psalm. 
(See II Sam. 12.) The blessed condition of a soul conscious of pardon 
is indescribably sweet, and once experienced it can never be forgotten. 
The attempt to cover one's sin in the heart is well described in verses 3 
and 4. But acknowledgment brings pardon. (Verse 5.) The latter 
half of verse 6 states the result of being at peace with God. Whether 
verse 8 is the language of God or the writer of this song matters little. 
The thought is the same. The instruction which God furnishes through 
his servants in the world is the guide into all truth, and whoever accepts 
truth finds in it his great emancipation proclamation. The last clause 
in verse 9 should be rendered "in that they come not near thee," which 
means, they will not come near thee unless forced by bit and bridle. The 
thought is, do not act that way toward the Lord, but draw near to him 
intelligently and gladly. Verse 10 assigns a reason and verse 11 is an 
encouragement to rejoice in the Lord. 

Psa. 33. — This psalm having the same occasion as the above, is an 
outgrowth of the thought of psalm 32. Pardon being received, praise 
flows naturally and spontaneously, and may rightly be expressed either 
with the voice or with any musical instrument or with all these combined. 
Verses 4-11 suggest themes of praise, e. g., the word of the Lord, his 
nature, his creative power, his providential care, etc. Therefore verse 12. 
Because of the above, confidence is to be put in God rather than in any 
devices upon which men may rely. 

Psa. 34. — This and the following psalm bear about the same date as 
psalm 31 (1060 B. C.) David had taken refuge from Saul by going to 
Gath, a city of the Philistines, but some there recognized him as the one 
who had slain Goliath, the giant, and had been praised by Israel so 
loudly, and they told the king of Gath. When David heard of it he was 
afraid, and pretended to be insane, and so the king of Gath drove him 
away. Had he known that David was in his right mind David evidently 
thought he would have been slain. (See I Sam. 21:10-15.) This song 
of praise grew out of David's joy at his escape on that occasion. In this 
psalm is public praise, verses 1-3, relating of experience, verses 4-7, 
exhortation, verses 8-14, and a declaration of the privilege of the right- 
eous, verses 15-22. 

Psa. 35. — For the historical connections of this psalm see I Sam. 
22 :9-23, also the first part of chapter 21. When Doeg told Saul how 



442 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

David had visited the high priest, Saul sent Doeg to slay the priests. These 
circumstances called out from David this song. The language of verses 
2 and 3 is a figure of s})eech representing God as warring on the side of 
his people. Verses 13 and 1-1 show how David had treated them, and 
verses 15 and 16 show how they had given David evil for good. David 
appealed to God to take his part against his senseless and unprincipled 
persecutors, and render to them according to their deeds. He illustrates 
the high principle of Eom. 12. "If it he possible, as much as lieth in you 
live peaceably with all men." But where it is not possible, "Dearly 
beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto the wrath of 
God," etc. David might have avenged himself on those who sought his 
life, but he never would do so. He left that to God. 

Psa. 36. — This and the following psalm are supposed to belong to the 
time of captivity, about 539 B. C. First of all, the actions of the wicked 
are described. Contrasted with that is the faithfulness of God, and in 
conclusion is the prayer for God's children. These captives in Babylon 
had abundant opportunity to see these illustrations of evil, since they 
would be carelessly paraded by the proud Babylonians, and no effort made 
to conceal them from the despised slaves. The captivity gave a most 
excellent opportunity for God to show to the Israelites how hateful in 
his sight were those sins for which they had gone into captivity. Here 
Israel saAV pride and godlessness to their hearts' sickening, so that out of 
their souls rose a song of the mercy of Israel's God, and a fervent prayer 
for the welfare of his true worshipers. 

Psa. 37. — This psalm, the same date as the former, seems like an 
answer to the strong cries of psalm 36. Some patient soul with mighty 
faith in God says, Fret not because of the evil doings described in verses 
1-4 of the last psalm. The contrasts of the entire psalm are answers to 
the question, "Why be patient ?" Who was the author of these two psalms 
cannot be told. 

Psa. 38. — This and the three following psalms are thought to be a 
product of David's old age, about 1015 B. C. We are left to guess at the 
occasion which brought it out; possibly it was some of the extreme 
remorse which filled David when he had done some wrong. The arrows 
of the Almighty refer to some of his chastenings, probably in this case 
of sickness. Verses 11 and 12 remind one of the affliction of Job, and 
verse 13 shows David's way of meeting these suggestions — with silent 
contempt. Possibly he had profited by Job's experience. 

Psa. 39. — This continues the preceding thought. Here such experience 
as expressed in psalm 38 crystallized into the resolution of verse 1 in this 



PSALMS. 443 

psalm, doubtless means that same golden silence about which he was 
speaking in verse 13 of the thirty-eighth psalm. When he does speak, 
he speaks not to man, but to God, and. pleads humbly for that help which 
only God is able to give. 

Psa. 40. — This psalm shows a result of the policy of the former psalm. 
Patience and faith brought its inevitable reward, and here the psalmist 
is rejoicing. Verse 4 speaks of the aforementioned policy in which David 
does not sin nor charge God foolishly, and he proceeds to argue the benefit 
of trust in God. Jesus had evidently learned this psalm, for he refers to 
it in Matt. 9:13 and 12:7. The psalmist now prays that God's loving 
kindness may be continued to him so that he may be delivered from all the 
evils that have overtaken him, and that his enemies may be overwhelmed 
in their efforts to destroy him. It is very plain from these and other 
passages that David had plenty of enemies when any misfortune overtook 
him. 

Psa. 41. — Like psalms 38, 39 and 40, this psalm also, authorities seem 
generally agreed, belongs to David's old age, about 1015 B. C. David's 
personal conduct through his long and useful life had given proof of the 
divine teaching of the blessedness of charity. He knew by experience 
the truth of verse 2 as well as that of verse 3, as indicated by the testimony 
of verse 4. The experience which no doubt he had most dreaded at the 
time was that which enabled him to write these words for the edification 
of the whole human family. 

Verses 5-9 are a graphic description of the deceitful methods of 
enemies. Our Savior, in John 13 :18, applies these words to Judas, but 
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown well say that the expression, "That the 
scripture may be fulfilled," "has a wide use in the New Testament, and 
is not restricted to denote special prophecies." The expression was 
simply quoted by our Savior, and the words above referred to was another 
way of saying, "Just as God has said by his servants." The writer of 
this psalm was undoubtedly describing his own experience, and it was the 
experience as well not only of Christ, but of his faithful followers. 

In his prayer for help the psalmist recognizes that it is legitimate to 
punish evildoers, and because of his confidence that God will help him 
he rejoices in the midst of adversity. 

Psa. 42. — This psalm is supposed to date back to 1023 B. C., when 
David fled before his son Absalom. (See II Sam. 17.) In the light of 
this history verses 1-4 explain themselves. It was David's great sorrow, 
not so much that he was driven from his throne as that he was denied 
access to the house of God. What a comment is that upon the course of 



444 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

those brainless products of the nineteenth century who, owing all their 
advantages to the civilization which Christianity has brought, yet meanly 
declaim against that religion. A banishment of such from Christian 
civilization to the wilds of Africa would probably work an effectual cure. 

But despite the great adversity, David's faith rose superior to the 
occasion. Verse 5 indicates overcoming faith. Verses 6-10 minutely 
describe the inward conflict which makes possible such victory as that 
of verses 5 and 11. His faith did not relieve him from the necessity of 
fighting the battle ; it simply assured him that he would win in the fight. 
Verse 7 uses the figure of the ocean (of adversity) amid which the king 
seemed being overwhelmed, but amid the storm verse 8 shows a spot of 
clear sky. Verse 9 is his prayer, and verse 10 tells why he prays. 

Psa. 43. — This is simply a continuation of the above subject. David 
in his exile pleads for G-od's help against his enemies in that day of great 
trial. "The deceitful and unjust man" does not necessarily mean any 
particular person, but a whole class of people of that character, and 
David knew that at that time there were many of them in Israel. "Thy 
holy hill and thy tabernacle" refers to the height on which the tabernacle 
was placed in Jerusalem, where afterward the temple was built by 
Solomon. Calmut thinks this and the former psalm was written during 
the captivity in Babylon. 

Psa. 4A. — The majority of the authorities put this psalm about 710 
B. C, on the occasion mentioned in II Kings 19. If this be true, either 
Hezekiah or Isaiah might be its author. In this light in connection with 
this psalm read Num. 10 :9, and also the conquests mentioned in the book 
of Joshua. Verses 1-4 of this psalm are purely historical, while verses 
5-8 are expressive of that faith by means of which God honors and cares 
for his people. 

Verses 9-16 describe the evil condition into which sin had brought 
them, all of which God had foretold should come upon them if they 
should forget God and fall into sin. (See Deut. 8.) 

Verses 17-22 is the language of one who learns from adversity, doubt- 
less one of those faithful among Israel who had not followed the multitude 
to do evil, yet who must suffer with the others the divine wrath upon a 
nation which persisted in evil doing. But here faith is expressed in 
God, and a resolution voiced to search out the causes, and remedy the 
difficulty. This twenty-second verse is quoted by Paul in Eomans 8, 
as illustrating the difficulties amid which Christians are to triumph. 

The prayer of verses 23-26 is fervent and humble, such prayer as God 
has promised to hear and honor. 



PSALMS. 445 

Psa. 45. — The leading authorities put this psalm 1044 B. C, on the 
deliver}' of the promise by Xathan to David. (I Chron. 17.) David 
must on that occasion have written many psalms for the expression in 
song of the joy he felt at the promise I Chron. 17 :14. (See also verses 
16 and 17 of that chapter.) So surely as David in this psalm spoke of 
a kingdom that should never be destroyed, set up by the God of heaven, 
so surely do the words of verses 6 and 7 apply to Christ, whom God set 
to establish that kingdom. (See Heb. 1:8.) The whole drift of history 
since the beginning of time, including those who looked forward to a 
Christ to come and all who have believed since his coming, corroborate 
the prophetic words of this psalm. The best brains and hearts of earth 
are those who constitute the kingdom of Christ. 

Psa. 46. — The events which called out this song are laid in II Chron. 
20, on the victory of Jehoshaphat, B. C. 890. Eead in connection with 
that, the psalm requires little comment. Whether King Jehoshaphat 
or some of the Levites was its author matters little. Xo doubt it was a 
national song. The student will notice that the historic victory here cited 
came to pass because the people were ready to obey God and march out 
with singing into the. face of what seemed to be a devouring foe. 

Psa. 47. — This commemorates the removal of the ark into Solomon's 
new temple, 1004 B. C. II Chron 6:41. The great excellency of the 
psalm consists in the fact that the truth which it utters is as pertinent 
to this age as to that for which it was originally written, seeing that the 
things which the types of that day foreshadowed are now realities, and 
that the kingdom now set up, in which all faithful ones are members, is 
to be an everlasting kingdom. God will be its king, and all who have 
faith will be its subjects — the seed of Abraham. Eom. 4:11, 12. It was 
a glad day in Israel, and the consummation of what this psalm describes 
will be a glad day for the earth. 

Psa. 48. — This song is said to have been called out by the dedication of 
the second temple, built by Ezra, 515 B. C. Ezra 6. Perhaps Ezra 
himself was the author of this song. How naturally and beautifully and 
earnestly would such thoughts as these well up in the hearts of these 
returned exiles as they realized themselves once more in their promised 
land, dwelling on their Mount Zion, able to worship God with no one to 
molest or make afraid. Xo doubt verses 4 and 5 were called out by the 
threatenings of their enemies, who finding that they could not prevent 
Israel from returning to their place, shook their heads and turned away. 
Verse 7, referring to Tarshish as having at that time the control of trade, 
is but another way of saying that God will take the material interests of 



446 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the world and turn them into the channel in which they will best serve 
his kingdom. 

Psa. 49. — This and the following psalm, it is thought, belong to the 
Babylonish captivity, about 539 B. C. Who wrote it we cannot know; it 
may have been Ezekiel, Daniel or an} r one of their contemporaries. 
Townsend puts these two psalms after the scripture, Dan. 7 :28. Teaching 
difficult to learn would be called a dark saying, and the writer recognized 
that the wa} r to make learning easy was to set it to music. Hence verse 4. 
Verses 6-8 say, the redemption of a soul is too precious to be accomplished 
with riches. Therefore, the redemption of a soul is beyond the power of 
man. (Verse 8.) Verse 13 notes a sad, but notorious fact, viz., though 
men make themselves fools, yet their posterity will follow in their ways. 
The advice of verse 16 was most timely and pertinent, not only for that 
age, but for all ages. 

Psa. 50. — Verses 1-6, language poorly expresses the idea of God's 
majesty, so apparent in all the work of his hands. God is everywhere 
manifest to his people, and the glory which he showed to Moses at Sinai, 
Ex. 24:9-11, is shown in a greater degree in God's dealing with the 
nations through all history. 

In verses 7-15 of this psalm, God clearly shows to the obedient that it 
is not so much their sacrifices which God loves as their obedience; the 
sacrifices in themselves are valueless, but are valuable in that they express 
willingness to obey the Lord. But to the wicked who do all those things 
mentioned in verses 17-20, the observance of ceremonies mean nothing. 
Verse 21, considered as the language of God, should be a terrible warning 
to the evil of the world, who think themselves secure in their deviltry 
because God has not openly rebuked them. There comes a day of 
reckoning. Verse 23 savors of true religion. 

Psa. 51. — The events which led up to this psalm are found in II Sam, 
12. David had committed this most heinous sin against God and against 
Uriah, and the prophet Nathan had been sent to tell David of the fearful 
calamity that should come upon him and his house. It was the most 
scathing and awful judgment that had ever been denounced against 
mortal man, especially against one in David's position. There is no doubt 
from the language of II Sam. 12 :13 that the death of David was included 
in the judgment denounced. When the awfulness of the condition into 
which he had come forced its way into his comprehension, such a pall 
settled over him as he had not known from his youth until now. His cry 
for mercy as well as the acknowledgment in the latter part of verse 1 
was a confession of conscious guilt. Washing and cleansing are both 



PSALMS. 447 

figures "used to indicate a freeing from guilt, just as one conscious of 
having committed murder often tries to wash the stain of blood from his 
hands, be they ever so clean physically. Verse 4 would make much 
clearer sense if it were rendered "against thee, thee very especially have 
I sinned.'" David had sinned against Uriah also, but he first sinned 
against God. Had he refused to entertain the evil temptations in his 
own mind he would never have put them into execution. Acknowledg- 
ment that he had sinned against God was also an acknowledgment that 
God's judgment against him was just. Verse 5 is another way of saying 
that a human being from oonception is environed by sinful surroundings 
and educated into sinful conditions. Truthful thoughts (verse 6) will 
beget truthful acts. Verse 8 indicates that David had received a crushing 
blow. David doubtless felt that if one in his condition could be forgiven 
and restored to joy that with such an experience he ought to be able to 
reach and restore other sinners to God. Verse 17 plainly indicates that 
David knew the right way to pardon lay through sincere repentance. The 
last two verses seem to be a prayer for Zion. 

How much better it was to repent earnestly, as David did, and be 
forgiven, than to wander off into idolatry and drag down an entire 
nation into debasing sin. Nothing better illustrates the real character 
of David than the fact that he turned with repentance to God when he 
was overtaken in a great wrong like this, even though he was a powerful 
king. 

Psa. 52. — This psalm is thought to have been produced about 1060 
B. C, when David was being persecuted by Doeg (see I Sam. 22), which 
was twenty-six years before the events which called out the preceding 
psalm. David is condemning the spiteful wretch in no uncertain terms, 
and prophesies his certain and everlasting downfall. He contrasts this 
man's trust in his riches with his own trust in God, and declares his 
faith that God will in his own time bring him out of his trouble into 
settled peace. David's after life proves the correctness of this attitude. 

Psa. 53. — This is placed in the time of the captivity in Babylon. Paul 
in his letter to the Romans, chapter 3, declares some of the language of 
this psalm to be the language of God to Israel. This being true, the 
psalm is probably a description of the conditions which brought Israel 
into that deplorable captivity. Could they have known when in the 
enjoyment of the land into which God had led them how that their 
doing of the things described in verses 1-3 would certainly lead to their 
downfall and captivity they might have reformed and their history would 
have been written differently. But they would neither think for them- 



448 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

selves nor heed the warnings of their prophets, and so Israel was eaten up 
by iniquity (verse 4). Verse 5 declares there was no need to fear when 
God projected (scattered the bones or destroyed the enemy), but this 
evil exile came on the people because God despised them for their sin. 

The prayer for salvation would be very natural in the mouth of any 
prophet of the Lord who would produce such a song as this to call the 
attention of the people to the reason for their evil condition and the 
source to which they must look for deliverance. 

Psa. 54. — This psalm also was produced about 1060 B. C, on the 
occasion mentioned in I Sam. 23. The Ziphites were about to deliver 
David into the hands of Saul, and when David learned it he sent up this 
prayer against them and in his own behalf. He expresses faith that 
God will help him and also render to his enemies due reward for their 
evil intentions toward him. 

The language of verses 6 and 7 shows that before the deliverance came 
to pass he had faith in God that he would bring it to pass, and it is by 
virtue of such faith as this that God does make the inner evidence of 
things not yet seen to become tangible realities. 

Psa. 55. — This psalm is dated 1023 B. C, the time of the flight from 
Absalom. (II Sam. 17.) King David must have been in ver}^ keen 
distress, especially because of the means that the mighty Ahithophel was 
taking to utterly destroy David, as well as a multitude of others who 
would now be against David because he was in trouble. Verses 13 and 14 
doubtless refer to Ahithophel. See II Sam. 16:23. Compare verse 
15 with II Sam. 17:23, and compare the rest of this psalm with the 
history of the battle in II Sam. 18. 

Psa. 56. — This dates back again to 1060 B. C, when David was fleeing 
from Saul and had taken refuge in Gath of the Philistines. See I Sam. 
21. This song was the song of one who despaired of any earthly help, and 
so was looking up through seeming insurmountable difficulties and 
depending upon God for deliverance. See verse 3. David's youthful 
piety and faith without doubt helped him here to stand this great strain 
on his faith in his maturer years, and similarly his faith in God in such 
a time as this would help to still further mature that character which 
when David fell into the great sin referred to in psalm 51, instead of 
abandoning in despair the principles of righteousness, humbled itself 
before God in sore repentance and obtained forgiveness, and then 
continued in the way of righteousness. Of course the student will notice 
that the events referred to in this psalm took place twenty-six years before 
the events of psalm 51. 



PSALMS. 449 

The confidence expressed in verses 9-18 amid his fears and difficulties 
is like the shadow of a great rock in a desert, a shelter in the time of 
storm. Such faith is the crowning adornment of any character. 

Psa. 57. — The events which called out this psalm took place in 1058, 
two years later than those of the preceding psalm. See I Sam. 24. David 
had Saul in his power within the cave, and refused to kill him, and in this 
psalm pours out his soul to God in petition for his own personal pro- 
tection. The menry he had just shown to Saul inspired him to say the 
prayer of verse 1. The confidence expressed in connection with this 
prayer was the legitimate accompaniment of that merciful character 
by virtue of which he himself obtained mercy of the Lord. 

Such strains of praise as those of verses 7-11 poured out amid paralyz- 
ing dangers show the value of true religion when considered even from 
the standpoint of this life. That which brings confidence and joy amid 
great peril when cool heads and stout hearts are required, has exceeding 
value. This is accomplished by an intelligent faith as in no other possible 
way. 

Psa. 58. — This psalm is thought to be simply a continuation of the 
preceding. Saul and his associates were supposed to be ministers of 
justice; instead of that they were using the forms of justice to pervert 
right principles and oppress the righteous. The language of verse 3 
declares that such are the surroundings and training of the wicket that 
they are taught to lie and do wickedly from their earliest infancy. Xo 
doubt when David uttered that language he had before his very eyes many 
mere children in Israel who were taught to falsely and wickedly denounce 
and persecute him. How accurately verses 4 and 5 describe them. David 
prays that they may be brought to grief. 

As usual in his prayers, in the very midst of his asking his faith takes 
hold on God, and he finishes with a glow of confidence that what he has 
asked is already granted in the decree of God. Such faith God always 
honors. 

Psa. 59. — The events on which this psalm is founded are supposed to 
have taken place 1061 B. C, perhaps the first of Saul's persecution of 
David. I Sam. 19. Here the worthy young David is cruelly persecuted 
by the godless sons of Belial, who always delight in persecuting the 
upright, especially if some one in authority has given a pretense for so 
doing. Their loud-mouthed, blatant impudence is well described here by 
David in his comparison of them to dogs, verse 6. The word "prevent" in 
verse 10 means "to go before." That was the original meaning of this 
English word. It is noticed in verses 11-15 that David does not ask God 



450 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

to slay his enemies, but to bring them into the dust and permanently 
humble them that they may be perpetual object lessons to others. The 
italicized words in verse 13 stricken out leaves the sense clearer. The 
thought is, "Consume until they cease to be prominent, but let them live 
to know that God ruleth, etc." In that case (verse 14) their going around 
like a dog will no longer be because of their groveling disposition, but 
because they are actually brought down to that necessity. 

Here again David breaks from his prayer into a song of praise, the 
outgrowth of his faith which sees beforehand things which are not, as 
though they were. 

Psa. 60. — This song dates back to 1040 B. C, when Israel was at war 
with Edom. The writer, doubtless David, appears to here supplicate 
the help of the Lord to aid him in making conquest of these enemies of 
Israel. Xo doubt they had hard fighting and some seasons of dark 
anxiety and doubts about the result. Verse 3 indicates it. Verse 4 
indicates the same means which David used to inspire his warriors, and 
truth is still the inspiration of all our moral victories. 

Psa. 61. — This song many authorities think belongs to David's old 
age, about 1015 B. C. Calmet, however, thinks that it belongs to the time 
of the return from captivity in Babylon. Here is the expression of a 
firmly fixed resolution. Men are most apt to cry for help when the heart 
is overwhelmed. Much overwhelming, however, might be spared if men 
would in times when all things seem to go well, ask diligently for wisdom 
to see the right course and courage to walk in it. The psalmist's pledge 
is based on the fact that in the past Cod has helped him, and he has faith 
that God will continue to do so. Possibly the language of verse 6 is 
regarded as an indication that this song is a product of David in his old 
age. Verse 8. Daily performance of duty is the key to success, and such 
performance is greatty stimulated by praise. 

Psa. 62. — This is thought to be a product of David when he fled from 
Absalom, 1023 B. C. Here David owns that his only source of supply 
is in God. Begarding the prophecy of verse 3 see II Sam. 18:6-17. 
Absalom's methods by which he stole the hearts of the Israelites probably 
gave rise to the thought of verse 4. Verse 9 states a very prevalent 
condition of society, and verse 10 voices a much needed warning, 
especially because of verse 12. 

Psa. 63. — A number of authorities put the composition of this psalm 
1058 B. C, when David was in the wilderness of Engedi, a fugitive. 
See I Sam, 24. Calmet thinks it belongs to the time of the return from 
Babylon. The language of verses 1 and 2 would be very natural to either 



PSALMS. 451 

David in exile or to the Israelite people as exiles in Babylon. The praise 
and confidence expressed in the rest of the psalm would well fit either 
case, as would also the language of verses 9 and 10. Verse 11 seems to 
better fit the case of David in Engedi. To the man of faith much praise 
is begotten of tribulation, thus verifying the declaration that our light 
(i. e., lightfooted or fleeting) afflictions, which are but for a moment 
work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we 
look at the outcome and give thanks, rather than at the partial temporary 
results and despair. 

Psa. 64. — Most authorities think this to be a product of David's 
persecution by Saul, but Calmet puts it at the time of the captivity. 
Either the events of I Sam. 22, B. C. 1060, or the events of the exile to 
Babylon, might call out this language, either from David or from some 
man of faith who was captive in Babylon. Verses 3 and 4 is a suggestion 
of the power and influence of evil words, the harm of which is beyond 
computation. Verses 5 and 6 indicate the careful pains taken by evil- 
doers to accomplish their abominable schemes. But verses 7-10 show 
the hope of the righteous man amid all these perplexities. He is sure 
of victory in the end. 

Psa. 65. — This is a psalm of David's old age, about 1015 B. C. The 
praises of verses 1-4 are self-explanatory. If any doubt the correctness 
of the statements of verses 1-4 he has only to compare Christian nations 
with those in the depths of heathenism to find a verification of these 
words. 

Such illustrations of the divine power as these mentioned may be seen 
constantly about us, so that truly, the greatest of all miracles is the 
standing miracle of nature (God's habit) with its innumerably great 
variety of unfathomable wonders. The setting of the everlasting hills, 
the control of the seas, the progress of the nations, the supply of moisture, 
the crops and the life which they sustain are all marvels beyond the power 
of description or comprehension. 

Psa. 66. — This belongs to the period of 536 B. C, when the foundations 
of the second temple were laid. See Ezra 3. Who was its author cannot 
be told, but was either Ezra or some of his associates. The language of 
verses 3 and 4 would naturally be suggested by that providential leading 
which had permitted Israel to return from their captivity to the land of 
promise, whence they had been carried captive through sin. Verse 6 
doubtless refers to the historic incident of the crossing of the Red Sea, 
and verses 10-12 the awful experience of the captivity through which they 
had just passed. Verses 13-15 express determination to keep the vows 



452 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

which were made in the day of trouble. It often happens that trouble 
is required before our just dues to God are pledged. In verse 18 an 
important truth is involved, viz., if we do what we know to be wrong we 
must of necessity know that evil dwells in us, and under such circum- 
stances it is vain for us to expect that God will regard our petitions. It 
is another way of saying, We must do the best we know, which is Christian 
perfection. 

Psa. 67. — This is a song of the captivity, B. C. 593. Such a prayer 
would naturally rise in the hearts of those captives whose harps were 
hanging on the willows. It meant first mercy to them, and light that 
should go out through them to all nations that they also might rejoice 
in the righteous rule of God. Had that sentiment been cherished more in 
the palmy days of the Israelite nation, it would not have ceased to be as 
a people. All advantages are given us that we may in turn give, them to 
others. 

Psa. 68. — This psalm is thought to have been produced on the occasion 
of the first removal of the ark, II Sam. 6, about 1045 B. C. By referring 
to Num. 10 :35 it will be seen that verse 1 was a sentiment well known in 
Israel. "Jah" is a sort of abridgment for Jehovah, the name applied by 
the Hebrew to express the most adorable and endearing phase of God's 
character. Verses 6-8 refer to God's dealing with his people when they 
came out of Egypt. As a comment on verse 8 see Ex. 19 :18. The rain 
referred to in verse 9 may refer to the dropping of manna and quails in 
the wilderness. The plan of God by which he brought Israel out of 
bondage and established the new nation in Canaan soon became the talk 
and wonder of all the nations around, and everywhere their conquering 
arms were successful, so that the women who tarried at home divided 
the spoil that was brought in from the battles. Yerse 13 is a contrast 
between their slavery and their freedom as a great nation. Authorities 
think that "hills are symbols of nations, and Bashan was a heathen nation 
northeast of Palestine, described here as a hill of God, i. c, a great hill, 
and that these are envious of the hill of Zion, on which God resides." 
(Jamieson.) Verse 18 is quoted in the New Testament as applicable to 
Jesus, which is of course correct, seeing that the concept here given of 
God spreading his gifts among all nations finds its fulfillment in the 
kingdom of Christ. Verse 22 is equivalent to a declaration that those 
who go to war shall return in triumph. The whole psalm is a prophetic 
song declaring how the plan for which Gorl called his chosen people 
should triumph in all the earth. The ark which David was then moving 



PSALMS. 453 

was the symbol of God's presence among his people, and so its removal 
to national headquarters would naturally call forth this song. 

Psa. 69. — This is thought by most authorities to be a psalm of David's 
old age, about 1015 B. C, but Calmet puts it at the time of the captivity. 
Whichever be correct, it is certain that this psalm is a description of how 
God's enemies reproach his people, and this prayer is for help against 
them. It is the experience of one who, in the midst of those who are 
careless of God's claims upon them, is zealous for God. Hence it is very 
aptly applied to Christ in John 2 :17, referring to the language of verse 
9 of this psalm. Also the language of verse 21 is a statement of how 
God's enemies treat a righteous man who comes into their power, and 
that also was illustrated in the treatment of Christ afterward by these 
very people. "Their table" represents the gifts of God on which they 
sustain themselves, and which by a wrong use may be turned into a curse, 
as was the case with Christ's persecutors. 

Psa. 70. — This psalm grew out of the rebellion of Absalom, B. C. 1023. 
II Sam. 17. It is doubtless one of the many prayers which David prayed 
against his enemies in that dark day. 

Psa. 71. — This psalm, like the last, grew out of the rebellion of 
Absalom, B. C. 1023. The aged King David as he fled from Jerusalem 
would naturally pour forth such a prayer as this. The expression, "Thou 
hast given commandment to save me," might mean, Thou has done so in 
former times of danger, or it might refer to David's faith concerning 
this occasion. The expression "from the womb" means from birth. 
Verse 9 indicates that old age was upon him at that time. David was 
born about B. C. 1085, hence would now be 62 years old. Verse 11 is 
true to the methods of cowardly enemies. 

The strong expressions of confidence and consequent praise were char- 
acteristic of David. He saw in advance, because he believed, and therefore 
he spoke. What was true of him in this respect ought to be true in the 
individual case of every Christian. More praise, verse 22, and more talk 
of what the Lord does for us would bring true religion far closer to the 
masses with whom we come in daily touch. 

Psa. 72. — This psalm is one the occasion of which arose eight years 
later than the last, when David made Solomon king in 1015 B. C. See 
I Chron. 29. The pronoun in verse 2 refers to Solomon. Verse 3 means 
probably that under the just rule of Solomon the land should yield 
its increase in abundance. The Hebrew of verse 5 is, "They shall fear 
thee with the sun and before the moon a generation of generations." The 
common English version is very misleading and perplexing. The whole 



454 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

psalm to verse 15 is the description of a reign of a prince to whom almost 
the whole known world was tributary. Such a king was Solomon. 

It might be contended that verses 16-20 continue the description of 
Solomon's reign, and there can be no question that' in a certain sense 
this is true. The expression in verse 17 is, as in verse 5, "with the sun," 
That was probably true of Solomon in the limited degree in which the 
world was then known. But it is infinitely more true of David's greater 
Son, the Christ, a descendant of Solomon. The thought was that the 
descendants of David should multiply until they filled the earth, and that 
is fulfilled in its highest and best sense in the world-wide spread of the 
children of faith. Verse 20 is supposed to mark the close of the two 
volumes of psalms which were ascribed to David as their chief author, 
viz., psalms 1-41 and psalms 42-72. 

Psa. 73. — This psalm is thought to have been produced on the destruc- 
tion of Sennacherib, B. C. 710 (II Kings 19), although Calmet assigns 
it to the captivity. When the Assyrian band came against Israel full of 
their vaunting pride and self -sufficiency, it was but natural that such 
thoughts as these should rise in the mind of a waiting, hoping, suffering 
believer. Verses 1-14 describe the mental conflict and verse 15 declares 
that if the prophet had said anything in those dark moments of conflict 
it would have been something which would have caused God's children to 
stumble by discouraging them. 

But when the prophet who wrote this song caught a glimpse of God's 
dealing with these his enemies, he was quickly reassured. As a comment 
on verses 18-20 read the history of II Kings 19. The remainder of the 
psalm shows that the prophet was heartily ashamed of his hasty con- 
clusion. 

Psa. 74. — This psalm is laid 588 B. C, at the time of the destruction 
of the city and temple, when the people were carried captive to Babylon* 
See Jer. 39. "We cannot tell by whom it was written, possibly by 
Jeremiah, the prophet who had been so faithfully warning the people of 
the results of their sins, and who now complains and pleads with God 
about the destruction of the house of God. The expression "lift up thy 
feet" in verse 3 means "come to see." Verses 5 and 6 say that they break 
and destroy this beautiful work, the execution of which made men famous. 
Verse 11 uses the figure of a man keeping his hand in his bosom instead 
of using it to help out of trouble a neighbor or friend. The psalmist 
mentions the former favors of God to his people, and pleads that they be 
not now delivered into the hands of their enemies. The word "turtle- 
dove" is a term of endearment applied to Israel. 



PSALMS. 455 

Psa. 75. — This psalm, the same as 73, is placed at the destruction of 
the Syrians, B. C. 710, but Calmet puts it at the time of the captivity. 
Its contents fit either condition very well. Tregelles renders the last 
part of verse 3 thus : "I have measured the pillars of it," meaning that 
the writer knows by observation what he has declared in verse 3, that the 
political governments are dissolving into nonentities. The writer declares 
to the wicked that there is coming a day of reckoning in which God will 
render to evildoers according to their deeds. 

p sa . 76. — This psalm also is thought to belong to the incident of the 
destruction of the Syrians, B. C. 710. (II Kings 19.) Who was its 
author we cannot tell. Salem was Jerusalem, the city of peace, the 
capital-city of this chosen nation. Such a fact as that recited in the above 
reference was rightly attributed to God, who manifested himself in Zion 
to his beloved children, hence verse 3. The chapter of Kings above cited 
is a sufficient comment on verse 10. T^he Assyrians proposed, but God 
disposed, and so he does always in the affairs of life and of human 
history. When long afterward the Eoman armies, actuated by their own 
selfish motives, were making conquest of the world, God used them to 
punish the disobedient Jewish nation; and the Eoman armies, godless 
as they were, were called the armies of God. 

Psa. 77. — The occasion of this psalm's composition is probably the 
Babylonish captivity, about 539 B. C. The middle of verse 2 should be 
read, "My hand was outstretched in the night," referring to the writer's 
appeal to God for help in his time of great distress. Verses 3-9 show 
the cause of the writer's distress. The trials they were enduring in the 
land of captivity sometimes, perhaps, made them feel that verse 9 was 
true. The word"infirmity" in verse 10 should be rendered "supplication." 
The thought is, My supplication is that God will not cast us off, but will 
display his power in our behalf, that those precious years of the past in 
which God so manifested himself may be repeated. This leads him to 
think of how God did manifest himself in the past to Israel, and so in the 
rest of the psalm he recites something of the story of the Exodus and the 
journey toward Canaan. 

Psa. 78.— This is thought to be a psalm of David's old age, 1015 B. C. 
Here David recites the story of God dealing with his chosen family. 
"Dark sayings," verse 2, mean facts not well understood. The tribe of 
Ephraim came to be a sort of military leader of Israel, and so in this 
psalm they are used as a synonym for Israel (verse 9), and this verse 
declares that they failed to do their duty in driving out the heathen, as 
God had commanded. The natural result followed, as expressed in verses 



456 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

10 and 11. From this point on to verse 41 the book of Numbers is a 
sufficient comment. Sketch its history in connection with these verses. 
From verses 42 to 53, go to Exodus for the history. "This mountain," 
verse 54, means Mount Zion, on which Jerusalem and the temple were 
situated. From verse 55 to the end of the psalm the story is told in 
Judges, Kings and Chronicles. In order to rightly appreciate this psalm, 
the story of all these books named should be familiar to the reader. 

Psa. 79. — This psalm also dates back to 588 B. C, when the city and 
temple were destroyed, and it may have been written by Jeremiah. He 
appeals to God to aid his chosen nation against the ungodly enemies that 
have overwhelmed them with calamity, and make them experience that 
which they have dealt to others. This writer does not argue that Israel 
does not deserve what they are suffering. Doubtless he had as a faithful 
prophet warned his nation repeatedly that such calamity would come as 
a result of sin, but he argues that these enemies of Israel deserve God's 
wrath still more. It was most galling to him to see God's people chastened 
by such enemies. It is always so, yet God continually uses evil men to 
chasten and correct his children. 

Psa. 80. — This psalm is a product of the exile in Bab}don, 539 B. C. 
The psalmist prays that their captivity may be turned and Israel restored 
to God's favor and to their land. In his pleadings he cites the extent of 
their grief and the reproach that is heaped upon them by their enemies. 
He refers to Exodus and the residence in the land of promise under the 
figure of a vine. Then he contrasts how at the time of this writing that 
vine is rent and torn by the beastly and godless element of humanity 
which roamed about them. Verse 17 is a strong plea for God's conscious 
and continual guidance in their affairs, that all may go well with them 
in future. 

Psa. 81. — This psalm is dated by Town send 515 B. C, at the time 
when the second temple was dedicated. As verse 2 indicates, the song 
of that age was called a psalm. The blowing of trumpets (see Lev. 
23:23-25) was a law in Israel. In verse 5 the name "Joseph" is used in 
place of "Israel." The strong language, or "lip," as the Hebrew says, 
which was heard in Egypt was that cry of the oppressed people of God, 
a perfectly new experience in the human family. When before had the 
chosen family of God ever been in cruel bondage to sinners? The 
remaining verses of the psalm describe the experience of the people of 
Israel after they came out of Egypt. There is no doubt that had the 
people been as faithful to God as were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that 



PSALMS. 457 

God would have done just what he states in verse 16. The best comment 
on verses 6-12 is the history in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. 

Psa. 82. — This psalm is dated 897 B. C, when Jehoshaphat appointed 
judges in his kingdom. II Chron. 19. The charges made in this psalm 
are plain enough when read in connection with the chapter above cited. 
Who put the charges into song we cannot tell. 

Psa. 83. — This is dated 897 B. C, on the occasion of the invasion by 
the enemies. II Chron. 20. As a comment on verse 9 see Xum. 31 and 
Judges 7, and also Judges 4. Jehoshaphat, who was then king of Judah, 
was a godly man, and in that hour of great national peril turned to God 
in earnest prayer for aid. As an evidence of the faith he had on this 
occasion, notice how in II Chron. 20 this prayer was answered. Who 
was the author of this song we cannot tell, but the putting of these events 
into song would be a most effective way to write the events on the minds 
of the people, and keep their thoughts turned toward God as their great 
deliverer. 

Psa. 84. — This psalm is dated 535 B. C, when the foundations were 
laid for the second temple. See Ezra 3. Possibly Ezra was its author. 
If not he, then some of the Levites. To people who like them had been 
for seventy years in captivity without a house of worship, such language 
as that of verse 2 would be very natural and very full of meaning. Verse 
3 some think to mean, "As the sparrows find homes, so do I desire thine 
altars." Or, as others think, that "the structure of the Jewish place of 
worship afforded facilities for sparrows and swallows to indulge their 
known predilection for such places." But what seems to me most 
probable is that this language is expressive of the ruined condition of 
the temple which Ezra was at that time rebuilding. The blessing which 
comes to him who serves the Lord is well represented by making a dry 
valley a place of refreshing. Verse 7 doubtless refers to the man spoken 
of in verse 5, who passing through barren places on his way to the house 
of God at Jerusalem, finds enough of refreshing to sustain him until he 
at last reaches his desired goal — the place where he may appear before 
the Lord at the temple. To those who were earnest in God's service, a 
day of worship was better than a multitude of common days. If we think 
of what the sun is to us, or a shield is to a warrior, we can conceive 
something of the force of verse 11. The latter clause of this verse means 
that God will not withhold anything from his children which he sees 
to be for their good, provided they make the proper effort to attain it. 

Psa. 85. — This is thought to have been composed B. C. 536, a year 
before the last, on the occasion of the decree of Cyrus which allowed the 



458 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jews to rebuild the temple. See Ezra 1. In it is first of all acknowledg- 
ment of the goodness of God, by which he had turned back the long 
captivity of his chosen people. The language which follows is the natural 
outflow of hearts overjoyed at the thought of return to their beloved 
Zion. The singer was very desirous that the blessings which had been 
once shown to Israel and which now seemed to be returning, might be 
increased indefinitely. In verse 8 there is an assurance of the forgiveness 
of God, but a solemn warning against turning again toward those sins 
which had been the source of all their trouble. Paul's expression in 
Acts 17 :27 confirms the thought of verse 9. When men do right truth 
seems to rise up as if it sprang out of the earth, and it is then that God 
gives the smile of his approval and every human interest prospers to its 
greatest possible extent. 

Psa. 86. — This psalm is thought to be a product of David's old age, 
dated 1015 B. C. What was the event which called out this song we are 
left to guess. The thought of the word "holy" in verse 2 is that this 
writer was a servant of God, trying to obey him. He knew he needed 
help, and also knew that such help could be had only from God. Yerse 
3 indicates that the author of this song was a man of daily prayer. The 
answering in the day of trouble (verse 7) depends largely on the former 
conduct of the one who asks. The language of verse 11 is the language 
of strong determination, the proper attitude of every believer. The word 
"hell" in verse 13 means the grave. 

Psa. 87. — This psalm is dated 536 B. C, the return from captivity in 
Babylon. See Ezra 3. This beautiful song shows how deeply the love of 
Jerusalem was ingrafted into the souls of these captives. When they 
received permission to return to their native cit} r , their joy knew no 
bounds. Verses 5 and 6 show what an honor they esteemed it to be 
born a citizen of Zion. How much greater is the honor of being a citizen 
of the kingdom of God. 

Psa. 88. — This psalm is dated 1531 B. C, forty years before the 
Exodus. At that time the slavery in Egypt was in the height of its power, 
and Israel was in mourning. These verses are a wail from souls groaning 
under the burdens of bondage. Verses 10-12 mean, If you do not show 
help to the living it will do them no good after they are dead. The word 
"prevent" in verse 13 means "to go before.'" "Calmet and most com- 
mentators refer this psalm to the captivity." (Angus and Hoyt.) 

Psa. 89. — This psalm, by common consent, belongs to the approximate 
date, 539 B. C, the time of the captivity in Babylon. Thirty-seven verses 
are devoted to a song of mercies. Verses 2, 3 and 4 contain promises 



PSALMS. 459 

expressed in God's own words, promises which this writer had learned 
to repeat, probably from his youth. The reasons for the expressions of 
verses 4-7 are set forth in the statements of God's power, verses 8-13, of 
his character and care of his people, verses 14-29, and his forbearance, 
verses 30-37. As a comment on his creative power, read Genesis, and 
study nature. On his character and care of his people read the whole 
Bible. On his forbearance, read the Bible and look about you at God's 
dealing with rebellious men. 

The complaint and prayer rises from the fact that in that hour of 
Israel's dark captivity it seemed that God had forgotten' his promise 
of verses 33 and 34, and had delivered the Jews into final and everlasting 
bondage. Verses 38-45 describe a condition which God forewarned the 
people should come upon them if they sinned against him. In his 
paralyzing despair the psalmist cries out, "How long, Lord," pleads 
the shortness of human life, and prays God to be merciful. 

Psa. 90. — This psalm is dated by Townsend 489 B. C. (See Angus 
and Hoyt's Bible Hand Book, p. 499.) Other authorities ascribe this 
psalm to Moses (see heading to the psalm in most of the Bibles) . Calmet 
refers it to the captivity in Babylon. The period of human life, even 
though it be one thousand years in length, is- insignificant compared 
with the existence of God, as set forth in verse 2. "Keturn" (to the dust), 
verse 3. The writer attributes this return to death as the result of sin. 

The prayer is a supplication to God for the necessary wisdom to so use 
the time and powers which God has given us, that by this life we may fit 
ourselves for the endless life beyond. He prays that the captivity may 
be turned into freedom and gladness, and that the latter may be propor- 
tioned to the former, and that they may be able so to understand as to be 
able to appreciate the beauty of God and the eternal fitness of his work. 

Psa. 91. — This song is thought to have been written after the advice 
which David gave to Solomon, 1015 B. C. See I Chron. 28. Such 
language as that of this psalm was most fitting advice to the young king. 

David could speak from experience. The wonderful care which God 
had exercised over David from his youth up to old age is itself a wonder- 
ful verification of these promises. Experience had made David a prophet 
to his son Solomon. Whether or not David wrote this, his experience was 
such as to warrant these mighty assurances. Verse 2 uses the figure 
of a tower, verse 3 uses the figure of a hunter snaring his victims, and 
verse 4 the mother of a fowl hovering her young, or a warrior 
putting on his panoply. The statement of verse 7 indicates how God 
protects his own amid appalling difficulties and dangers, and verse 9 



460 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

states the reason why the man of faith is thus protected. So definite is 
this promise that Satan used it to tempt Christ into uncalled for display 
of divine power. Read his answer in Matt. 4:7. All the promises of 
this psalm are to be appropriated (but not abused) by the child of God. 
In this song are expressed safety, verse 1, endurance, verse 2, deliverance, 
verse 3, nurture, verse 4, confidence, verses 5-16. 

Psa. 92. — This song is dated at the time of the Babylonish captivity, 
about 539 B. C. If this is a song of the captive in Babylon, it shows how 
faith can rise superior to circumstances. The faithful daily thanksgiving 
expressed in speech and song by those oppressed people of God proved 
them superior to their discouragements, and urged that out of their 
difficulties they should come purer and stronger for their chastenings, 
and so it proved. As indicated by verse 5, they could see God's hand, but 
their oppressors could not, and the temporal supremacy of their foes in 
no way discouraged them. Verse 7. The language of verse 10 was 
another way of saying, "I shall be victorious." Jamieson says of verses 
12-14, "The vigorous growth, longevity, utility, fragrance and beauty of 
these noble trees, set forth the life, character and destiny of the pious." 

Psa. 93. — This also is thought to belong to the captivity, and hence 
bears the same date as the above. It is a song expressive of God's might 
as demonstrated in every power of nature. As verse 2 indicates, the 
origin of God's rule is lost in the obscurity of time. Only one who has 
seen old ocean's majesty can know the force or comfort of the declaration 
that the Lord is mightier than the noise or waves of the sea. God's 
power is inherent in himself, and is greater than any exhibition of it that 
we can comprehend. 

Psa. 94. — This psalm is dated 610 B. C, the time of the destruction 
of Jerusalem and the temple. Who was the author we cannot tell — some 
one of God's faithful worshipers in Judah, who in his plea for justice in 
that dark hour, first appeals to God to take note of those deeds of 
wickedness under which the people had been so long distressed by God's 
enemies, who were now pillaging and profaning God's sanctuary and 
outraging his people. 

Following this plea he warns these evildoers of the result of their 
course, and shows the absurdity of supposing that God does not see and 
take note of their evildoing, or that he will not render to them according 
to their works. He who has formed organs through which we are able to 
gain concepts, is able to receive concepts without the use of such organs. 

But in the midst of this troublesome picture the writer finds a great 
comfort in this, that out of the troubles in which they are, God shall bring 



PSALMS. 461 

great good to the man of faith. It too often happens that in order to 
teach God's law even to his professed followers, chastening is required. 
When the learner becomes thoroughly subject to God's law, God will keep 
him in perfect peace until that day when all wrongs shall be visited upon 
their authors, and the righteous shall be vindicated. Here the psalmist 
appeals for souls to stand with him against the enemies of truth. When 
all men had forsaken him, thoughts of God had been his only stay, and 
it was unthinkable that God would fellowship with that spirit of 
diabolism which would enact evil into statutes. Therefore he felt sure 
that evil was to be overthrown. 

Psa. 95. — This psalm is thought to be a product of David's old age, 
about 1015 B. C. The praise of God by his creatures in speech and song 
was fitting because of God's creative and kingly power. To prostrate 
one's self before such a God was a fitting and becoming attitude for any 
of his rational creatures. The thought of verse 7 is that God leads and 
supplies his people as a shepherd does his sheep. Verses 8-10 warn the 
people against making the mistake which the children of Israel made in 
the wilderness, when for their disobedience they were made to wander 
forty years outside of their beloved Canaan. 

Psa. 96. — This psalm is dated 1042 B. C, on the event of the removal 
of the ark by David from the house of Obed-edom. See I Chron. 16. 
After the distressing death of Uzzah, David had left the ark at this house 
for three months. Now he takes it to Jerusalem with great demon- 
stration and put it in the holy tent which had been set up there. Praise 
on this occasion would be both natural and comely. In this song is a 
strong contrast between God and idols, and the beauty of his worship 
and gladness of his worshipers form a bright picture most restful by 
contrast with the dark picture of idol worship. 

Psa. 97. — This psalm and the three following are dated 1004 B. C, 
the time of moving the ark into Solomon's temple. In this description 
of the influence of Christ's kingdom among men, the first statement of 
verse 1 is a fact apparent to every thoughtful observer. The clothing of 
God with clouds and darkness and surrounding his throne with righteous- 
ness and judgment is another way of declaring that he is difficult of 
comprehension, but known to be just and to visit the results of their 
iniquity upon the evildoers. The following verses refer to the power 
of God as manifested in the lightnings and the earthquakes, in which 
the hills often disappear. What is there to rebuke idolatry in the world, 
but the worship of the true God? Verse 8. The true manifestation of 
himself which God has made to his chosen nation, Israel, has become 



462 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the foundation of all the civilization of all the ages since. Verse 10 has 
been the common experience of the saints of all ages, and thus the entire 
world has come to stand in awe of the religion of the true God and 
reverence his Son Jesus Christ. 

Psa. 98. — This psalm simply calls on united humanity to praise God 
for his manifestations to the world. It breathes the spirit of true religion 
in that it contemplates and embraces the entire inhabited earth in this 
salvation plan. Praise is comely. This psalmist believed in using 
instruments to assist in praise. 

Psa. 99. — This song rings out an invitation to worship God. The 
sitting between the cherubim meant that God manifested himself at the 
mercy seat over the ark. This song was doubtless directed especially to 
Israel, and so cites especially their prophets. Verse 9 refers to the hill 
on which the temple was situated. 

Psa. 100. — Verse 3 of this psalm gives the key to its thought; God is 
our creator, and we are under his special care. Hence we should praise 
and be glad. We should come to his house with thanksgiving and 
blessings, assured that his mercy will continue and his truth be ever- 
lasting. 

Psa. 101. — This psalm is dated 1015 B. C, and thought to be a song of 
David's old age. The singer recognizes his obligations to God, and, 
possibly because he was king, thought it necessary that he should set a 
good example. Had he made that covenant with his eyes, verse 3, before 
the great wrong he did to Uriah, he would never have had to answer for 
that sin. Verse 4 is a covenant with himself not to stay in the society of 
a wicked person. Verse 5 implies a covenant with the ears not to listen 
to slander. Verse 6 puts a premium upon justice and humility, encour- 
aging men to be faithful and earnest. Such a sentiment was a most 
healthy one to embody in the songs of a nation. 

Psa. 102. — This is thought to belong to the date 538 B. C, just before 
the return from captivity. The author, whoever he was, was full of 
distress of the captivity and groaning with anxiety for deliverance. His 
feelings are doubtless well expressed in verses 1-11. 

But behind the storm there is a calm. God is in the heavens, and is 
keeping watch above his own. The faith of this captive singer detected 
the near, approach of sweet liberty. (Verses 12-14.) He believed that 
Israel should be restored to her ancient powers, and that God would again 
mightily manifest himself on behalf of Israel, the coming generations of 
whom should see these glories. (Verse 18.) In his own personal distress 



PSALMS. 463 

out of which this psalm grew, the writer uses the language of verses 23 
and 24, basing his hopes on the faith of verses 25-28. 

Psa. 103. — This belongs to the date 1034 B. C, on the occasion of the 
pardon of David's adultery. II Sam. 12 :13. The high, pure atmosphere 
of this song shows something of the ability of David as a writer, and also 
shows the general character of his life. No man who was habitually 
mean could write such a composition as that. David had just passed 
through a most frightful period of darkness, in which it had been 
announced that he must die for his sin. He had literally prayed himself 
back to life, and this gushing of a pardoned and thankful soul was the 
reaction from the mighty weight of "sin unto death." The language of 
this psalm is especially applicable to the newly converted soul. Verse 17- 
indicates that just as a parent's sin is a curse to his children, so a parent's 
good behavior is a blessing to them. 

Psa. 104. — This psalm is dated 1015 B. C, a psalm of David's old age, 
though Calmet thinks it belongs to the period of the return from cap- 
tivity. The song sets forth first the power of God. Verse 4 may be read, 
Who maketh the winds his messengers, the lightnings his ministers. 
Verses 6-9 seem to refer to the cosmogony of Genesis, i. e., the universal 
ocean around the new world, the folding of the earth's crust into wrinkles, 
and the gathering of the waters into seas. The remainder of the psalm 
gives instances of God's providence in nature, all tending to the benefit 
of the human family. He cares for the dumb creatures as well as the 
creatures of his image. With such facts before them, no one ought to 
despair of all necessary help to keep themselves in the way which is most 
pleasing to. God and most helpful to our fellow beings. 

Psa. 105. — This psalm is dated 1042 B. C, at the occasion of the 
removal of the ark from the house of Obed-edom. The song is directed 
especially to the people of Israel, citing facts with which they were 
familiar. The best commentary on this psalm is the history of Genesis 
and Exodus. The weaving of that history into song was the best possible 
way to write the story on the minds of the people so that it could never 
be forgotten. This song is the complete story of God's dealing with his 
people from the call of Abram to the entrance of Israel into the promised 
land. Verse 25 is the same thought repeated which was brought out in 
Exodus, not that God was responsible for that condition of the hearts of 
the Egyptians, but that he made laws which when violated produced that 
result. The antecedent of "they" in verse 28 is Israel. Verse 39 refers 
to the pillar of cloud and fire which led the people in their journeys. The 



464 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

great aim of this psalm is to call out from the people praise for these 
mercies. Hence the psalm both begins and ends with praise. 

Psa. 106. — This psalm bears the same date and the same occasion as 
the above. It was natural that at such a time, when David was calling all 
the people to praise God for his goodness to Israel, of which care the 
ark was a standing symbol, he would recount and set in order before them 
the great national events which had made Israel famous. In psalm 105 
the writer showed how great things God had done for the people ; in this 
he shows how the people had rebelled against God. In verse 3 the singer 
notes the blessedness of those who obey, and then prays that he may be 
clothed with that salvation, and thus himself be obedient. He thinks it 
good to confess his own failures and those of the people of his time, and 
not only so, but the failures of their fathers before them. This psalm 
does not contradict verse 28 of the preceding one. The thought is that 
Israel was at first obedient, but afterward rebelled. There should be read 
with this psalm the books of Exodus, Numbers, Joshua and Judges. 
With verse 20 read Romans 1 :21-23. Verse 38 gives a key to the trouble 
of the people in the days of the judges. Calmet dates this psalm and 
the two before it at the time of the return from captivity in Babylon, 
probably arguing from the language of verses 41, 46 and 47. But these 
verses refer, I think, to the captivities in the days of the judges. Verse 
47 may be explained by remembering that in the time of David there were 
still remnants of the heathen in their midst, who should have been 
destroyed when Israel entered Canaan. 

Psa. 107. — This psalm is dated 536 B. C, on the return from the 
captivity. Who was its author cannot be told; possibly Ezra. Here is 
a vivid picture of their captivity and the return from it. Verses 4 and 7 
correlate and explain each other. Verses 9-14 are precisely the same 
thought enlarged. The word "fool" in verse 17 means one who lacks 
wisdom and discretion. Such were the Israelites when they transgressed 
the plain laws of God. Verse 18 shows the mental stress into which their 
sin brought them, and the two following verses show how they were 
restored. The argument shows the power of God's word. Verse 16 is a 
picture of the power under which they were held captive, and how God's 
might broke that power. The writer now strengthens his argument by 
drawing a picture of God's protection over those who go to sea. Here 
God's power is especially noticeable when a storm rages. What a 
description of the rise 'and fall of the ship on the billows in verse 26. 
Now the singer turns to men on land (verse 33), and shows how God 
makes their labor to bring forth blessed transformations. Verse 41 



PSALMS. 465 

points out this same mighty God as the vindicator of just character, 
raising even the poorest to the throne if they be faithful as his servants, 
and bringing into contempt those who despise him, however high they be. 

Psa. 108. — This psalm is dated 1040 B. C, on the conquest of Edom 
by Joab, David's captain. It will be noticed that the first five verses of 
this psalm are the same as psalm 57:7-11, and the rest of it is psalm 
60 :5-12. The student may refer back to these psalms. David seems to 
have taken a part of psalm 57 and put it with a part of psalm 60, and 
so made this psalm 108. Why he did so does not appear; probably for 
the same reason that we multiply songs in our day, making many of them 
alike, or nearly so. He wanted the devotional of these two psalms 
without their complaint, for use in a praise service no doubt. 

Psa. 109. — This is dated 1060 B. C, when David was being persecuted 
by Doeg (see I Sam. 22). "This psalm is remarkable for the number 
and severity of its imprecations/' (J. F. B.) David meant this for his 
impenitent and vicious enemies, and it applies just as well to those 
violent enemies of all good men, having a notable illustration in Judas, 
who as the representative of the wretched Jewish priesthood, became the 
tool of evil men to maltreat the divine Christ. In verse 21 the psalmist 
turns from this dark scene to appeal for help and sympathy from God. 
Verses 22-25 show the strength of David's endurance, for righteousness' 
sake, and the rest of the psalm shows the contrast between God's goodness 
and the violent and contemptible hatred of men. 

Psa. 1.10. — This is dated 1044 B. C, on the promise by Nathan to 
David (see I Chron. 17). The Savior expressly applied this psalm to 
himself (Matt. 22:43, 44). And the apostles also applied it to him (see 
Acts 2:34; I Cor. 15:25; Heb. 1:13). Such references also prove that 
the Jewish people understood the psalm to be prophetic of the Christ to 
come. To sit at the right hand of God was to share in his power. Verse 
2 indicates that Christ should rule in spite of his enemies. Eead verse 3. 
"In the beauty of holiness thou shalt have more dew of youth than the 
womb of morning," i. e., in the service of God thou shalt have more 
refreshment (such as experienced in youth) than the beginning of the 
"morning," which is a synonym for refreshment. Verse 4 relates to the 
eternal priesthood of Christ, which had no beginning, end, nor succession. 
Verses 5 and 6 relate to the conquest of Christ's kingdom over his 
enemies. Verse 7 uses the figure of a victorious king, famishing from 
the heat of his conquest and drinking at a brook by the wayside to refresh 
and reinvigorate him for his pursuit of his flying enemies. So Christ is 



466 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

supposed to be invigorated and sustained until his conquest over sin is 
complete. 

Psa. 111. — This and the three following psalms are dated by the best 
authorities 53 G B. C, on the occasion of the return from captivity. Its 
authorship cannot be stated, but it must have been written by some 
faithful follower of God who had been a captive in Babylon. His heart 
was full of praise, and with the history of God's wonderful dealing with 
Israel before him and the frightful calamity of the captivity burning in 
his bones there would be born in a faithful soul the sweetest possible 
strains of adoration to the mighty God who brought all these things to 
pass for the benefit of his faithful children. God's service demands the 
whole heart (verse 1). His works are sought after by such as incline to 
the right (verse 2). His character and care is everlasting (verses 3-5). 
His kingdom shall cover the earth (verse 6). The word "reverend," 
verse 9, occurs nowhere else in the Bible. The declaration of verse 10 
is something well to be remembered. If God is the source of all good and 
all wisdom, then his fear is certainly the first principle of all wisdom. 
A strong point which should be made here is that if learning to be best 
developed should be begun in youth, then this highest of all wisdom to 
be best developed should also be begun in youth. Hence Eccl. 12 :1. 

Psa. 112. — This psalm, bearing the same date as the last and probably 
originating on the same occasion, conveys much the same thought as the 
first psalm. It describes the blessedness of the man who serves God, 
showing the prosperity and the honor which attaches itself to him from 
such service. There is no night so dark but that light shines in the midst 
of it to the man of faith. No such a picture can be found elsewhere in 
human language as this description of the composure of a good man. 
Verse 9 describes his good works b} T which his godlike character is shown, 
and by which he is endeared to all with whom he has to do. The reward 
of the good always wakens the intense envy and enmity of the wicked. 
Here, however, is the assurance that the righteous shall triumph and the 
wicked shall be brought to destruction in his doings. All this was prob- 
ably suggested by the joyful return of God's people from bondage while 
their enemies gnashed their teeth against them. 

Psa. 113. — In the same way this song is expression of the supreme joy 
of these returning captives, who feeling their prayers answered and the 
burden of their captivity lifted, quicken their steps and sing gladly of 
God's sympathy for them amid their troubles, and power with which he 
has set them free. To the mind of a Jewish woman, to be barren was the 



PSALMS. 467 

greatest possible reproach. Hence verse 9 was equivalent to saying, God 
takes away the reproach of them who look to him. 

Psa. 114. — The calling to remembrance of the divine aid at the Exodus 
was a most effective way to impress upon all the Jews their debt of 
gratitude to God, to whom they owed their deliverance from bondage in 
Babylon. It is supposed by authorities that both the terms Judah and 
Israel in verse 2 are set to represent all the twelve tribes, the name Judah 
being so used because of the pre-eminence of that tribe. It is possible, 
however, that this language was prophetic, and that Judah being the 
tribe from which came the Christ, is represented as the sanctuary or the 
place in which God especially manifested himself while the other tribes 
were the honored servants which God was to use to carry this spiritual 
domain of God to the uttermost parts of the earth and make his sway 
universal. Verse 3 refers to the passage of the Red Sea and of Jordan. 
The skipping of the mountains and hills refer to their trembling and 
quaking at the sound of the voice of God or at his presence (see Ex. 
19:18), something as the forests shake themselves under the force of 
the winds. Verses 7 and 8 suggest the power by reason of which the 
mountains trembled. This power was shown to the people in their 
journey's in the wilderness. (See Exodus 17:6; Num. 20:11.) 

Psa. 115. — This psalm is dated 896 B. C, at the time of the victory of 
Jehoshaphat over the allied heathen. (See II Chron. 20.) That chapter* 
is perhaps the best comment on this psalm. After such a signal victory 
in which all was put upon the Lord, such praise as this would naturally 
flow from the grateful hearts of Israel. The contrast which this psalm 
makes between the worship of God and the service of idols was greatly 
emphasized in that victory in which the heathen depended upon their 
idols, and the hosts of Judah depended upon God, the king himself 
leading the people in prayer against these three nations. It was a most 
signal victory for the right. Verse 17 suggests the propriety of the living 
using their voices in praise. 

Psa. 116. — This also bears the date of 536 B. C, the time of the return 
from captivity. Verse 3 speaks of some of the experiences of those in 
captivity, enduring such pain under it as was like to bring men to sheol 
(hell), the place of departed spirits. The psalmist here testifies that God 
heard his prayer and delivered him. The weight of the singer's affliction 
in captivity led to just such a hasty conclusion as that at which many 
arrive under less aggravated circumstances (verse 11). He remembers 
that conclusion only to repent of it, and bursts forth into a song of praise 
which shows that the better condition at which he has arrived bred better 



468 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

thoughts toward all humanity. And it would have been better for the 
writer and for all concerned if amid the darkest of all his troubles he had 
retained his integrity. 

Psa. 117. — This short song bears the same date and occasion as the 
above. It contains a simple statement of the reason why God should be 
[praised. God's kindness seen every day, and the endurance of his truth 
proven by the history of the ages, gives us all needful reason to praise him 
continually. The teaching of this song is that praise is comely, and that 
it is the duty of all nations to render what is due to God in this respect. 
This in the hurry and bustle of life we very often fail to do. 

Psa. 118. — This psalm is dated 1044 B. C, on the occasion of that 
promise made by the prophet Nathan to King David (I Chron. 17). 
Verses 12 and 13 of I Chron. 17 give the promise of God which set the 
heart of the king going in these words of thanksgiving and expressions 
of faith. The number of songs of distress to which David had given 
utterance, contrasted with the grateful praise which was now filling his 
mouth, is all sufficient comment on verses 5-9. The confidence begotten 
of such experience in the past made David bold to say verses 10-12. It 
should be noticed that David, like the loyal-hearted man that he was, 
here attributes his safety and success to God. These things we too often 
attribute to our own skill. The language of verse 22 was applicable to 
David's experience. He had to fight his way through sorest trials and 
opposition of those who should have been his friends and helpers. Jesus 
used the language as equally applicable to himself. The very same was 
true in his case. But in both cases God made the right to triumph. 
Verse 26 had come to be a benediction in the days of Jesus, hence he told 
the people that they should apply the expression to him when they became 
sufficiently enlightened concerning him. 

Psa. 119. — "Calmet and most commentators refer this psalm to the 
captivity, but Townsend puts it at 444 B. C. It is called a manual of 
devotion, thought to have been compiled by Ezra. The following is from 
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's commentary on this psalm: 

Verses 1-176. This celebrated psalm has several peculiarities. It is 
divided into twenty-two parts, or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two 
letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza contains eight verses, and 
the first letter of each verse is that which gives name to the stanza. Its 
contents are mainly praises of God's word, exhortation to its perusal, and 
reverence for it, prayers for its proper influence, and complaints of the 
wicked for despising it. There are but two verses (verses 122 and 132) 
which do not contain some term or description of God's word. These 



PSALMS. 469 

terms are of various derivations, but here used, for the most part, 
synonymously, though the use of a variety of terms seems designed, in 
order to express better the several aspects in which our relations to the 
revealed word of God are presented. The psalm does not appear to have 
any relation to any special occasion or interest of the Jewish church or 
nation, but was evidently 'intended as a manual of pious thoughts, 
especially for instructing the young, and its purely artificial structure 
was probably adopted to aid the memory in retaining the language.' " 

"Aleph" is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in the Hebrew 
each one of the eight verses under this head begins with the letter Aleph. 
"Beth" is the second letter in Hebrew, and each verse in Hebrew under 
this heading begins with the letter Beth, and so on for the twenty-two 
letters, making one hundred and seventy-six verses. Every verse but 
the two above mentioned has something in it with reference to God's 
word. Above all, the eyes of the world need to be opened that it may 
know what wonderful things the law of God has to give to it. (Verse 18.) 

Law — the instruction of God's word. 

Testimonies — that in which God testifies for truth against sin. 

Precepts — directions relating to special conduct. 

Statutes — laws of a permanent nature. 

Commandments — fundamental directions for conduct. 

Judgments — rules of conduct formed by judicial decisions. 

An indefinitely great number of suggestions are made by this varied 
and exhaustive study of the utility of the revealed word of God. The 
student will notice and adapt to his particular purposes these thoughts 
as they arise in the reading of each paragraph. The whole psalm was 
undoubtedly meant to be committed by the Hebrew youth. 

Psa. 120. — This is thought to be a psalm of David's old age. The 
juniper coals were remarkable for their long retention of heat. This 
brief song is thought to be one of many which was sung by the people as 
they ascended the hill of Zion to Jerusalem at the feasts, hence called 
a song of .degrees. Who was the enemy referred to cannot be told. In 
this psalm is prayer for relief, with a statement of the writer's faith 
regarding the punishment of his enemy. 

Psa. 121. — This and the following psalm, like the one before it, is 
thought to belong to the date 1015 B. C, in the old age of David, who is 
credited with its authorship. This also is called a song of degrees, which 
expression is better rendered, "a song of ascents," i. e., a song used by 
the people in going up to Jerusalem for the yearly feasts. Hence the 
language of verse 1 was used no doubt with reference to the hill of Zion, 



470 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

on which the temple sat, and which to the Israelite was the especial place 
where God manifested himself. And so the expression "hills of God" has 
come to mean to any believer, the place from which God manifests his 
help. Here belief is expressed that all help comes from God, whose 
perfect watch-care will deliver from all the evils arising from contact with 
the human family, and also from all evil from the forces of nature 
(represented by the sun, ruler of the day, and the moon, ruler of the 
night). The "moving of the foot and the going out and coming in" are 
figures representing the daily walk and duties of man. The just man in 
the midst of these shall receive God's help continually. 

Psa. 122. — This song of the "going up" to Jerusalem is seen at once to 
be particularly appropriate. At Jerusalem was the only temple in all the 
twelve tribes. To go there was the most marked religious pleasure of an 
Israelite. There was the ark of the covenant, and there the head of 
government of this chosen family was fixed. To pray for her peace was 
to pray for the general welfare of all God's chosen family and the success 
of the plan of salvation, for which end it was called to be a nation. 

Psa. 123. — This song is dated 539 B. C, toward the close of the 
captivity in Babylon. Who was its author cannot be told, but it is all- 
sufficient explanation of it to remember that the singer at the time he 
wrote was smarting under the cruelties and reproaches of the Babylonians, 
enemies of God and his people. Hence verses 3 and 4. The sentiments 
of the song are very applicable today to those faithful believers in God 
who smart under similar reproaches. Verse 2 suggests that by our 
waiting we are to cultivate the grace of patience until such time as God 
has properly schooled the individual into readiness for the consummation 
of his purposes. 

Psa. 124. — This psalm most authorities date 1015 B. C, making it a 
psalm of David's old age, though Calmet puts it at the return from the 
captivity. The subject matter of the psalm well fits either supposition. 
The language of this psalm was true to David's history, and it also 
expressed the exact truth concerning Israel in bondage at Babylon; it 
was true of Israel as a nation all through its histor}', and it is equally true 
of each individual who today serves the living God. 

Psa. 125. — This psalm is dated 536 B. C, the time of the return from 
captivity. This language expresses the utmost faith in the stability of 
the man of faith. He is established like a mountain upon its base, and 
the Lord is round about him like a wall of fire. Verse 3. The wicked 
may for a time oppose the righteous, but such a condition will not be 
suffered to continue to any permanent degree, so that the just may not 



PSALMS. 471 

be tempted toward infidelity or despair. Verses 5 and 6 contain a prayer 
concerning both the just and the unjust. 

Psa. 126. — This song is dated 536 B. C. by the weight of authority, 
being an outgrowth of the decree of King Cyrus for the return of the 
Jews from Babylon. The language of verse 1 shows how like our own 
personal experience was the experience of that day. No doubt they 
prayed fervently, and were men of faith, too, but he says, When our 
prayers were answered it seemed like a dream. But as its reality dawned 
upon them, verse 2 was the result. Then their faith began to rise to 
greater heights, and they prayed that the tides of return might be 
increased like the streams of the lands where no ice forms to check their 
swelling. Certainly in this instance the tearful pleadings which betok- 
ened their great faith, were seeds which brought unspeakable rejoicings 
as they afterward came bearing the sheaves of national restoration and 
identity. 

Psa. 127. — This is put at the same date as the above, 536 B. C. We can 
only guess at the circumstances which called it out, but it seems most 
reasonable to suppose that there were many in Israel so discouraged by 
the captivity that they not only sorrowed unceasingly, but refused to 
bring children into that sorrowful condition. This was but natural. But, 
objects the man of faith, if the Lord be in this you need have no fears of 
the result. Verse 1 contends that all success in making and keeping 
belongs to the Lord. Therefore (verse 2), don't embitter your life with 
anxious care. It is as much a Christian's duty to sleep well as to breathe 
w r ell. Then he contends that children are of God, and it is therefore an 
acknowledgment of his benefaction to rear them for him. And not only 
so, but unspeakably great benefit attaches itself to the parent from his 
parental office. The thought of the verse is that if a man has numerous 
descendants to protect him, his enemies will fear and respect him and 
treat with him rather than attempt to crush him. 

Psa. 128. — This song is supposed to bear the same date as the above. 
It details some of the blessings of the man of faith. Most likely the song 
was constructed with a view to the return from captivity to Jerusalem, 
where all the hopes of the Jews centered. Verse 5 indicates that, and the 
whose psalm seems to picture the delights of Israel restored to God's 
favor, dwelling in prosperity in the land of promise. The thought, 
however, is just as true today concerning the spiritual blessings that flow 
out of the Jerusalem above, the mother of us all (Gal. 4:22-31), to all 
the children of faith. 

Psa. 129. — This psalm is thought to have been produced out of the 



472 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

opposition of the Samaritans who attempted to stop the building of the 
temple a-t Jerusalem. Possibly Ezra was the author of this psalm, and 
in verses 1-4 refers to the tribulations in the days of slavery out of which 
they have just escaped, as evidence that God will continue to stand by 
them in their needs. Then he hurls at the Samaritan enemies the 
anathemas of verses 5-8. Read Ezra 4 as a comment on this psalm. 

Psa. 130. — This psalm authorities date 539 B. C, in the period of the 
captivity. This bears marks of a strong faith in the near emancipation 
of the captives in Babylon. It is a song which refers to going up to their 
beloved Zion. Yerse 3 indicates that they expect mercy from the Lord, 
and verses 4-6 seem to anticipate the granting of their prayer, the last 
named verse showing the intensity of their desires and petitions. Yerses 
7 and 8 are a sweeping and general exhortation to the chosen family to 
center all their hopes in the God of their fathers, offense against whom 
had brought all their troubles, and a return to whom would restore them 
to his favor and to all their forfeited benefits. Hence this psalm also 
is called a song of ascent. 

Psa. 131. — This psalm most authorities refer to the date 1015 B. C, 
toward the end of David's life, but Calmet refers it to the captivity. It 
is a simple song setting forth the customary behavior of an humble servant 
of the Lord. In verse 3 is set forth humility, and quiet acceptance of 
condition beyond human knowledge. Verse 2 might with great propriety 
suggest that teachable nature which belongs to a child about the age of 
weaning. Such teachable spirit is sure to progress in wisdom and 
knowledge. Yerse 3 is the expression of a grand exhortation in song, 
applicable not only to the Israelites to whom it was originally directed, 
but to all men of faith of every age and clime. 

Psa. 132. — This song is placed at 1042 B. C, at the time when David 
danced before the ark as it was being removed. (I Chron. 15.) David is 
here recording the great anxiety which he felt for the safety 'and due 
regard for the ark of the Lord. This he probably felt especially incumbent 
upon him as king of God's chosen family. David desired that, for the 
honor of God, and good of Israel, the ark be established at the head- 
quarters of his nation, and that proper religious services be provided in 
connection with it. 

Yerses 11-18 show the faith of David in God's promises concerning the 
stability of the kingdom. The seed of David (Jesus Christ) has come to 
sit upon the throne of David, and to rule the spiritual Israel, a king 
forevermore. (See Rom. 9 :6-8.) Whether or not David foresaw this fact 
which Paul makes plain matters nothing. It was in the mind and purpose 



PSALMS. 473 

of God, and in due time was made clear to all concerned. Had not 
David been faithful to God, Christ, the seed royal, would probably have 
been born of some other line. 

Psa. 133. — This is thought to be a song of David's old age, 1015 B. C, 
and, like the one before it, is called a song of ascent, that is, it has special 
reference to the going up to Jerusalem to the great yearly feasts for the 
purpose of worship. Such gatherings would naturally suggest the 
language of verse 1. Verses 2 and 3 show that the writer was familiar 
both with the early history of Israel, and also with nature, and used both 
in this figure to imprint on the minds of his people the benefit of Chris- 
tian unity. It is a noble stroke of poetic genius to so interweave history 
and nature with religious thought that either of the two former will 
suggest and augment the latter. Calmet put this psalm at the time of 
the return from captivity. 

Psa. 134. — This belongs doubtless to the time of the return from 
captivity in Babylon, about 536 B. C. The expression "by night" in verse 
1 is supposed to refer to the pilgrims who stood in the evening sacrifice 
responding to the leader who directed their devotions. It is an exhor- 
tation and a benediction. 

Psa. 135. — This psalm is dated 1004 B. C, at the time when Solomon 
removed the ark into the temple. In the song the singer reviews the 
history of Israel and notes special great reasons why men should praise 
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who did all these wonders men- 
tioned in the history of the chosen family. It is history from the books 
of Genesis, Exodus and Numbers, put into song for use in the sanctuary 
service. In conclusion the singer contrasts the worship of such a God 
with the paltry idols which men so often worship. In verses 19 and 20, 
Israel means all the people. "Aaron" stood for all the line of the priests. 
"Levi" for all the tribe of priestly helpers. 

Psa. 136. — This psalm also belongs to the date 1004 B. C, when 
Solomon placed the ark in the new temple. (However, Calmet refers 
both these psalms to the return from captivity.) As the last psalm gives 
reasons why men should bless God, so this psalm exhorts men to praise 
God, ending each point in the exhortation with the declaration, "For his 
mercy endureth forever." The declarations preceding this repetition are 
points taken from history, and begin with creation and go consecutively 
down to the time of the writer. It is sufficient to say of these points that 
they are historic points put into song for the purpose of writing them 
on the minds of the people, especially the coming generation. 

Psa. 137. — This is dated 539 B. C, during the Babylonish captivity. 



474 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

How touching was the grief of those who were captive in Babylon, as 
they remembered their own land and the jo} T s which belonged to them 
there, we cannot at this distance conceive. The curiosity and derision 
of their enemies requiring of them a song amid their painful surroundings 
was a constant aggravation and humiliation. They felt that they could 
not sing songs of praise when the visible signs of God's displeasure were 
upon them. But remembering God's promise of restoration to the 
penitent, they voice the thought of verses 5 and 6, and then call God to 
witness against the Edomites and their oppressors, the Babylonians. The 
Edomites, it will be remembered, were descendants of Esau. The thought 
of the last verse is that the Babylonians deserved death for their inhuman 
treatment of the Israelites. 

Psa. 138. — This song dates 519 B. C, on the rebuilding of the temple. 
(See Ezra 6.) The prison doors of Babylon had swung open and God's 
exiles had returned again to their beloved land and their Mount Zion, 
on which Jerusalem was builded. Hence the glory of singing praise to 
the true God in the presence of those miserable idols falsely called gods 
(verse 1), and in worshiping and giving praise with their faces toward 
that holy temple height. The language of the remainder of this psalm 
grew out of their deliverance from captivity. The nations of the earth 
should know the story, because they would have Israel as a neighbor 
nation when her captivity was turned. The language of verse 6 was 
verified in the case of this captive family of God, which when it became 
truly penitent was heard of God and restored according to promise. 
Compare verses 6-8 with Deut. 30. 

Psa. 139. — Some authorities regard the date of this psalm as unknown. 
Townsend, however, puts it at 1048 B. C, the time of David's coronation 
over all Israel. (See I Chron. 12:38.) At such a time David would 
have running through his mind the instances of God's providence in his 
past life, and so the language of the first eighteen verses was testimony 
of what David knew from personal experience. Yerses 7-10 declare God's 
omnipresence. Amid the sorrows of his past life David had learned what 
it was to have a sense of God's presence not only in joys which seemed 
like those of heaven, but amid trouble which seemed like the torment 
of hell. His knowledge that God had formed him so wonderfully gave 
grounds for faith that God would keep him to the end. 

And further, there grew out of this confidence these declarations 
concerning the haters of God and his servants. David believed that God 
would destroy them for their wickedness, and so he was willing to commit 
his case to God and pray for his guidance in his own case, and leave the 



PSALMS. 475 

enemies to be dealt with in God's own way and in his own time. This 
was a fitting and dignified course for a king, and is equally so for any 
Christian. 

Psa. 140. — This psalm dates back to 1060 B. C, when David was being 
persecuted by Doeg. (See I Sam. 22.) The word "gin" in verse 5 means 
a trap or snare. In those dark days David's mind was full of those plots, 
for his enemies gave him no rest from them day or night. Verse 7 shows 
where David got his strength for those times of tribulation, and the 
prayer which follows shows the means by which he was possessed of such 
help. 

The faith expressed in verses 12 and 13 shows that in the midst of all 
the darkness David saw light, and such faith coupled with his prayers 
made him the mighty success that he was, fighting to a finish the good 
fight of faith and dying in favor with God and good men after rounding 
out a life of usefulness. Had David done otherwise than he did in the 
days of his tribulation, he could hardly have succeeded as he did then 
and afterward. 

Psa. 141. — In this song, dated 1055 B. C. (see I Sam. 27), is the 
prayer of David when he was driven from Judea. Saul was trying to 
take his life and he flees from Judea, "breathing this prayer for God's help. 
He makes special request that he may not be beguiled into the temptation 
to resent the evil which Saul was practising against him. And he did 
not wish to associate either with Saul or any other evil workers. (Verse 
4.) The thought of verse 5 is that David would willingly take correction 
or reproof from a just person and esteem it a favor. The last clause of 
the verse probably means that he would continue to pray for the calamity 
of his enemies, and that when those who fought against him came to 
grief they would be reasonable enough to listen to his side of the question. 
!Many of those who sided with David paid the penalty with their lives. 
The latter part of verse 7 shows that David had been a farmer's boy. The 
prayer of verses 9 and 10 was remarkably answered in David's case. 

Psa. 142.— This psalm is dated 10G0 B. C, five years before the former 
psalm, when David was hiding in the cave of Adullam. (I Sam. 22.) 
David told all his troubles to the 'Lord and talked with him familiarly 
about his difficulties. Here he found relief. The latter part of verse 3 
is true in the life of multitudes of just men, and when in their extremity 
and day of need they look for help from man they find verse 6 true. Then 
if they be men of faith they apply to themselves the experience of verses 
5-7 and find deliverance at the hand of God and joy unspeakable and full 
of glory. 



476 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Psa. 143. — This psalm is put at 1023 B. C, at the time of the war with 
Absalom. (See II Sam. 17.) This event which called out this complaint 
and prayer was a dark day in David's history. The condition in which he 
found himself must have vividly recalled the sin with Bath-sheba and the 
prophecy which grew out of it. (II Sam. 12:10, 11.) Hence verse 2 of 
this psalm. David doubtless felt at that time that there was little between 
him and death. Naturally he would compare that crisis with the days of 
his youth and early manhood, when he had such unclouded favor with 
God, and then with energy born of desperation, cry out in the language 
of verses 6-12. 

Psa. 144. — This song bears the same date as the above, having been 
produced on the occasion of the victory of David's forces over those of 
Absalom, B. C. 1023. II Sam. 17 is an almost sufficient comment on the 
psalm. After that great tribulation of Absalom's rebellion with its near 
approach to David's overthrow, he could see God's help in a most marked 
way in his restoration, and David was the very man most likely to give 
due public recognition to God. Hence verse 1, he gives credit to God for 
the victory; verse 2, he owns God as the author of all his safety; he 
attributes to God, verse 3, great care for his creature man, and expresses 
the greatest confidence in verses 5-7, that God can easily discomfit such 
as fight against his people. The remaining verses of the psalm seem to 
convey the impression that David thought that his enemies were respon- 
sible for the course of Absalom. Perhaps they were largely, and that 
would account for David's charge to Joab to spare Absalom. (II Sam. 
18:5.) David of course had his own faults, one of the most serious of 
which was polygamy, a condition which well nigh prevented the correct 
training of children, but David always had his' enemies, who were so 
because he was a God-fearing man, and no doubt these urged Absalom 
to his deceitful course and open rebellion against his father. Verse 15 
is a good index of David's real character. 

Psa. 145. — This psalm is thought to bear the date of 1015 B. C, and 
to be a song of David when an old man, reviewing his life. As he drew 
near the close of his wonderful career and began a review of it he could 
see more clearly than ever how God had helped and led him in his goings, 
whenever David was willing to be led. Nothing in life is surer than 
that God does direct the affairs of every-day life for the man of faith, 
ruling and overruling to bring to pass a certain end of his providences 
in behalf of such a one. Note how verses 4-7 are fulfilled in the fact 
that these very words which David wrote more than two thousand nine 
hundred years ago are still poetry and song to us, and we teach them 



PSALMS. 477 

to our children. Where can a parallel be found outside of these recorded 
stories of God's dealings with men (the Bible) ? Notice also how verse 
13 is illustrated in the stability of the kingdom of God. Our own 
sentiments and thoughts toward God today are precisely the same as those 
which David here expresses in verses 14-21. Nature, the word of God 
and human experience all confirm the sentiment. 

Psa. 146. — This and the four psalms which follow it are put by 
authorities at the date 515 B. C., when the second temple was dedicated. 
Who wrote them it is impossible to say, further than that they were 
undoubtedly written by some pious Jew. The reasons for trusting God 
rather than men are plainly that man has no power to preserve his own 
life, but must get all his help from the God who created all things. And 
not only is God the author of all things, but he gives special attention 
and special aid to the oppressed and needy (verses 7-9), and brings 
retribution upon the doer of evil. 

Psa. 147. — The language of this song is especially applicable to those 
returned captives who were now gathering and fixing their scattered 
hopes on the new temple. How their wounds had pained them in captivity 
has been seen in others of the psalms, but now, once more restored to their 
own vines and fig trees, they were giving God praise for their redemption 
from captivity, and his providential care for them that believe in him. 
Jerusalem had special reason for gratitude, because while she enjoyed 
God's care and provisions in nature, just as all other peoples, she also 
enjoyed pre-eminence as a leader in religious thought, and had the 
written word of God to guide into all truth. And if that be true of 
ancient Jerusalem, how much more is it true of us ? 

Psa. 148. — This psalm may be put into few words. All created things 
in this or any other world are the handiwork of God, and they are 
governed by laws which are also the decrees of God, so that all living 
beings and every phenomenon of nature is expressly an origination from 
the mind of God, and so a standing praise to God written by him in 
matter. The rising and setting of the planets, the waters that flow in 
ceaseless circuits, the blowing of the winds, the growth of vegetation, the 
transmission of life and all social conditions, are written praises to God 
the maker of all these things. 

Psa. 149. — It was a fitting exhortation which this psalm put into song 
to impress on the minds of the people of Israel. They had seen displays 
of God's power and wisdom since the days of their father Abraham. God 
had been their king, deliverer, lawgiver, leader and source of all their 
supplies. The expression "in the dance" may be rendered "with the 



478 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

pipe," a musical instrument which was often used to play for dancing. 
Verse 4 intimates that God is interested in the human being who exercises 
his mind in the great thoughts which God has toward him. In connection 
with the thought of verses 6-9 read Heb. 4 :12. That sword of God (his 
word) changes the whole current of political history. Rev. 19 :15. 

Psa. 150. — The exhortation to praise God with all sorts of musical 
instruments must have been carried out lavishly in the dedication of the 
new temple. David, in his days, had organized and used a great system 
of orchestral music in connection with the temple service. Doubtless 
at the restoration of the temple services under Ezra they would again set 
their singers to their places and reinstate their orchestra. It is fitting 
that as far as possible every thing animate and inanimate be given a 
tongue to make a joyful noise to the Lord our Maker. 



PROVERBS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This book is made up of various parts with various authors. We know 
nothing either of Agur or of King Lemuel. Who compiled the book in 
its present form, and when, we do not know ; possibly Ezra. The summary 
of the book shows the parts of which it is composed. It is adapted, 
especially for instruction to youth. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-9-18 Value of wisdom. 

1-6 Purpose of the proverbs. 

7-9 Benefit of their instruction. 

10-19 Warning against the snares of sinners. 

20-23 Disregard of wisdom. 

24-33 Its danger. 



PROVERBS. 479 

Chapter 2. 

1-9 The promise of wisdom. 
10-22 Its preserving power. 

Chapter 3. 

1-4 Benefits of obedience. 
5, 6 Benefit of trust in God. 

7-10 Exhortation to humility and fear of the Lord. 
11, 12 Exhortation to submit to God's correction. 
13-26 Benefits of the possession of wisdom. 
27, 28 An exhortation to charity. 
29, 30 An exhortation to peace. 
31-35 Warning against envy of the wicked. 

Chapter 4. 

1-19 The writer's instruction from his parent. 
1-13 Duty of exalting wisdom. 
14-19 Duty of shunning wicked ways. 
20-22 Exhortation to heed. 
23-27 Exhortation to diligent watch-care. 

Chapter 5. 

1-23 The contrast between adultery and chastity. 

Chapter 6. 

1-5 Advice concerning security. 

6-11 The woe of idleness. 

12-15 The impudent villainy of the wicked. 

16-19 Seven hateful vices. 

20-7-27 Warning against the evil woman. 

Chapter 8. 

1-36 A personification of wisdom. Her address. 

Chapter 9. 

1-12 The invitation of wisdom to her feast. 
13-18 Character of the wayside woman. 

Chapter 10. 

1-22-16 Moral virtues and their opposite vices. 



480 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

17-21 Exhoration to diligent retention of these words. 
22-24-34 Warnings about personal conduct. 

.22, 23 Treatment of the poor. 

24, 25 Evil associates. 

26, 27 Danger of sureties. 

28 Landmarks. 

29 Worth of diligence. 

Chapter 23. 

1-3 Eestraint of the appetite. 

4, 5 Instability of riches. 

6-8 False hospitality. 

9 Misdirected instruction. 

10, 11 Eegard of ancestral estates. 

12-14 Child correction. 

15-35 Government of the appetites and passions. 

Chapter 24. 

1-9 The mistake of envy. 
10-12 Necessity of courage. 
13, 14 Value of wisdom. 
15, 16 Warning to the wicked. 
17, 18 Attitude in the fall of an enemy. 
19-22 Attitude toward evildoers. 
23-26 Justice in judgment. 

27 Order of labor. 
28, 29 Duty toward a neighbor. 
30-34 The lesson of sloth. 

Chapter 25. 

1-29-27 The second volume of Proverbs. 

Chapter 30. 
1-33 Teaching of Agur to his pupils. 

1-6 Statement of Agur's faith. 
7-9 His desire and the reasons. 

10 Care in accusation. 

11 Parent revilers. 

12 The self-righteous. 

13 The scorners. 



PROVERBS. 481 



14 The human oppressors. 
15,16 The insatiable. Illustrated. 

17 The reward of parent-mocking. 
18-20 Concealment of methods. Illustrated. 
21-23 Intolerable things. Illustrated. 
24-28 Wisdom. Illustrated. 
29-31 Comeliness. Illustrated. 
32, 33 Warning against stirring up wrath. 

Chapter 31. 
1-31 Teaching of Lemuel's mother to her son. 
1-3 Against sensuality. 
4-7 Against strong drink. 
8, 9 A plea for aid for the oppressed. 
10-31 Value of a good wife. 



LESSON" NOTES. 



Ch. 1. — Proverbs is a manual of the practical rules of life. The first 
nine chapters discourse on the value of wisdom. 

1-6. — The declared purpose of these proverbs is to put wisdom within 
reach of the mind (verse 2), and so to make the mind wise, just, capable 
of properly passing upon important questions with equality to all con- 
cerned. Such a course carried out means growth in knowledge and 
discretion. It has long since become patent from observation that (verse 
5) the wise man is ever learning. Only the fool is willing to think 
himself wise enough. The expression of truth which may not be com- 
prehended by the one who never has learned to think through things, is 
clear to the careful thinker, and capable of the clearest explanation by 
him. Hence in verse 6 the words of the wise are called dark sayings to 
such as do not learn to think. 

7-9. — In verse 7 the marginal rendering is clearer. The fear of the 
Lord is the. "principal part" of wisdom. Seeing that God is the author 
of every fact in nature and every truth of science, and every principle by 
which the mind and spirit are governed, it is certain that his ways are the 
only right ways, and therefore to be obedient to God and teachable at his 
hand is the only possible way to get useful results; hence he who despises 
such is a fool. The "son" mentioned here was Rehoboam. Such obedience 
and teachableness as above described is productive of the highest degree 
of refinement and attractiveness. 

10-19. — The first warning (arguing negatively the value of wisdom) 



482 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

shows the flood of temptation that shall pour in upon the soul, pictures 
the character of the tempters, and incidentally shows the result of yielding 
to them. This detailed description of their methods ends with the 
conclusion that their methods shall recoil upon themselves, and they shall 
suffer what they have been causing others to suffer. Hence (verse 18) 
it is as if they were laying wait for their own lives. All this is a result 
of failing to exercise wisdom. Wisdom is needed on the part of others 
to escape their toils. 

20-23. — For the above reason, wisdom is personified as sitting out where 
everyone may see and hear her, and reproaching such as fail to give 
attention to her directions. This is another way of saying that wisdom 
is so easily gained by those who want it that there is literally no excuse 
for not having it. The means of learning wisdom are so multiplied as 
to be innumerable, and whoever fails to receive it fails because he will not. 

But if he will not, verses 24-33 show the consequences. The language 
of verse 26 is a hint of the torture which burns within a man when he 
realizes that his inexcusable course of conduct has brought to him ever- 
lasting failure and disgrace. This warning that "I will not answer you" 
when it is too late, is exemplified every day in nature by its utter refusal 
to restore any member of the body which has been destroyed, although 
the timely application of wisdom might have effectually prevented its 
destruction. Wisdom used before may prevent calamity, but dwelt upon 
afterward only adds intensity to self-reproach. And this is just as true 
mentally and morally and spiritually, as it is true physically. Any of 
these powers destroyed by sin, or perishing from want of cultivation 
(because of lack of wisdom), can never again be recalled, no matter how 
sore the repentance. 

Ch. 2:1-9. — All these promises of wisdom depend on the willingness 
to receive and diligently learn the commandments. Yerse 2 indicates 
that the dfesire for and pleasure in the Lord's commandments can and 
should be cultivated. Yerses 3 and 4 indicate the intensity with which 
the cultivating should be done. God has these things for them that love 
him, but his storehouse is to be opened only to those who greatly desire 
the treasures, so that they make great efforts to acquire, exercise great 
care to preserve, duly appreciate and diligently and wisely use them. 
Thus courted, wisdom promises the highest conceivable good to her 
courtiers, and does abundantly beyond all her promises. 

10-22. — This theme follows naturally the preceding. If wisdom 
promises so much, the question is, What does she actually perform ? Here 
follows a declaration — human experience crystallized into a proverb. 



PROVERBS. 483 

First of all it brings a pleasure unspeakable. To know is always coveted. 
To this is added discretion, a combination which shows the right way 
and preserves from the wrong way by uncovering the snares and pitfalls 
which lie in it (verses 10 and 11). It should be noticed here that the 
agents who lead human beings into evil ways are men, with their positive 
and aggressive evils ways, and women, with their fascinating and fatal 
sins. But amid these all the child of God's wisdom may walk in righteous 
and safe ways, and live to see his evil contemporaries cut off from the 
earth. 

Ch. 3 :l-4. — As to the benefits of obedience, here is a pleasing contrast. 
While the wicked are being consumed in their own evil doings the 
obedience of the righteous is adding years of life to their peaceful careers. 
The combination of mercy and truth mentioned in verse 3 wrought into 
the character makes it God-like; mercy tempering severity, and truth 
assuring justice. Xot only does such a character please God, but all men, 
as they come to know it, reverence and love it. 

5, 6. — But the trust exhorted in verses 5 and 6 is not always easy to 
command. The latter part of verse 5 does not discourage the cultivation 
of the individual judgment, but simply warns not to set it against the 
admonitions of God. Human judgment is most effective when its, 
conclusions are inseparably linked with recognition of God and trust in 
his providences, however dark they may sometimes seem. And the 
promise of verse 6 is sure to all who obey it. To have an all-knowing and 
almighty director in life is of greater benefit to the individual than the 
mind can conceive. 

7-10. — The humility mentioned in verse 7 is a warning against thinking 
of one's self more highly than is proper, all of which would be a great 
barrier in the way of looking to higher wisdom for suggestion and 
direction. The navel, being the organ through which the unborn child 
draws all its life and nourishment, the figure of verse 8 means that fear 
of God and self-restraint shall be life and nourishment to the soul. The 
added mark of respect toward God of turning our material increase to the 
spread of his kingdom gives the promise of great prosperity in that 
respect. Israel of old practised this commandment, and proved it the 
highway to wealth and power. 

11, 12. — And not only will God instruct as he sees needful, but he will 
as a wise earthly parent condescend to correct his children for the better- 
ment of their condition. But since no chastening at the time is welcome, 
the injunction is here to submit manfully to such correction at the hand 
of a wise heavenly Father that we may get the greatest earthly benefits 



484 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

at his hand of the discipline by which he prepares us for a better life 
beyond. These two verses show how close is the relation between God 
and his creature man, and how greatly he loves us. 

13-26. — No better confirmation of the declaration of verses 13-15 can 
be given than the proverbial supremacy of those nations whose God is the 
Lord. The wisdom which came from contact with God made the Hebrew 
civilization, and has grown from it all the other civilizations of earth, 
and it gives these enlightened nations the supremacy over the unen- 
lightened peoples of earth. She calls science to her bidding and gives 
health and prolongs life (verse 16.) God, who is the author of all nature 
which we see about us, does all his work by method. With wisdom beyond 
our ken he controls the laws of nature, and they move in ceaseless circuits 
to do us service. To come into intimate social relation with God is to be 
in harmony and touch with all the elements of nature, for nature is only 
God's habit. Hence the assurance of verses 24-26. 

27, 28. — And that wisdom which makes the elements of nature the 
servants of God's children forbids that charity should be withheld from 
him who needs it. The wealth of the world is given into the hands of the 
civilizations which are wrought out by God's wisdom, that they in turn 
may use it to help to greater conquests for God. And according to this 
commandment, aid withheld from him who in the nature of things is 
dependent on your support, is "talents kept back from God, who gave 
them and to whom they belong." Worldly wisdom may teach selfish gain 
and stingy hoarding, but the wisdom of God teaches "It is more blessed 
to give than to receive." 

29, 30. — Along with such charity as an inseparable accompaniment 
must be peace. The character of God, "who giveth to all men liberally 
and upbraideth not," can be cultivated in humanity only by unselfish 
and loving aid, and it cannot be questioned that it is such, when the 
giver is at permanent peace with his neighbor. 

3 1-3 5. —Finally, the discouragement which comes anon to every child 
of faith must be guarded against by remembering that first of all, the 
course of the man of violence is abomination to the Lord, but he approves 
the course of the righteous. Secondly, God's curse is on the wicked, but 
his blessing is on the just, giving back scorn to the scorner of divine 
things, but to the man of meekness a continuous supply of favor ; and in 
the end eternal life to the right doer, but wrath and anguish and eternal 
contempt as the wages of sin. 

Ch. 4 :1-13. — In these verses teaching the duty of exalting wisdom the 
writer relates instruction which was given him by his parents. Knowing 






PROVERBS. 485 

what it had done for him, he ardently commends it to his following. The 
burden of the injunction is, be sure you get wisdom, and formulate it so 
that you can retain and use it. Then hold fast to it, love it and exalt it, 
and it will preserve and bring you to honor, crown you with glory, and 
prolong your life. Here is certainly a rising climax, and its points cannot 
be too highly emphasized. To thus exalt wisdom to the point of making 
it the chief business of life was to insure the fulfillment of God's purpose 
in our earthly being, and enter a course of conduct which should run on, 
brightening in glory and in blessedness through ages without end. This 
was the positive part of that parental instruction. 

1 1-19. — The negative part is shown in verses 14-19. Shun wicked ways. 
To keep out of wickedness often requires effort, especially because of that 
aggressiveness mentioned in verse 16. Wickedness is contagious, and its 
blinded devotees are hardened to shameless display of it, as well as to 
most unfeeling ridicule of those who refuse to engage in it ; hence violent 
wickedness becomes their chief characteristic, and (verse 19) they never 
learn enough to enable them to comprehend what it is which has made 
their life such a disastrous failure. 

But to hear simply may mean very little. To heed is the principal 
thing, therefore verses 20-22. They must be so well learned as to be able 
to be recalled, and thus made a part of the mental and moral self, they 
give direction and tone to the life. 

23-27. — The following thought is akin to the preceding. It is, watch 
your heart above all things, seeing that it is "the depository of all wisdom 
and the source of whatever affects life and character." It can all be 
summed up in the single utterance of Jesus, "What I say unto one I say 
unto all, watch." 

Ch. o :l-23. — Special attention is called to this contrast that the youth 
may be forewarned and so forearmed against the false attractions of a 
wicked way which would ruin his life in its formative period. Multitudes 
of lives are wrecked here, before arriving at the age of sufficient wisdom 
to comprehend the value of the instruction of verses 15-19. And to him 
who has spent his substance in riotous living, the pleasures of this better 
way cannot be understood or appreciated. God takes note of men's doings, 
and the state of these sinners as compared with that of the virtuous and 
noble is an all-sufficient comment on God's attitude toward the two ways. 

Ch. 6:1-5. — This advice concerning surety provides against two dan- 
gers, first that of becoming surety, and second that of shunning the 
responsibility of an assumed pledge. The taking of such a pledge always 
carries with it the liability to have to redeem the pledge, and therefore 



486 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

is not to be entered into unless one be willing to do so. If the necessity 
arises, then the obligation should be manfully assumed, thus saving 
both the friend and the standing of the surety. Of course it is understood 
that he for whom the responsibility is taken will regard and preserve his 
own honor in the matter, but this bit of advice is directed solely to the 
surety. 

6-11. — This advice to the sluggard is remarkable for more than one 
reason; first, that man should need it; secondly, that the inferior animal 
should furnish such examples of industry and farsightedness. The ant, 
which is here used as an illustration, does its work without any visible or 
external constraint, and (verse 8) it recognizes a time of opportunity 
and has an intuition of a future need. All these characteristics seem to 
be lacking in the sluggard, whose sleepy indifference is an offense to God 
and a wonder to the diligent. The thought of verse 1 1 is that the resultant 
want shall be irresistible. Of all God's animate creation man seems to 
be the only part requiring constant watching and continual goading 
toward his duty. 

Who but knows by sight the man whose character is described in verses 
12-15. "Villain" is only partially expressive of his character. His mouth 
does not know the restraint of decency. His eyes are staring to discover 
meanness, and where he dare not use words he makes signs to carry on his 
nefarious communications. His mind is continually at work to study out 
some new form of evil proceedings, so as to catch off their guard those 
who are acquainted with his tricks. His delight is to raise quarrels. 
Such a character, when it is overtaken by justice, shall be destroyed 
irremedially, and ought to be. 

16-19. — Seven being used as a number meaning completeness, that list 
of things is counted complete enough to represent all others of their 
like. The proud look banishes God from its recognition. A lying tongue 
misrepresents God and the relations he has established between each thing 
and every other thing in his universe. Hands that shed innocent blood 
assume a prerogative which belongs to God only, and by taking life from 
the earth deprive it of all that is dear to it in an earthly life, and as well 
of using such a life as a preparation for a life to come. The devising 
of wicked schemes is the channel through which every good is turned into 
evil, and feet that are swift to evil are characteristic of the army who by 
perverting the God-given privileges of humanity, turn what ought to be a 
glad earth into a wilderness of woe. A false witness perverts justice 
when it attempts to remedy existing evil, and so denies the right of appeal 
to any mistreated being. The sowing of discord is the beginning of all 



PROVERBS. 487 

that strife which takes from the earth the peace which should characterize 
the whole creation of God, and makes the human family, though the best 
of divine work, the only set of beings which originates and cultivates 
animosities that engage and absorb the highest intellectual faculties. 

20-7-27. — The warning against the evil woman is fittingly prefaced 
by the statement that these commandments, to him who made them 
conspicuous by obedience to them, would be a silent leader by day, a 
guardian by night, a counselor, and a light on the pathway. How greatly 
all these are needed is shown by what follows. Flattery will be there; 
beauty will be there, and wiles, to cover the evil that will burn to 
destruction. As a comment on verse 29 see the seventh commandment. 
(Ex. 20:14.) The contrast between the breaker of the eighth and the 
breaker of the seventh commandment is relevant because under the 
circumstances named the first might seem to have excuse while the latter 
'could have none. The one thing above all which a man will not forgive 
is the sin of a fellow man against him in this respect. And so again, for 
emphasis' sake, special stress is laid on the closest cultivation of these 
commandments that men may escape such evils as are so vividly por- 
trayed in this illustration which follows (verses 6-22). The remaining 
verses of chapter 7 give the conclusion. 

Ch. 8 :l-36. — In chapter 8 wisdom is regarded as talking and exhorting 
men to hear and heed her words. The expressions of verses 2 and 3 
simply mean that the facilities for learning wisdom are so great that 
it is as if she sat on the center of places of great resort, and so occupied 
a position where all who passed by could not fail to hear. The very 
existence of these facilities is an exhortation to men to understand 
wisdom, and a testimony of the excellence and Tightness of it, and also of 
how abominable is wickedness to everything in the universe which 
proclaims truth. Such teachings are understood and appreciated by 
those who have a disposition to know the truth. (Verses 8 and 9.) Verse 
10 is simply a comparison of wisdom and wealth. There is no more 
significant comment on verse 12 than the fact that those who make great 
progress in inventions are those nations whose God is the Lord. Verse 13 
gives a most important definition. If one would know what the fear of 
the Lord really mean?, it means to let alone those things which God 
$oes not approve. "While it is often difficult to realize the truth of verses 
14-16 in times when error seems to be on the throne and truth in the 
dungeon, it is nevertheless notorious that the man of sterling principle 
is the strongest character in the human family, and in due time goes 
inevitably to the front. In spite of the many seeming illustrations to 



488 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the contrary, the wisdom which men of faith get from God rules the 
world. The great statesmen of all the modern great nations have been 
the products of Christian civilization. And the great necessity of starting 
early in life to go in wisdom's way cannot be too strongly put. "As the 
twig is bent the tree is inclined." He who starts wrong can never be what 
he would have been had he started right at first. Verses 18-21 are a 
poetic statement of the excellency and desirability of wisdom. Yerses 
22-31 declare that wisdom was a product of God and a constant delight 
of his before the creation of the earth, and that all the works mentioned 
in these verses were, as verse 31 indicates, wrought in the realms of God's 
wisdom before his creative and constructive power made them tangible 
realities. Therefore the conclusion, verses 32-36. If all that is right is 
embodied in wisdom, then (verse 36) to go contrary to wisdom is to court 
the whole train of consequences which flow from its opposite. 

Ch. 9 :1-12. — In these first twelve verses of chapter 9 is set forth a 
striking picture. Wisdom is represented as having built a beautiful and 
complete (seven pillars) palace, made a great feast, and sent out beautiful 
maidens to persuade all, however humble, to come to her feast, i. e., 
partake of what she had to offer. Contrasted with that is the character 
of the man who scorns such an offer. Any reproof of the scorner's ways is 
likely to recoil on the reprover (see Matt. 7 :6), hence verse 8 had become 
a saying current among men, and yet while the first part of verse 8 is a 
wise rule for general conduct, it must not be construed to mean that no 
man is ever to reprove a scorner. To illustrate this, see Prov. 26 :4, 5. 
He may hate you, but let him hate. I John 3 :13, 14. The proof of your 
worthiness is that you are loved hj a better class. Therefore the first 
step in the way of wisdom is to be the very opposite of a scorner, i. e., a 
God-fearer. The thought of verse 12 is that if one be wise he shall reap 
personal benefit from it, and if he be a scorner he must take the respon- 
sibility. 

1 3-18. — The character of the woman here described who loiters by the 
wayside was then precisely as now — immodest, boisterous, clamorous, and 
full of false reasoning. To such as are easily persuaded or who lack 
firmness of character she becomes most dangerous, seeing that they do 
not realize that yielding to such is putting themselves into the way of 
hopeless ruin. 

Chapter 10 and on to chapter 22 :16 are the proverbs of Solomon. They 
are for the most part a collection of two-sentence statements, each couplet 
declaring a moral virtue and its opposite vice. 

Ch. 10:1. — The wisdom of the father reproduced or magnified in a 



PROVERBS. 489 

child is a source of just pride, but the child who does fool things brings 
constant dread of reproach or calamity. 

2, 3. — Men must die and leave them, and God will give them to whom- 
soever he will, and will surely care for his own. 

4, 5. — The rule concerning sloth and diligence. 

6, 7. — Your own reverent remembrance of your ideal just man, com- 
pared with your disgust at the loud-mouthed threats of the wicked, are 
a sufficient comment on these verses. 

Verses 8-10 are akin to this same thought. Verse 10, I think, ought 
to be a part of verse 9, and the conjunction ought to be rendered never- 
theless, being a repetition possibly for emphasis of verse 8. 

11. — Contrast the words David has left on record, or the prophets, with 
the vulgar and repulsive language of those who recognize no Christ. 

12. — Love covers with its cloak of charity the sins of others, and leads 
with a silken thread where you could not drive with repeating rifles. 

13, 14. — The incorrigible must be whipped into mortal fear or shut up 
in prisons to guard society against their depredations. 

15. — Used rightly, wealth is an unspeakable power, but the incessant 
grind of poverty wears out the poor man. 

16, 17. — Here is the experience in brief of every man of faith. 

18. — The most despised person is the lying hypocrite, the cowardly 
slanderer, the thug who diverts his victim's attention and stabs him in 
the back. 

19-21. — Silence often is golden. It is important to know when to be 
silent as well as (verse 21) when to speak. How Jesus fed the people 
with his words, and how silent he was before kings and governors when 
words would have been of no avail. 

22. — Therefore it is of all things most to be desired. Hence Matt. 6 :33. 

23. — The sport of a fool is to subject others to annoyance and trouble. 
A wise person will regard the feelings of others. 

24, 25.— The wicked man knows what his conduct deserves, however 
much he may lie about it. Continuous faithful asking is sure to bring its 
object. 

26. — To anyone desiring promptness, the sluggard is a constant 
irritation. 

27-30. — Statistics of drunkenness and dissipation prove unquestionably 
that the wicked do not live out half their days. You may find innumerable 
instances. 

31, 32. — Daily instances of this may be found by comparing the wise 



490 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

addresses of wise men with the nonsensical clatter of brainless fops and 
leaders of iniquity. 

Ch. 11 :1. — A false balance, being a standard of weight, means continual 
tying and false dealing. Every so-called pound is a falsehood when 
weighed in such a balance. 

2. — Pride refuses to learn, and so disaster is sure to follow. The lowly 
is willing to learn, and so comes to wisdom. 

3. — All experience has proven that integrity is the safest of guides, 
while perversity means inevitable destruction. 

4. — All the riches of earth cannot buy one hour of time in the day of 
death, 

5, 6. — A repetition of the thought of verse 3. 

7. — The cherished hope of the evil deed which the wicked man would 
do, is cut off forever at his death. 

8. — Promises in the word are .many which relate to the deliverance of 
the righteous from trouble. The wicked, however, are sure to have 
trouble, and so it may be safely said that the wicked are put instead of 
the righteous in that respect. 

9. — Evil words may destroy a character, but the just may escape by 
means of knowledge properly used. 

10, 11. — Yerse 10 is explained by verse 11. 

12. -^People who are loud in their proclamations of hatred thus adver- 
tise their own destitution of heart. 

13. — Thus it may be known who is a true friend, by learning who is 
faithful to keep your secrets. 

14. — Hence be willing to hear and carefully weigh much advice. 

15. — And so it is that many men utterly refuse ever to become surety 
for anyone, although this sentence states not an invariable rule, but a fact 
which so often happens as to pass the saying into a proverb. 

16. — The graciousness consists in that strength of character by which 
she continually retains her honor, just as a man by his thrift retains his 
wealth. % 

17. — A man who is merciful will not abuse his own life or powers by 
folly. One should regard his powers as God-given, and act accordingly. 

18-21. — The entire end and aim of life with a wicked person, is the 
accomplishing of wicked deeds, the result of which is death, but to the 
righteous — Eom. 2:7. 

22. — The immeasurable, attractive force of her whom God has endowed 
with womanly attributes, used indiscreetly, displays a part of the best of 
God's handiwork to ridiculous disadvantage. 



PROVERBS. 491 

23. — The wicked know what their labors deserve. 

24, 25. — Take, for illustration, seed sowing. It is no less true of 
Christian liberality. Its opposite is miserliness. 

26. — The monopolizing of the market and the shutting away of the 
food supply for higher prices is a cruel wrong to the needy. 

27. — Because all he does is in line with God's plans and desires. The 
mischief-maker directly opposes them. 

28. — Riches without God are lying promises of prosperity. 

29. — Because such trouble shall compass him about continually, like 
the air. Those who court the highest wisdom will originate and conduct 
the enterprises which give employment to the masses. 

30, 31. — The end and aim of Christian activity in this world is to 
people paradise with those redeemed from sin. And as a rule our deeds 
are recompensed even here. 

Ch. 12:1. — Knowledge comes by instruction. To be unwilling to take 
correction if wrong, lacks every essential of intelligent growth. 

2, 3. — Xot only are good men in league with him, but God is in league 
with him. Because of that therefore verse 3. 

4. — For illustration, compare Hannah (I Sam. 1) with old Jezebel 
(I Kings 21 and II Kings 9 :30-37). 

5-8. — Compare the psalms of David with the counsels of Jezebel. 

9. — To be industrious and thrifty, even with faults, is better than to 
have much self-esteem and lack those elements. 

10. — A righteous man would of necessity be merciful. But cruelty is 
as near to mercy as anything a wicked man ever cultivates. 

11. — The ground is the great source of supply. Industry in tilling it 
is the sure way to abundant supplies of food. 

12. — "Xet" were better rendered "fortress." People of that class 
continually strive for wealth or position to make them independent. Eeal 
independence, however, is a just character which is a passport to a 
continual, supply of everything to be desired. 

13, 14. — Their wretched mouths are always getting them into trouble. 
On the other hand, the words of the just help to build up the right, and 
he who does so gets his reward. 

15, 16. — Because he will take no advice, the result of his folly quickly 
overtakes him, and the shame which would never come to a prudent man. 

17. — Truth is the expression, and righteousness is the character of God. 

18. — The harsh, cutting words of a sinful tongue are here contrasted 
with the soothing. 



492 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

19. — A lie being a false statement of existing conditions, must of 
necessity be discovered in due time and repudiated. 

20. — Those who conjure up evil have a character of that description. 
The righteous, however, advise peace, and delight in it. 

21. — All human history verifies this as a rule. The just live and die 
in peace, the wicked are constantly giving trouble. 

22. — Because every lie states false relations between the works of God's 
hand. Therefore he can delight only in their opposite — the righteous. 

23. — Onty fools will blaze abroad knowledge that will harm. A wise 
person would conceal it. 

24. — Everywhere and always it has been that the diligent had charge 
of the conduct of aifairs, and the people who would not properly use 
their brains and hands were their servants. 

25. — Many a heart bending sadly under the burdens of life might be 
gladdened hj a word of cheer. 

26. — The righteous man is able to lead his friend. Wickedness, 
however, simply leads to ruin. 

27. — The contrast between the slothful and diligent notes that while 
the slothful lacks energy to properly use his simplest supplies, the other 
diligently guards all he has. 

28. — It is the way that shines more and more unto the perfeet day. 

Ch. 13:1. — Eight instruction implies rebuke at the proper occasion. 
The difference between success and failure consists in willingness to 
accept rebuke as well as praise. 

2. — Correct teaching shall bring ceaseless benefit to the teacher, and 
its opposite shall recoil in retribution on its giver. 

3. — Since wisdom often requires restraint of speech, one who is 
incapable of such restraint is sure to call down trouble on himself and 
perhaps others. 

4. — Because supply is a legitimate result of toil. 

5. — The distinction in your own mind and feelings between these two 
classes of people is sufficient explanation of the verse. 

6. — Goodness is preservative — evil is destructive, each in its nature. 

7. — For example, Dives, who when he died must leave all he had, and 
Lazarus, the poor, who took with him his wealth to Abraham's bosom. 

8. — What a man has for his support and comfort, make his enjoyment 
of common life. The reason why so many are destitute is because they 
will not heed the admonition of their poverty to become diligent. 

• 9. — The first has no need ever to cease his way ; the other way must be 
destroyed so sure as God remains on the throne. 



PROVERBS. 493 

10. — Two good things never conflict in God's economy. Our own lack 
of knowledge (which lack is not often admitted, and so is pride) gives 
rise to the contention. 

11. — Any illegal method of getting wealth is sure to come to grief 
sooner or later. Gen. 3 :19. 

12. — Who but has experienced it; and how quickly when our desires 
come to pass, do we forget the pain. 

13. — The multitudes who are going to destruction all about us are 
simply perishing for want of an understanding and appreciation of the 
word. All the civilization of this age is a direct result of God's word. 

14-16. — Wisdom is a continual safeguard against all the dangers which 
are sure to come upon him who lacks such wisdom. Who but knows the 
difficulties into which the transgressor is sure to come. Therefore 
verse 16. 

17. — Here is a statement of the difference between one who can be 
depended upon and one who cannot. 

18. — A child trained up under instruction and reproof makes the man 
of honor. 

19. — "Self-denial, which fools will not endure, is essential to success." 
(J. F. B.) 

20. — Like begets like. The being partakes and becomes like that on 
which he feeds. This is as true of the mind as of the body. 

21. — Xo evil act but leaves its mark and effect upon the character. 
Once done its repetition is easy, and acts repeated become habit. 

22. — The evils of the wicked prevent posterity or make a weakly or 
incapable offspring, so that the wealth of the wicked is soon laid down 
for other hands. 

23. — Their lack of knowledge is the cause of much misdirected effort 
from which there is little return, though the labor may be sufficient, if 
well directed, to provide abundance. 

24. — To. the ancient mind to love one thing less than another was "to 
hate" the first named thing; hence that weak affection which would 
neglect proper discipline was and is really lack of wise love. 

25. — For the same reason that the prodigal son came to want. Luke 15. 

Ch. 14:1. — Wisdom labors to make the home permanent; folly grabs 
at any fleeting bauble, regardless of its effect on the future of the home. 

2. — The test of a man's fear of the Lord is his daily walk. 

3. — The words of the foolish bring chastisement upon them, but the 
words of the wise keep them out of trouble. 



494 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

4. — The bringing of increase from the earth means the use of such 
appliances as God has provided for the purpose. 

5. — Self-evident and self -explaining, and corroborated by all history. 

6. — Contrast the scorning, blasphemous and ignorant infidel with the 
intelligent and useful man of faith. 

7. — Because it is utterly a waste of time to argue with a fool. 

8. — The aim and end of wisdom is to show the right way in life, but 
the assumed wisdom of which fools boast, leads them to bitterness and 
disappointment. 

9. — Such as ridicule the idea of sin. A wise man not only sees and 
owns its presence, but tries to provide against it. 

10. — There are individual secrets both of joy and sorrow which cannot 
be shared with another, especially a stranger. 

11. — Because wickedness leads to sure destruction, but righteousness 
has the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. 

12. — And so a wise man will think through a course of conduct before 
giving it the approval of his adoption. 

13. — Many a heavy burden of sorrow is carried behind a smiling face, 
and when the mind turns again to these burdens they seem all the heavier. 

14. — Thus it is that it proves so easy for the backslider to get farther 
and farther from the way of the just, while the just man finds the right 
way increasingly satisfactory. 

15, 16. — This thought is akin to verse 12. 

17. — Slowness to wrath is always a mark of clear judgment, because 
it makes allowance for another's lack of consideration. But the man 
who deliberately studies mischief is worthy of hate. 

18. — Each person of that character following the course of those of his 
like before him, comes to the same end. 

19. — That is the rule of life, and every court of justice is a standing 
witness to it. 

20, 21. — It is easy to see why this is true if the poverty be the result of 
sloth, but verse 21 indicates a class who slight one simply on account of 
his poverty. Such a course is loudly condemned. 

22. — Because all good effort is in line with God. 

23. — Profit comes only by labor. Simply talk avails nothing. 

24. — Because their acquirements are a standing proof of their wise and 
faithful efforts, just as a foolish character is the standing proof of 
another's folly. 

25. — See verse 5. The lie of an individual may work inconceivable 
harm, just as telling the truth may help another out of trouble. 



PROVERBS. 495 

26, 27. — The confidence that has helped millions in the hour of greatest 
discouragement, and will continue to be a sustaining feature of life to 
the generations to come. Hence verse 27. 

28. — Because the strength of a kingdom consists in its populace, and 
so a prince without such backing is at the mercy of his enemies. 

29. — The first means God-likeness; the second means slavery to 
momentary and fickle feeling. 

30. — Life means little if the man does not have a heart capable of 
enjoying it. Envy is the very opposite of such enjoyment. 

31. — Because God deals justly with the helpless and commands us to 
do likewise. 

32. — Even death has not power to terrorize the righteous. 

33. — And so he knows how to express or suppress his thoughts, a 
wisdom of which the thoughtless man is utterly destitute. 

34. — Compare just and unjust nations in history. 

35. — Since the first serves wisely, while the second does more harm 
than good. 

Ch. 15 :1, 2. — It is a notorious and wonderful fact that love conquers all 
opposing forces. The force of the injunction is, overcome evil with good. 
The omnipotence of God, together with the fact that his nature is love, is 
powerfully suggestive, hence (verse 2) use knowledge to the above end. 

3. — A statement of the omnipresence of God. 

4. — Supplemental to the thought of verses 1 and 2. A tree bears fruit 
continuously. So the most blessed fruits will come from the tongue if 
used wisely. 

5. — Compare Ex. 20 :12. Wise reproof is kindness. 

6. — Because treasure is the result of honest activity, but such revenue 
as that which comes from the licensing of evil to do its deadly work is the 
source of untold anguish here, and the laying up of wrath for a time to 
come. 

7. — The difference between a wise person and a fool is quickly shown 
in the conversation. 

8, 9. — The one who does not repent of his sin, but retaining it, thinks 
to make a show of piety, is of all most abominable. Such conduct sets 
at defiance God's injunction, "Let the wicked forsake his ways," etc. 
Isa. 55:7. 

10. — Because such a one cannot endure the overthrow of his plans, and 
therefore destruction is a surety to him because he will not take reproof. 

11. — The place of departed spirits (sheol, hell), i. e., its inhabitants, 
are all under the eyes of God. So are all the living. 



496 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

12. — Because he, being wilfully and continuously wrong, hates the 
reproof which perpetually condemns him. 

13. — And so the face is the index of character. 

14. — The difference between the wise man and his opposite consists in 
that which they set their hearts to acquire. 

15. — A contrast between the sad hearted and the merry heart. See 
I Thess. 5 :16. 

16, 17. — Here is apparently the hardest lesson for the human family 
to learn. Stately mansions and costly viands mean little if sin reigns. 

18. — jSee verse 1. Most quarrels would die a natural death if he at 
whom the first anathema was hurled would wait a day to answer it. 

19. — That is, repulsive and unsightly; but the other way commends 
itself as pleasant and desirable. 

20. — See chapter 10, verse 1. 

21. — All have noticed how some persons delight in fool things. Herein 
is the difference between the two characters. 

22. — Hence the need of much advice and well matured plans. 

23. — A single well chosen word has been known to save a soul from the 
way of error. 

24. — All the characteristics of the way of life tend upward to high 
moral worth and away from the destruction of the body and untimely 
death. 

25. — Pride, which is practically a declaration of independence of God, 
means utter failure in the end. But the most helpless who depend on 
God will have all their interests guarded. 

26. — The wicked labor continuously to invent and establish evil. 
Contrast with that course the words of pure men. 

27. — The thought is that undue haste to be rich brings a sorrowful 
slavery to all concerned, but he that has a contempt for gifts or bribes 
shows that he is not avaricious. 

28. — Studies to give a just answer. The other pours out senseless 
villainy. 

29. — Because the first is out of line with him, the other adopts God's 
way. 

30. — Arguing the value of cheerfulness. Your cheer may raise the 
spirits of another, and so put him in the way to enjoy life. 

31, 32. — Hence the necessity of heeding good advice. Weigh reproof, 
even though it come from an enemy. Sometimes the wrath of men 
praises God. 

33. — The real test of one's fear of God is the readiness to hear and 



PROVERBS. 497 

obey him. Honor is born of that quiet teachableness which is willing to 
humbly sit at the feet of knowledge and prepare for the responsibilities 
of life. 

Oh. 16 :1. — God is the author of all that wisdom which sets the heart 
right and furnishes a reason for the hope within one. 

2, 3. — Ordinarily we know that each man contends that his own way 
is right, but the Lord measures the motive behind the action. Therefore 
to look to the Lord for direction is to insure perfection in the motive. 

4. — God has disposed the whole universe so as to work out his pleasure, 
making even the wrath of men to praise him in the great day of reckoning. 

5. — Pride repudiates God's wisdom and help. Such a course must bear 
evil fruit no matter how strong is the human combination in the case. 

6, 7. — Godliness drives out iniquity. Eight is stronger than wrong. 
Therefore verse 7. 

8. — Because right character and conduct is demanded of every man, 
and great riches gotten by wrong methods is a standing condemnation. 

9. — Man is left to choose his course as if everything depended upon 
him, but all the protection and help he gets comes from God. 

10. — This expresses a rule. Since governmental powers are ordained 
of God, men must recognize governmental power as the voice of God. 

11. — Ancient weights were made of stone and carried in a bag. God 
being the author of all equity, is of course the author of a system of just 
weights to regulate commercial transactions according to justice. 

12-15. — The king is supposed to stand for righteousness. On that 
supposition the throne is set up. If he does wrong, his example would be 
unusually destructive, for not only will others follow it, but will have a 
contempt for that law which he represents. Verse 13 will be true 
therefore of any just king. Verses 14 and 15. Since he has the power to 
take life. 

16. — Wisdom can gain the necessary money. But money without 
wisdom is a calamity. 

17. — The great business of a man is to keep in the way of life. And 
that means self-preservation. 

18, 19. — See verse 5. Gain means nothing if it brings calamity. 

20. — See your margin on this verse. A wise understanding and trust 
in God is a happy combination. 

21. — Commentators understand this latter expression to mean "eloquent 
discourse instructs." 

22. — Because it keeps him in the right way. The last named instruc- 
tion is of no value. 



498 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

23. — Because there is a constant seeking after greater knowledge. 

24. — They soothe and encourage, and so strengthen. 

25. — What seems to be right in itself may sometimes become a grievous 
wrong because of the end to. which it leads. 

26. — Hunger drives a man to labor for his support. 

27-30.— The study and aim of evil men is to fill lives with evil, and 
lead men from the right way. Verse 30 indicates determined study to 
devise mischief, and then immediately formulation of it in words. 

31. — Only when it is found in that way. Otherwise a crown of 
dishonor. 

32. — Because that is Godlike. 

33. — Men may resort to methods. But God can control even the 
methods, having made the laws which govern them. 

Ch. 17 :1. — See margin. A small allowance, with love, makes home a 
foretaste of heaven, but no amount of good things can supply its lack. 

2. — Even a servant who is wise has an advantage over a son who lacks 
wisdom. 

3. — Just as these vessels named try and refine the precious metals, so 
the Lord tries and refines the heart. 

4. — Because their character is kindred to these things. 

5. — That would be mocking helplessness, and glorying in the destruc- 
tion of God's handiwork. 

6. — For they see reflected in the grandchildren the image of their own 
children in the happy days gone by. To the child the father stands for 
wisdom and protection. 

7. — Such combinations are out of harmony with the eternal fitness of 
things. They are contrary to all expectation. 

8. — In general terms nothing is so acceptable to every type of humanity 
as a gift. It pleases everyone. 

9. — To hide away a transgression rather than to blaze it abroad is the 
way to keep love instead of the strife which would follow the opposite 
course. 

10. — Since a wise man looks for his own defects and tries to profit by 
them. A fool cannot be made to see his own defects. 

11. — If one will not be subject to right authority, he must expect the 
punishment of the law to take hold on him. 

12. — Though a bear robbed of her whelps is furious, yet she is not so 
annoying to a man of fine sensibilities as a fool. 

13. — And ought not to depart from his house. God is just. 



PROVERBS. 4«y 

14. — The figure of a dam. A break once made in it is almost impossible 
to repair. 

15. — They are both arrayed against God and his just laws. 

1 6. — Wealth cannot buy wisdom, but he who has a desire for it may get 
it without wealth. Therefore when one does not have a taste for it he 
need not offer a price for it and expect to buy it. 

17. — x\d verse circumstances do not shake the love of a true friend. 
Adversity brings out his real devotion. 

18. — The thought is that wisdom would forbid his becoming surety. 

19. — Because strife is a transgression of God's law. Perhaps the latter 
clause refers to the undue and invidious comparisons between one's own 
and other families — a thing likely to excite bitter jealousies and ani- 
mosities. 

20. — Such a heart does not seek good, and such a tongue is always 
falling into mischief. 

21. — Because such a child is a source of continual disgrace. 

22. — Good cheer is the best possible medicine for the body. Worry kills 
more than work. 

23. — Bribery. When he cannot gain an end by fair means he gains it 
by foul means. 

24. — The wise person concentrates his attention on a worthy object of 
mental pursuit. The mind of the fool wanders aimlessly everywhere and 
sees nothing. 

25. — See verse 21. 

26. — This is thought to be a caution against punishing good subjects 
or resisting authority. 

27, 28. — In common language we would say, a well filled head does not 
rattle, but is cool (see margin) ; and so even a fool, if he knew enough 
to hold his tongue, may be mistaken for a wise man. 

Ch. 18:1, 2. — One who sets himself apart to study, dives into every 
mystery which he has opportunity to explore. Contrast with that diligence 
the action of that individual who delights in nothing of that kind, but 
who is constantly showing his ignorant folly. 

3. — Because the violent deeds of the wicked bring them into contempt, 
ignominy and reproach. 

4. — Words show the real nature, because they spring out of the depths 
of the heart, and the greater the stream of wisdom which flows, the more 
seems to be left in the fountain. 

5. — To render a wrong or partial verdict because the person on the 
wrong side is prominent, is abominable perversion of judgment. 



500 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

6, 7. — Because he will not control his speech and therefore is con- 
tinually saying something which leads to violence. Hence verse 7. 

8. — The miserable tattler by his tale-bearing stirs up trouble even. 
between friends which affects their most sacred private interests. 

9. — The first is the sin of omission, the other that of commission. 

10. — A knowledge of what the Lord does for individuals and nations 
who trust in him is a sufficient confirmation of this text. A man's best 
safeguard against temptation at the hands of evil men is the knowledge 
that he is a consistent Christian. 

11. — And so it comes about that by means of wealth many a man 
deceives himself into a false feeling of independence. 

12. — Such haughtiness is sure to bring destruction, because it declares 
contempt for both God and men. Humility cultivates affinity for both, 
and so brings honor. 

13. — Because his speech is not guided by facts or knowledge. 

14. — The first is a common, well known fact — men live in spite of 
infirmities; but with the spirit broken no hope is left of rising above 
circumstances. 

15. — Since that is the great end for which they live and labor. 

16. — This is usually true whether the gift be an honorable one or a 
bribe. 

17. — This is construed as having reference to a one-sided statement, 
which always seems right in the eyes of the man who makes it. 

18, 19. — The casting of lots was equivalent to a decree of the court. 
A decision at law may stop quarreling, but usually makes a wide breach 
between the parties. Just such a condition as that described in verse 19. 

20, 21. — If a man is right, his words lead him into honor and con- 
fidence and security. Hence verse 21. It will be according as a man uses 
his tongue. 

22. — Who that observes but knows that a good wife is a man's best 
earthly friend, and practically a necessity to him who would run the ideal 
course of life. 

23. — A statement of the difference between humility and pride. 

24. — Because like begets like. The latter clause states a well known 
fact that some friends are nearer to you and will do more for you than 
your own relatives. 

Ch. 19 :1. — The first, doing the best he knows, is far better than the 
second, however rich or great he may seem. 

2. — Knowledge is set within our reach for the use of man. The latter 
clause expresses haste without knowledge. 



PROVERBS. 601 

3. — When a man sets his own way against God's way, he begins to fret 
against God's plans. 

4. — Crowds will chase after the man of wealth, but the man of poverty, 
however worthy he be, is left out of the social company. 

5. — The margin says, He shall not be held innocent. He is sure to 
get his pay sometime, somewhere. 

6. — Because of the desire of men to be given something. 

7. — A statement of how society, and even one's relatives, turn their 
backs on him when he is needy. 

8. — Because that is the right way to success and honor. 

9. — See verse 5. 

10. — Because he is incapable of appreciating substantial delight. And 
just so is a servant incapable of appreciating the value and care of that 
property which he never was capable of producing; or the rule of abler 
persons whose attainments are far beyond his own. 

11. — Knowing that if it is put off it will be much less. To forgive is 
Godlike. 

12. — Because the king is able to visit punishment, as well as to bring 
great prosperity. 

13. — For he brings repeated trouble. The contentious wife never 
ceases her annoyance — like the endless monotony of dropping water. 

14. — A thrifty parent is the author of all such inheritance. The part 
of a prudent wife is that of a God-given helper in the matter. 

15. — The sluggard sleeps on regardless of consequences, hence hunger 
comes as a result of his sloth. 

1 6. — Because the commandment forbids that which destroys life. 

17. — Giving to the poor is aiding those made in God's image. God 
has promised to help such a helper. 

18. — False mercy lets the child grow into hopeless ruin for want of due 
training. 

19. — That is, because of his passion he will not stay delivered, but is 
constantly getting into trouble. 

20, 21. — And so only he who looks to the Lord for advice will find the 
counsel which will stand the test. 

22. — A man's kindly nature is that which makes him desirable, and a 
poor man of that kind is better than a rich person who professes and 
never does. 

23. — Because to keep God's commandments is the royal highway not 
Only to happiness, but to long life. See Psa. 91 :16. 



502 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

24. — He is unwilling to do even the smallest thing for his own support. 

25. — An assertion of the value of discipline. 

26, 27. — The description of a child of brutal habit. Therefore verse 27. 

28, 29. — That is he scorns the right and exalts evil, drinking in 
iniquity like water. And so verse 29. 

Ch. 20 :1. — Because it promises what it does not give. One who uses 
it is thereby guilty of madness (raging) against himself and all his 
interests. 

2. — Because the king is able to punish him who provokes him. 

3. — Hence the injunction, "Be at peace," etc. Mark 9:50. I Thess. 
5:13. 

4. — He makes that an excuse for his laziness. 

5. — If it is of any account it is deep down and has to be discreetly 
drawn out. 

6. — Self-praise. But how few really deserve praise. 

7. — A just life is always an uncounted blessing to the posterity. 

8. — The real business of a king is to find out and root out evil. 

9. — Compare Rom. 3 :10, 20, 23. 

10. — That is, weights and measures that vary, and so are used to 
defraud. 

11. — We judge any individual by his actions, and the acts even of a 
child will ripen into habit, character and destiny. 

12. — Therefore we should use them for wise observation. 

13. — Do not sleep unduly. Be alert when work time comes. 

14. — Pretends to the one of whom he buys that he is making nothing, 
then boasts of his sharp bargains and large profits. 

15. — And therefore the latter is better than all the former. 

16. — If he be accustomed to be surety for strangers, he will be sure 
to lose all, hence it is needless to favor him. If he be a debauchee, trust 
not his word, but demand security. 

17. — Deceit may bring a temporary reward, but it will keep food from 
the mouth later on. 

18. — Take advice therefore — the more the better; and especially before 
entering so risky an enterprise as war. 

19. — If he reveal the secrets of others to you, he will reveal your 
secrets to others. 

20. — Insubordination in the family is the basis of a like attitude toward 
all human government. 



PROVERBS. 503 

21. — Therefore get it wisely and honestly, or not get it at all. 

22.— See Rom. 12 :19. 

23.— See verse 10. 

24. — Seeing he cannot comprehend God's plans. A plea for faith. 

25. — The proper time to inquire is before the devouring. If not done 
then it will not likely be done afterward. 

26. — Uses his power to crush it out. So will any wise man so far as his 
tpower extends. 

27. — The God-likeness in man, knows by intuition the inner nature of 
his fellow man. 

28. — Such a character in a king gives stability to his throne. 

29. — Each being the badge of its respective age. 

30. — It indicates healing. So proper discipline is health to the 
character. 

Ch. 21 :1. — Though a king has kingly power and precedence over his 
subjects, yet God has just as great power over him, and either by com- 
pulsion or persuasion may direct his course. 

2. — Generally speaking, every man will contend for the correctness of 
his own way, but the Lord takes account of the motive which prompts an 
action. 

3. — To obey is better than sacrifice. I Sam. 15 :22. 

4. — The word "plowing" was often used as a figure to represent pros- 
perity. The thought is that the means by which the wicked prosper are 
sinful means. 

5. — The contrast is between the prudent forethought of the diligent 
and the careless wastefulness of the one who lacks judgment. 

6, 7. — The getting of riches by such means is so common that this 
figure is used of a ball tossed about and caught in the hands of everyone. 
The unjust methods of commerce so often used, are a lying way of doing 
business, and invite and insure the destruction which is sure to come 
on such. 

8. — That is, the way of most men — the pure man being an exception 
to this rule. 

9. — An attic room and peace, is infinitely to be preferred to a mansion 
in which strife curses the life. 

10. — Such a man will carry out his evil desires even though it cost all 
that is dear to his nearest and best neighbor. 

11. — The simple here may mean the man who feels his lack of 
knowledge, and so is willing to be either warned or indoctrinated, or as 



504 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

some interpret, "What a foolish, person will learn only by punishment, 
the wise man will learn by precept." 

12. — And by considering it, keeps himself free from being like it. The 
remainder of the verse may be read "it," that is the wicked company or 
"house," overthroweth, etc. 

13. — "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," first 
because that character induces like goodness in others, and because God 
rewards according to works. So he that lacks mercy not only fails to 
inspire in others that feeling toward himself, but deserves the silent 
contempt which follows him. 

14.- — A gift represents labor. Hence when given to one who is at strife 
with the giver, has a mighty strength to conquer the feelings of the 
antagonist and put him at peace. 

15. — Because justice is in accord with the feelings and interests of the 
just. Instead of "shall be" in the second clause, supply "it is," which 
means that justice administered would bring the evil man into destructive 
account for his deeds. 

16. — Because every such one is certain to end in death. 

17. — This description is of one who neglects duty for pleasure. Wine 
and oil were counted the luxuries of life. 

18. — This may mean either that they will be made to suffer what they 
[planned for the righteous, or else that the righteous shall have commercial 
supremacy over them. 

19. — Is self-explanatory. 

20. — Statement of the difference between the spendthrift and the man 
who saves. 

21. — Because he seeks it he finds what God promised to those who seek. 
See Deut. 30. 

22. — Wisdom is the element which brings success, even in earthly 
warfare. 

23. — Because it is almost always a man's words which bring him into 
trouble. Hence the value of silence. 

24. — "Proud wrath" probably refers to that most contemptible of all 
anger which grows out of offended pride. 

25, 26. — That is, he dies of want, being too lazy to work. Hence verse 
26, where in contrast to his need is set the plenty and benevolence of a 
righteous man. 

27. — God takes no pleasure in the devotions of those who will not do 
his will even though they are sincere in such devotions, and if they be not 
sincere, it is criminal mockery. 



PROVERBS. 505 

28. — A false witness is soon known and universally disbelieved, bnt the 
man who can be depended on to tell the truth is in constant demand. 

29. — The wicked man cares nothing for the results of his evil conduct; 
but the upright man considers (see margin) the outcome of his course 
before he takes it. 

30, 31. — Xo plot formed against God can succeed. Men may propose 
plans, but cannot succeed without God's help. The word "safety" were 
perhaps better rendered "victory." 

Ch. 22:1. — Because the good name and loving favor may make life 
successful and happy without riches, but riches without the other is an 
aggravating mockery. 

2. — If not in life they certainly do in death. 

3. — He foresees the evil and provides against it. The other walks right 
into the disaster. 

4, 5. — This voices the experience of all good men as a class. The fear 
of the Lord brings honor, but the way of the transgressor is hard. Hence 
the man who takes means to shun these evil ways shall escape the thorns 
and snares. 

6. — Because such training fixes habits and habits make character. 

7. — The inevitable tendency of dependence upon others. 

8. — The evildoer shall reap the results of his folly and his power to 
work evil shall be destroyed, first, because men will know and shun him, 
and second, because God will render to him according to his deeds. 

9. — Such a character is like that of God, who giveth liberally to all who 
trust him, and even to his enemies. 

10. — Because the scorner is the author of all these kinds of disturbances. 

11. — Because such a one by his teaching and example is the king's best 
friend in inspiring peace and obedience and loyalty. 

12. — God's watch-care preserves that relation between things which we 
call truth, or knowledge. He made the relation at first and he preserved it. 

13. — The one who shuns work finds an excuse for his idleness by saying, 
"The difficulties are so great as to overcome me." 

14.— Which simply means that he who has such a character as God 
abhors will be likely to be snared by such a person and fall into a net from 
which he will not be likely to arise. 

15.— A statement of the value of training. Two elements enter into 
it, instruction, and compulsion (rod) wherever compulsion is necessary 
to establish obedience. 

16.— The oppression of the poor and the flattering and sending of gifts 
to the rich are alike odious and contemptible. 



506 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

At this point ends the volume of proverbs beginning with chapter 10 
and ending with the sixteenth verse of chapter 22. The rest of this 
chapter and the two chapters which follow are another introduction on 
the study of wisdom. Probably all that remains of the book after this 
sixteenth verse was added after the first part had become familiar. 

Verses 17-21 are an exhortation to hear and heed, that the words may 
profit, that the trust in the Lord may increase, that the learner may know 
the certainty of the words and be able to answer those who as^ him for 
direction. Men are expected first to learn of God, after that to use their 
knowledge both as an ornament and as a weapon against wrong. This 
course increases trust in God, and by use of the truth furnishes its best 
defense, and is an inexhaustible storehouse from which he may draw 
supplies for the aid and encouragement of others. 

From verse 22 of this chapter on to the end of chapter 24 are warnings 
about personal conduct. This theme is broken into many sub-topics* 

22, 23. — If a man will not from pure principles treat humanely his 
fellow beings who are less fortunate than he, he must know that God will 
require of him the happiness which he has denied to others. 

24, 25. — Since like begets like and by association men come to endure, 
pity and finally embrace evil, the warning here is against allowing a 
familiar acquaintance with it. He who keeps himself from the knowledge 
of evil will never adopt it. 

26, 27. — The gist of this advice is, do not act as security unless you 
have the money to pay the amount, since it would uselessly involve the 
common necessities of life and render one liable to be deprived of them. 

28. — The old landmarks were put in Canaan at the direction of God, 
and were standing monuments of God's solicitude for his children. They 
were not to be changed, for in the year of jubilee each estate was to return 
to its original owner, or his heirs (see Lev. 25). 

29. — The really diligent man will so prosper that he will be in demand 
in the highest public places, and so his services will not be confined to 
second rate or obscure employers. 

Ch. 23:1-3. — In this warning verse 2 means, cut off or restrain the 
tendency to over eat. The table of such a one would naturally be loaded, 
and with many things not wholesome or substantial food. Such eating 
itself is harmful, and moreover, large partaking of the dainties of another 
is acknowledgment of great obligation, which will have greater or less 
tendency to make the eater the slave of the giver of the feast. 

4, 5. — Do not make riches the aim or end of life. Especially because 
they cannot be relied upon as a stable acquirement. Today they are with 



PROVERBS. 607 

you, tomorrow they may be gone. Then nothing remains to show for the 
labor and attention which their acquirement cost. The same diligence 
put upon religious development will make for the individual an incor- 
ruptible and everlasting inheritance. 

6-8. — A man is according to his inner character. To accept benefits at 
the hand of a hypocrite is to pave the way for him, in the furtherance of 
his selfish aim, to turn all the apparent sweetness of his hypocritical 
pretense into gall and bitterness. 

9. — To attempt to discourse with one who is incapable of appreciating 
wisdom is to bring your own thoughtfulness into contempt and belittle- 
ment. 

10, 11. — To take any advantage of others because they are unable to 
defend themselves is an injustice for which God will call the aggressor to 
account. (See Deut. 19 :14 and 27 :17.) 

12-14. — Xo charge demands more especial challenge of attention to it 
than that of child training, which at this day is so little heeded that many 
children are outlaws from babyhood. Their necessary lack of wisdom, and 
dependence upon the wisdom and experience of their elders, makes it 
indispensable that they should be restrained, guided and taught. 

15-35. — A wise child is always a source of rejoicing to the parent. 
Sometimes there is great temptation to envy evildoers who seem to have 
all their heart's desire, but it must be remembered that there is to be an 
end of all that, and God will bring to pass his promise to the faithful 
(verse 18). Here follows a guard against drunkenness and gluttony. 
The son is especially enjoined to heed the admonition both for his own 
sake and the honor of his parents. The word heart in verse 26 doubtless 
means the attention. Here he is cautioned against the wayward woman, 
and the inevitable companion of such evil, wine drinking. Such evil he 
declares is like lying down in the ocean, or sleeping on the high mast 
where the least motion of the ship would send the sleeper to sure destruc- 
tion. And worst of all, the moment one wakens from the deathly stupor 
produced by such course, at once he plunges into it again. 

Ch. 24:1-9. — These verses, by showing how all that is good and great 
is accomplished by wisdom, argue that envy is wasted energy. Those who 
are guilty of evil are mere destructionists, while the man who follows 
wisdom guarantees for himself posterity, riches, honor, strength and 
safety. Verse 6 suggests how that wisdom will do nothing rashly, and so 
because of its cool, calculating spirit is beyond the grasp of a fool. Verse 
9 means that sin occupies the whole mind of the foolish person. 

10-12. — Courage is a necessity to this life, and is enjoined as a dut$ 



508 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

upon a child of God. To fail in duty and plead ignorance as an excuse 
will not answer if the means of knowledge be within our reach. 

13, 14. — First the pleasure which wisdom brings is noted by comparing 
it to the taste of honey. Then the reward which it brings is assured by 
showing how that the results which it promises shall be brought to pass 
by observing its rules. 

15, 16. — This warning to the wicked consists in this: The just man, 
though he be ill treated, shall rise again from the calamity an indefinite 
number of times (seven signifying perfection), thus being able to demand 
retribution, and so will be a most dangerous person to abuse. Added to 
this, God is on the side of the just man, and will fight for him. 

17, 18. — Even a righteous man is not to rejoice when an enemy comes 
to grief. Sin will invariably bring destruction, but that is not to be made 
a subject of rejoicing. We may rejoice in the downfall of iniquity, but 
must love the sinner while we hate the sin. To meanly hate a fellow man, 
even though he be a sinner, and make no effort to win him to the right 
way, is to descend to a level with him, and so make ourselves as unworthy 
as he of God's help. 

19-22. — The assurance is here given that the wicked shall suddenly 
come to grief. They shall get no reward for their life work, and their 
punishment shall be not only sudden, but unspeakably great. 

23-26. — As verse 24 indicates, injustice in judgment is a just cause for 
the most unsparing condemnation. If one deserve condemnation or 
rebuke, to receive praise rather for his evil deeds is to strike at the whole 
basis of government. 

27. — In warm climates where a tent was acceptable shelter the pre- 
vailing order was first attendance on crops and afterward that of a 
permanent habitation. It is suggestive also that we are taught that it is 
our first duty in this world to tend the field of the Lord's planting, and a 
secondary one to build for ourselves earthly mansions. 

28, 29. — There is double reason for this advice. First, the neighbor's 
prosperity aids in your own prosperity, and it is pleasant and profitable 
to be on good terms with a neighbor. Secondly, it is Godlike to forgive. 

30-34. — In this picture is apparent (1) laziness, (2) dullness of 
comprehension, (3) foreign substance in the soil, (4) means of defense 
gone to ruin. And the observer saw that it was all the result of a sleepy 
disposition. The outcome was sudden poverty and terrible want. 

The second volume of proverbs, collected by those who restored the 
temple worship under Hezekiah, begins with this twenty-fifth chapter and 
includes chapter 29. It is a variety of rules and observations. 



PROVERBS. 509 

Ch. 25 :1. — Isaiah and Hosea are said to have been among the number. 
For the story of the restoration of the temple service see II Chron. 29 
and 30. 

2. — God's wisdom is shown in that his works must be studied out 
diligently to be comprehended. Kings have every facility to do so, and 
it is an honor to them when they do it. Brown interprets this passage 
thus : "God's ways are unsearchable, but kings being finite, should take 
wise counsel/' 

3. — Up into the air above the earth is the best illustration of height. 
Down into the earth is the best illustration of depth ; and the king who 
wisely keeps state secrets is as inaccessible to the masses as both. 

4, 5. — Take away the dross and yon have the finest silver fit for the best 
use ; so take awa} r wicked counselors and }'OU have the best of government. 

6, 7. — It is honorable to be called up from an humble place, but a great 
disgrace to be called down from a high place, especially if you have forced 
your way into that high place without invitation. 

8. — Be very careful in entering a matter of strife, lest you cannot 
maintain your position in the matter, and so be put to shame. 

9, 10. — Go direct to your neighbor to discuss your differences. Do not 
be a tale-bearer and thus bring trouble by telling secrets which perhaps 
you would have had no disposition to tell had you discussed the matter 
fairly with him. 

11, 12. — Such a word is often a turning point in one's life, or the 
means of hushing a storm of strife into a great peace. Thus the speaker 
becomes an ornament in the eyes of the one benefited. 

13. — The heat of harvest brings longing for the cool snows. The snow 
from the mountains was used to cool the summer drinks. 

14. — There is bluster and promise without performance. 

15. — Slowness to anger and a soft answer conquers passions. 

16, 17. — Just as moderation in the eating of honey is necessa'ry to 
prevent surfeit and physical disgust, so moderation is necessary in 
visiting. 

18. — As these weapons act on the body, so does false witness on the 
character. 

19. — Because neither the man nor such tooth or foot will serve you 
when you need service. 

20. — Here is aggravation. Joyful singing means lack of sympathy. 

21, 22.— See Bom. 12:20. 

23. — Expressed disapproval dampens the ardor of such people. 

24.— See chapter 21 :9. 



510 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

25. — See verse 13. 

26. — Such a condition means a great wrong somewhere which will be 
a continual source of trouble. 

27. — As the first surfeits and brings trouble, so the second creates 
supreme disgust and nausea. 

28. — Because he has no defense for his character — nothing to guard 
him from instantaneous and utter destruction. 

Ch. 26:1. — Snow did not come in summer, nor rain in harvest time. 
So honor was not to be expected of a fool, being contrary to his nature. 

2. — Just as a bird has a reason for its movements, so there is sure to 
be a reason for a curse, whether or not that reason be easily understood. 

3. — The easily guided horse needed only a whip to urge him on. The 
stubborn ass needed a bit in his mouth to control him. The fool needed 
scourging to keep him in wholesome fear of wrong doing. 

4, 5. — Here are two phases of the same caution. Do the first habitually 
and you become like the fool. Do the second occasionally to show the fool 
in what contempt he is continually held. One authority puts it this way : 
"Answer not — i. e., approvingly, by like folly — but 'answer' by reproof." 

6. — "A fool fails by folly as surely as if he were maimed, and so brings 
abundant damage." 

7. — Just as a lame man shows by his walk the inequality of his legs, so 
does a fool show lameness in his attempts to use a parable. 

8. — To attempt to show honor to a fool is to throw it away. 

9. — The lack of sense in a drunkard which is shown in his careless 
handling of thorns. 

10. — Who will render to all according to works. Eom. 2 : 6-11. 

11. — Force of habit is expressed here. 

12. — The most hopeless of all men is the one who thinks he has nothing 
to learn. 

13-15. — See chapter 22:13. A mere excuse for idleness and laziness. 
The fourteenth verse is expressive of his persistence in lounging in bed. 
Verse 15 shows the depth of his laziness. ' 

16. — The logic of reasonable men produces little effect upon such a one. 
He cares only for his own way, and his ignorance is so great that he has 
no conscious need. 

17. — The taking hold, the holding and letting go, all involve danger. 

18, 19. — These verses are a stinging reproof of "practical jokes." 

20-22. — An admonition against tattling. It is the fuel which keeps the 
fire burning. Such a one is responsible for the strife which he kindles 
and the wounds which he causes. 



PROVERBS. 511 

23-28. — The real material in a vessel is sure to be known sooner or 
later. So of human character. Then the result of the individual's 
wickedness shall recoil upon him, and at last he will hate those whom he 
has been the means of ruining. 

Ch. 27 :1. — A warning against presuming confidently about the future. 
Only God knows the future, and so we should commit our plans to him. 

2. — It is bad taste to be guilty of self-praise. If another cannot find 
occasion for praise in you, you would better leave it unspoken. 

3. — The anger of a fool knows no bounds either of amount or of 
duration. 

4. — Bad as is wrath, envy is much more to be dreaded. 

5. — Because love that is kept secret does not help its object, but rebuke 
does, if the one rebuked profit by it. 

6. — A real friend who wounds, does it for wise and helpful purposes ; 
but with an enemy there is poison in the kiss. 

7. — One who feels no need loathes everything oifered, however valuable. 
One who feels his need can relish anything substantial, however humble. 

8. — Such a bird leaves her eggs to rot or offspring to perish. A man 
out of his place leaves duty undone, and those dependent upon him 
unprovided for. 

9. — Friendly counsel is a most precious experience, which every man 
appreciates and strongly desires. 

10. — It is a remarkable and well known fact that a man's closest and 
most sacrificing friends are among strangers usually, rather than blood 
relations. 

11. — A child's wise behavior is a sufficient answer to such as reproach 
the parent of the ill conduct of his offspring. His good behavior is also 
a comfort to the parent. 

12. — The first expresses forethought and preparation — the second blind 
carelessness. 

13. — See chapter 20:16. The thought is that one accustomed to go 
security for strangers or to meddle with the strange woman, would never 
have anything more than his garments. 

14. — Such excess in praising another is almost invariably an indication 
of insincerity. 

15, 16. — Each is the same unceasing, monotonous noise. It is generally 
supposed that this latter verse means that it would be as easy to restrain 
the wind or to keep the character from being indicated by works, as to 
restrain such a woman. 



512 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

17. — A statement of social influence, and the effect of friendly encour- 
agement. 

18. — The result of toil. Faithful service secures a reward. 

19. — The spirit of a man grasps easily the joys and sorrows of another 
man, because of his experience. 

20. — The lust of an evil eye grows more intense as it feeds. Evil, as it 
grows, increases its desire to do evil. 

21. — As silver and gold are tested in these vessels, so is a man tested by 
praise. "Vain men seek it, weak men are inflated by it," but the man of 
real strength disregards it and moves on his way steadied by his humility 
and sense of duty. 

22. — You cannot pound it out of him. 

23-27. — An exhortation to diligence. Unless one be careful and 
diligent, riches slip away from him like a dream in the night. As verse 
24 indicates, riches do not come down from generation to generation, but 
are gathered by diligent care and attention to what the earth and its 
flocks produce. 

Ch. 28 :1. — The state of mind of every wicked person is such as to make 
him a coward, no matter how much boldness he may pretend. 

2. — If a land have a wicked government, that sort of anarchy which 
wickedness produces shortens the reign of the rulers and so increases the 
number of them, but a ruler who rules in the fear of God, prolongs his 
reign and brings continued prosperity to the state. 

3. — "Such in power exact more severely, and so leave subjects bare." 
(Brown.) 

4. — To forsake law is to encourage and uphold lawbreakers. To keep 
law is to show one's self at variance with their methods. 

5. — The liberty which sin wants is license to do as it pleases. Hence 
such have no sympathy with the meting out of judgment. A just man 
knows the necessity and usefulness of judgment. 

6. — The just man, even though he be poor, is much better thought of 
than the evil man, however rich he be. 

7. — Because his lawbreaking is sure to bring trouble and shame. 

8. — No man can carry riches out of the world with him, and if he get 
it unjustly God will finally take it away from him and give it to a better 
man. 

9. — Because such a one openly defies God. Why then should he make 
mockery by praying fo him? 

10. — See chapter 26 :27. An evil character hurts itself worst of all. 



PROVERBS. 513 

11. — A conceited rich man is no match even for a poor man if that 
poor man be wise. 

12. — Because they rejoice in good things. But when the wicked come 
to power, good men. make it their business to seek out a better man to take 
the place of the wicked ruler. 

13. — Because the latter is the only way to have them forgiven and so to 
have God's approval. 

14. — Continuous fear of God means continuous approval and pros- 
perity. The opposite is sure to bring evil. 

15. — He is an irresistible terror to his helpless subjects. 

16. — Oppression kills the affection and respect of the people for their 
ruler, so that to be an oppressor is to lack wisdom. To be the opposite 
insures their affection and a prosperous reign. 

17. — The pit here means grave or destruction. The thought is, whoso 
taketh life let him pay the penalty. 

18. — The principle which all law is supposed to embody. 

19. — A principle the illustration of which may be seen daily. 

20. — Such haste always implies questionable methods and ill gotten 
gains. 

21.— A man of such character will be influenced to do evil on the 
slightest pretext. 

22. — See verse 20. If one be guilty of such methods, justice is sure to 
overtake him. 

23. — Because a wise man will respect one who tries to do him good, and 
has no respect whatever for a flatterer. 

24. — Such wronging of parents lays the foundation for open plunder. 
Honor of one's parents is the basis of all good character. 

2*5. — Pride seeks only itself, and is always contending for its own gain. 
Trust in the Lord seeks the welfare of another, imitates the character of 
God, and thus becomes the possessor of the promise of the life that now is 
and that which is to come. 

26. — Because he cannot shield himself from the result of his own 
wrongs. The latter clause implies trusting in the Lord and doing good. 
See Isa. 26 :3, 4. 

27. — To give to the poor is to lend to the Lord. Deut. 15 :7. To close 
the eyes to the needs of others is to cultivate a Godless character. 

28. — When wickedness reigns men hide themselves from the terror. 
When that condition is destroyed righteous people flourish. 



514 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 29:1. — Such a man resists good and adds to his wicked character 
until great calamity overtakes him. 

2.— See chapter 28:12 and 28. 

3. — One who loves wisdom scorns to destroy himself and his substance. 
Hence he rejoices a wise parent. 

4. — Wise law well executed makes a nation stable. But a bribe-taker 
makes law a dead letter, and so breaks down all justice. 

5. — The flatterer leads his victim into evil which he has prepared for 
him, and does it by deception. 

6. — This is akin to the preceding verse. Whoever does evil is putting 
himself in the track of the avenger. The righteous has no such fear. 

7. — The difference of character is shown by their respective treatment 
of those who need help and sympathy. 

8. — The iniquitous condition of our large cities under the rule of 
scornful sinners is a sufficient comment on this proverb. 

9. — Because the fool never knows when he has enough. 

10. — Because his nature is so opposite to theirs. The just seek to be 
like him because they love his character. 

11. — He don't know enough to restrain his words. 

12. — Because a ruler who is guilt}'' of evil government makes all those 
under him guilty like him. They know the facts, but are not allowed to 
do justly. 

13. — The Lord provides that which nourishes both. See I Sam. 
14:27-29. 

14. — Because he does righteously, he becomes like God, and it is that 
kind of character that shall ultimately prevail. 

15. — See for example the children who grow up without restraint. 

16. — Kighteousness shall surely prevail in the end. 

17. — See verse 15. 

18. — Vision no doubt refers to instructing in God's truth, which came 
through visions, etc. 

19. — Will pretend to not understand. 

20. — Because he lacks that careful consideration so necessary to success 
and progress. 

21. — Careful training would make the servant as dutiful as the son. 

22. — Because in no condition for calm consideration. 

23. — Pride goes before a fall. Honor is a guard which helps the 
humblest man in time of need. 

24. — Because it will certainly bring him to ultimate destruction. 

25. — Slavish fear of men leads to manv an evil deed. 



PROVERBS. 515 

26. — Men seek for place and position. But these things really come 
from the Lord. 

27. — Each cordially hates the other because of the difference in their 
character and methods. 

Ch. 30 :l-6. — This chapter contains the teaching of Agur to his pupils. 
In this statement of Agur's faith the word "brutish" should be rendered 
"stupid." It is expressive of the condition of one who has not learned 
of God. That very aptly expresses the condition of one who for any cause 
whatever has neglected the study of his relation to God. It is thought 
by some that this term is here meant to express his lowly self -estimation. 
The questions of verse 4 all direct the mind to their common answer — 
God. His word then it is that we should study, and are neither to add to 
or take from it. 

7-9. — This prayer for exemption from the extremes of poverty and 
riches is pertinent and well timed. It should be relevant to many a 
Christian, for few can bear extreme poverty without great temptation, and 
fewer can bear great riches without greater temptation. 

Verse 10 shows the responsibility of making an accusation. Even 
though it be one's duty to accuse when he knows facts which ought to be 
brought from their concealment, yet one must, before bringing accusation, 
be sure of his facts and their proofs. 

In verses 11, 12, 13 and 14 are named four despicable classes of people. 
The parent re viler is well known as one near to the prison or the gallows. 

The filthy self-righteous is also well known as the class hopeless of 
access by the truth, because they are too ignorant of divine things to 
realize their need. 

The scorner is well known by his proud disdain of what God offers him 
for his good. 

The human oppressor is well known by his ceaseless acts of wretched 
inhumanity. 

15, 16. — The horse-leach is set as an example of that which never has 
enough. Four illustrations are given in verse 16. — Death is never full. 
The womb that brings no fruit trifles with the most solemn of duties. An 
earth parching with drouth cannot bring forth its increase. The destroy- 
ing fire brings only disaster, and is never satiated. 

Verse 17 "signifies a body either dying uimaturallv or being unburied 
or both." (J. F. B.) 

18-20. — Four things are grouped here as illustrations of concealed 
methods, where the actions cannot be traced. Such he declares is the 



616 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

way of an adultress. The motive for such a course of life is beyond 
comprehension. 

21-23. — The intolerable things will be at once recognized. A servant 
elevated to power is most overbearing. A fool who knows no want. 
unmanageable. An odious woman, married, flaunting her assumed 
charms and superiority in every face, and a servant made an heir, is 
filled with irrepressible self-importance. 

24-28. — Wisdom is illustrated in the forethought of the ant who in 
summer prepares for winter; the conies who fortify against stronger 
power by taking to the rocks ; the locusts who defend themselves by union, 
and the spider whose aggression brings her even into king's palaces. 

29-31. — These illustrations of comeliness fake the lion for strength, 
the greyhound for swiftness, the goat for aggression, and the king for 
success. 

32, 33. — Since wrath brings strife, if thou hast been guilty of stirring 
it up, cease at once, for strife, once begun, may end in unspeakable 
disaster. 

Ch. 31 :l-3. — Lemuel's mother warns her son first against sensuality, 
which wastes manhood, and so destroys hope and prospect of future 
usefulness. Even kings with all their resources are rendered helpless by it. 

4-7. — The warning against strong drink is akin to the preceding. If a 
man takes it it means that he is ready to perish. They will forget law, 
pervert judgment and work unspeakable mischief to themselves and those 
with whom they have to do. 

8, 9. — To come to the aid of such as are oppressed and have no helpers 
is always a mark of the highest manhood. Therefore verses 8 and 9. 

10-31. — Finally, in contrast to the first two themes (sensual indul- 
gence), is the blessed state of one happily married. This description of 
a good wife is detailed and graphic. Her value cannot be stated. Her 
husband trusts her. She is an angel of good. She is a willing worker, 
fearless, an elevator of her husband, clothed with honor, rejoicing, wise, 
careful of her family, and whose children arise to call her blessed, and 
whose monument is in their useful and happy lives. 



ECCLESIASTES. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The title of this book in Hebrew is "Koheleth," which means an 
assembler of a meeting and a preacher to such meeting. Hence the LXX 
gave to the book the title of "Preacher." This noun, which is usually 
masculine, is once used in the feminine form (chapter 7:27) and with 
a feminine verb, referring, authorities say, to divine wisdom (wisdom 
being feminine gender in Hebrew) speaking by the mouth of the inspired 
king, in the other places the masculine noun (and masculine verb) 
refers to Solomon. 

There seems to be no reasonable doubt that Solomon was the author 
of this book. Brown says, "That the Eabbins attributed it to Isaiah or 
Hezekiah is explicable by supposing that one or the other inserted it in 
the canon." The Song of Solomon and Proverbs is thought to have been 
written by Solomon in the fervor of his first love for God, and this book 
in his late old age, "as the seal and testimony of repentance of his apostasy 
in the intervening period." "The substitution of the title Koheleth for 
Solomon (peace) may imply that, having troubled Israel meantime, he 
forfeited his name of peace, but now having repented, he wished hence- 
forth to be a preacher of righteousness." (J. F. B.) 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-6-10 Vanity of things human. 

1-11 The ceaseless repetition of nature. 
12-18 The disappointment of human knowledge. 

Chapter 2. 

1-11 The disappointment of works of pleasure. 
12.-16 Wisdom and folly compared. The common lot. 
17-23 The consequent revolt toward his works. 
24-6-10 A conclusion. 

24-26 The conclusion stated. 
Chapter 3. 

1-15 The point argued from the. diversity of human 
employment. 
16-6-10 Argument from the unseemly lot of men, 
16-22 Injustice in life and beast-like death. 



518 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 4. 



1-3 Human oppression. 
4-6 Envy. 
7,8 Miserliness. 

9-12 Heartlessness. Need of co-operation. 
13-16 Hopelessness of a self -sufficient spirit. 



Chapter 5. 



1-7 Rashness in religious vows. 
8-6-10 The emptiness of riches. 
11-8-17 How to avoid vanity. 

11, 12 A question as to remedy. 

Chapter 7. 

1-8-17 The answer. 

1 A good name. 
2-6 Self-abasement. 
7-10 Patience. 
11-22 Wisdom. 
23-29 Difficulty of getting wisdom. 

Chapter 8. 

1-5 Duty toward the king. 
6-12 Human impatience. 
13-17 The guard against it. 

Chapter 9. 
1-12 Remarks on God's providence. 

1, 2 God's treatment of men on probation. 

3 Result. Sinful conduct of men. 
4-6 Co-extension of hope with life. 
7-10 A rule of daily conduct. 
11, 12 The uncertain end of human action. 
13-18 Remarks on wisdom. An illustration. 

Chapter 10. 
1-20 Remarks on folly. 

1-3 Effect of folly on the individual. 

4-7 Effect of folly in rulers. 

8-10 Its price in daily affairs. 

11-15 Result of its mastery over the individual. 

16-20 Result of its mastery over a ruler. 



ECCLESIASTES. 519 



Chapter 11. 

1-8 Direction about charity. 

1-6 Exhortation to large seed sowing. 
7, 8 The reason. 
9-12-14 Advice to youth. 

9 Certainty of judgment. 
10-12-7 The consequent rule of action. 

8-12 The conduct of the preacher. 
13, 14 The reason. Conclusion. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :1-11. — By verse 1 is doubtless meant Solomon, the writer of this 
book. 

Holy of holies meant "the most holy place." Vanity of vanities means 
the most vain thing, or the sum of all things unsatisfying. Earth's 
laborers toil and pass away and others rise to take their places and their 
duties, but the earth on which they toil remains substantially as it was. 
The sun, the wind, the streams, continue their daily repetitions without 
any marked change resulting. And so the labors of the eye and ear 
continue and are never finished. Things are as they were, and as they 
have been farther back than the remembrance of man extends, and as they 
shall be farther in the future than the things of the present can be 
recalled. 

12-18. — In the same line as the above, Solomon, when king of Jeru- 
salem, began to search out knowledge. It is evident, as will be seen later 
in this book, that the wisdom which he began to seek (I Kings 3) when 
he became king of Israel, either was not the cognizance of things from 
God's standpoint, or else Solomon did not continue his investigation on 
that line. As these verses show, he notes the doings of men, and becomes 
familiar with human nature and human ways, and finds that knowledge 
an increase of his own responsibility, and as well an increase of heaviness 
of heart from the knowledge of the greatness of the difficulties to 
be overcome. 

Ch. 2:1-11. — Now Solomon turns to the delusive works of pleasure. 
That which produced mirth was so unsatisfying that he nam°d laughter 
a species of madness. Then he tries luxury, trying meanwhile to retain 
his wisdom. He made for himself the most elaborate kind of public 
works, he acquired servants and flocks and riches and choirs and every- 
thing which he thought would be pleasant and entertaining, but found 



520 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that his labor was profitless and that vexation of spirit was all he had 
to show for his outlay of time, strength and means. 

12-16. — Having now tested, in a measure, both wisdom and folly, he 
is in a position to intelligently compare the two, and especially, as verse 
12 indicates, being king, he has better facilities for observation than any 
ordinary person, and so can follow out every conceivable method of 
investigation. His conclusion is that of verse 13. The man of wisdom 
who used his eyes could see this, but the fool rushed on unconscious of 
the fact of verse 13; but, noth withstanding that difference, both came to 
a common end — death. And so he asks the question, in what then, after 
all, was he more wise than the fool, seeing that both wise and fool die 
alike and are alike forgotten? (The question w r ill be answered later in 
this book.) 

17-23. — This view of the case produced inevitable disgust with all 
that work. The result of the king's labor was to be left to some one who 
should come after him, and there was no knowing whether that man 
would be wise or a fool, yet in either case he should have rule over the 
work. The despair of verse 21 was a legitimate result of the view of 
the situation held by the king as voiced in verse 22. The responsibilities 
and pains of acquirement, he argues, are too great to be so lightly 
thrown away. 

Therefore the conclusion of verses 24-26. Authorities contend that the 
English rendering here conveys a false impression. That the literal of 
the Hebrew is, "It is not good for a man that he should eat and drink and 
delight his senses in his labor." (Weiss.) Verse 25 is a declaration 
that Solomon had better opportunity than common men to test what of 
satisfaction there might be found in riches apart from God. Wisdom 
had been given of God to Solomon in the days of his better life, and in all 
ages it has been true that the riches which the sinner heaps up in God's. 
own good time and in his own good way are given to those who do his will. 

Ch. 3:1-15. — He now argues the wisdom of that conclusion from the 
fact that God in his wisdom has given a fit season for every legitimate 
employment of the human mind. In all these things there is care and 
anxiety, and those who are exercised in them can never see the completed 
picture of human life and toil as God sees it, and therefore it is wise that 
a man should use all these employments wisely, and as he goes along 
enjoy the good from them and the satisfaction which God intends that 
they shall yield him. (The original language of verse 13 differs from 
that of verse 24 of chapter 2.) This is especially true from the fact that 
God's order of things, which are set in view of eternity, cannot be 



ECCLESIASTES. 521 

improved upon (verse 14), and that the line of procedure upon which he 
has been working, he still continues and will continue. The thought of 
the last clause of verse 15 is, God will cause to return a similar cycle of 
events to that which is past. 

16-22. — From this point to chapter 6:10 the writer argues against 
sensualism by showing the unseemly lot of men (thus making clear that 
if there be no righteous judge and no life beyond, this life is a dis- 
agreeable farce). Wickedness prevailed at the place of judgment, and 
the just man seemed to have no recourse but an appeal to God. It seemed 
to the writer that all this was sufficient evidence of how closely the 
human family was allied to the kingdom of beasts. Both alike go down 
into death and into the dust, and who is able to distinguish between the 
two at the last? Hence, he repeats as in verse 13, It is best that a man 
should use all his emplojmients wisely, and as he goes along enjoy the 
good from them and the satisfaction which God intends that they shall 
yield him. 

Ch. 4:1-3. — Again, the oppression which some are obliged to endure 
at the hands of others, and their helplessness to defend themselves, led 
Solomon to declare that the dead and those who had never been born were 
better off than the living. 

4-6. — He also notes that even when a man had performed right work, 
instead of being encouraged he was envied of his neighbor. The fool, 
instead of increasing his power and means by honest labor, barely lives, 
and "dries up" as he lives, dwindling into utter insignificance, as a bear 
who hibernates and sucks his paws through the winter, consumes his own 
flesh. So that a very small amount with peace and quiet is better than a 
great amount accompanied by such experience as this. 

7, 8. — Then the miser, who has not a soul in the world to enjoy his 
riches, heaps up and continues to heap up gain, never stopping to 
question for whom he may be laboring or starving himself. 

9-12. — The heartlessness of the world and the consequent need of 
co-operation is well illustrated in this famous picture of verses 9-12. 
Who cares for one that goes down in the struggle of life unless he be 
joined to him in some compact? Perhaps the best possible illustration 
of such a compact is that mystical union called marriage, in which those 
hitherto perfect strangers to each other form a union which is stronger 
than life or death. How they help each other, and how they together 
withstand opposition and strengthen each other for persecution which 
would overwhelm and crush any single individual. Yerse 12 suggests 



522 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that two can succeed where one would fail, and a compact formed by more 
than two is hard to crush. 

The thought of verses 13-16 is that even a king if he be past the point 
where he is willing to learn, is worse off than the poorest child who has 
wisdom and disposition to learn. Age as a rule is used as a synonym for 
wisdom, since wisdom is rarely found without age, but if one lacks 
wisdom to take advice, his age counts for nothing. The poor child of 
wisdom will rise to the throne over the ruins of such a one. Verses 15 
and 16 may refer to the well known fact that when one by his wisdom 
has risen to the throne, the strong probability is that his grandson at 
least (if not his son) when he becomes king will have before him a 
multitude who have just cause of complaint of their lot and of his 
methods of rule. 

Ch. 5. — In verses 1-7 is stated another rule of action which serves as 
a check to error, and a guide to the individual into that wise employment 
and enjo}rment suggested. To rashly promise religious service and then 
fail to keep the vows made, is to act most foolishly. God in heaven hears 
the vows, and the wise man of action will be a man of few words. As 
verse 3 indicates, a man's dream partakes of that matter with which he 
crowds his mind, and we know a fool by his multitude of rash promises 
and declarations. Hence verses 4 and 5 are the only proper rule of 
religious action. Terse 6, I think, refers to that habit of some in 
repudiating their vows by claiming an error in making them. Verse 7 
sums up the argument : Too lavish declarations are the source of much 
embarrassment. • 

8-6-10. — The remainder of this chapter and chapter 6 to verse 10 
discourses on the emptiness of riches. The oppressions and perversions 
of verse 8 is the result of a mania for riches. What supports life comes 
from the earth, and all, even the king, must live by such produce, and 
those who try to heap up great riches find such riches of small benefit 
to them, but that the increase of goods means an increase of those who 
consume them. And not only so, but how to preserve such riches, is a 
care which deprives them of their rest, and proves often their destruction, 
so that he leaves the earth as he came into it, empty. Therefore, he 
reiterates, it is proper that a man should use all his earthly employments 
wisely, and as he goes along enjoy the good from them, as G-od intended. 
Otherwise he shall be as chapter 6 :2. The emptiness of such a condition 
is further illustrated in verses 3-5. The great end and aim of life is 
liberty and the pursuits of real happiness. Failure to get that lasting 
good means failure in life. Verse 7 indicates that the great force which 



ECCLESIASTES.* 523 

keeps men active in life is the necessities of his body, and yet that need 
returns unceasingly, so that the end is never gained. If to feed the 
mouth is the whole aim of life, what good is life ? The thought of verses 
9 and 10 is, probably, "to consciously possess something is better than 
to be everlastingly wandering in search of something to satisfy the soul." 
This restless wandering of desire, and not enjoying the present, is the 
history of man, and he cannot successfully contend with that providence 
which makes it his lot. 

11, 12. — Up to this point in the book of Ecclesiastes the writer has 
discussed the vanity of things human. The question then as to its 
remedy is a very natural one. He says (verse 11) seeing there are so 
many things such as he has named which bring nothing but dissatis- 
faction, who knows (verse 12) what is good for man in this life? The 
rest of the book will be his answer to that question. 

Ch. 7 :1. — Under the head of the answer comes as the first point that 
he makes — that of the good name. It is plain to everyone that observes 
that a good name is the foundation of a successful life, seeing that such 
a name carries with it credit, confidence and all that pertains to success. 

2-6. — A .second point is that of right self -estimation. Egotism is a 
curse to any life. Xo less fatal is that view of life which makes pleasure 
the only aim and end. "Going to the house of mourning" implies 
humility, the kind of spirit which says, as did Saul, "Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do?" The word sorrow suggests serious thoughts by 
which the thinker is improved, hence verse 3. As verse 4 indicates, the 
wise think seriously, but fools never do. Eebuke then, if it be from a 
wise man, means benefit, but the applause of fools usually shames rather 
than compliments. The usual fuel of Palestine was very slow to burn, 
and a fire made of dry thorns was a great contrast as to quickness of 
action ; so the desirability of the praise of fools is to the rebuke of a wise 
man as the flashing blaze of the kindling is to the enduring and 
substantial fire. 

7-10. — Xext in order naturally comes patience. The first part of 
verse 7 is a very plain statement of an unquestioned fact. A man will not 
submit to oppression. The thought of the remainder of the verse 
probably is that a bribe taken by a man who ought to dispense justice is 
enough to discourage the just man. But, as verse 8 indicates, patience 
is likely to bring a great reward. Hence in verse 9 he condemns hasty 
resentment or a conclusion (like verse 10) that justice is losing its sway. 

11-2?. — Xext in order he introduces wisdom. The better rendering of 
the Hebrew of verse 11 is, "Wisdom is as good as an inheritance." Verse 



524 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

12 shows wiry. Both wisdom and money often figure as a defense to an 
individual, but only he who can be defended by wisdom is securely 
defended. This thought is illustrated in nature by the fact that man 
cannot change God's dispensation, and God has ordered that in order that 
man may have his future approval he must so conduct himself that all 
his actions may be supported by wisdom. It is natural to be joyful in 
prosperity, but men often forget when adversity comes that God may 
through that be teaching them to make God the mainspring of their 
efforts rather than some other end, such, for instance, as the accumulation 
of riches or worldly pleasure. Verse 15 notes what is familiar to all 
observers, viz., that righteousness does not alwaj^s bring long life, neither 
does wickedness always bring speedy punishment, hence it is thought 
here that the objector to righteousness makes the statement of verse 16, 
saying, "Why shouldst thou make thyself desolate?" (See margin.) 
That is, why should you make yourself so conspicuous and stand so 
decidedly alone by trying to be so unduly righteous? While in answer 
Solomon hurls back at him verse 17; the overmuch in this verse set to 
correspond with the overmuch in the preceding verse. Of course the 
verse cannot be construed to mean that it is allowable to be wicked 
provided one is not too wicked. The promise of verse 18 is comforting 
and sure, and the declaration of verse 19 has often been verified. Verse 
20 is a sufficient answer to verse 16; no need to fear being over-righteous, 
for in the end it will be found that having done all, we are but unprofit- 
able servants. Hence in all our dealings with others we should regard 
verse 21, remember our own failings as the servants of God, and not be 
too exacting with out own servants, lest we call out from them only 
responses of cursing — see also verse 22. 

23-29. — The next point the preacher makes is suggestive. Wisdom is 
very necessary, but its attainment involves determined and continuous 
effort. So he found it, and acquired his wisdom by the severest appli- 
cation. This is thought by many to refer to the penitent turning back 
of Solomon to commune with his heart on his past life. This view throws 
some light on verse 26. Solomon seems to have found that of all his 
sinful follies the most ruinous snare to him had been idolatrous women. 
There is little doubt that his experience had been to him more bitter 
than death. As the latter part of the verse indicates, the way to escape 
from all sinful snares is to turn from a sinful life and determine to 
please God. In verse 27, see margin. Verse 28 seems to indicate that he 
was still working on the problem. His conclusion seems to be, about one 
man among a thousand is upright. It is suggestive that while Solomon 



ECCLESIASTES. 525 

says he found not one among a thousand women that he knew best; 
namely, his seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, that they 
were like himself, violaters of God's primeval marriage law joining one 
man to one woman, and therefore were not the ones to look to for an 
example of uprightness. His final conclusion, however, is correct (see 
verse 29). 

Ch. 8:1-5. — A most important bit of advice is this regarding the duty 
of a subject to his king. It is fair to assume from this language that the 
king seeks as counselors those whose faces show wisdom. The last clause 
of the verse suggests that the acquirement of wisdom may change the 
countenance of him who is acquiring it. The advice is, if you are in the 
king's employ, carry out his wishes. Do not withdraw from his service 
hastily in order to carry your own point, and do not array yourself 
against justice. Such a course might endanger the life of a subject. 
Verses 4 and 5 intensify this construction. 

6-12. — Another important point in the answer as to how to avoid 
vanity is the guard against impatience. Impatience naturally arises 
from the fact that when one is in suspense as to the result of certain 
actions he is likely to be in misery. At such a time it requires strong will 
power to control the spirit. Man has no power to keep back his spirit 
from death, and so the argument probably is that it is very difficult to 
restrain the spirit in these seasons of misery. This is notably true in 
instances where one influences another to his hurt. Verse 10 is a 
remarkable statement. Just as today, men came and went in the divine 
services, yet were more influenced by their wicked companions than by 
the truth, and in the end came to death and eternal oblivion rather than 
to the life and blessed remembrance which would have been brought by 
obedience to the truth. Because evil is not always speedily punished 
men take liberties with God and continue in evil. Nevertheless, Solomon 
was firmly established in the conclusion of verse 12. 

13-17. — But as a guard against impatience he declares verse 13. This 
verse is the rule. Verse 12 is the exception, and (verse 14) because such 
exception does sometimes occur and because men are strongly influenced 
by that fact, therefore he adds, verse 15, it is good for a man as he goes 
along to enjoy with satisfaction and thankfulness the blessings which 
God gives. When the writer had gone sufficiently far in his study of 
wisdom to behold what was coming to pass on earth then he discovered 
that God had plans the beginning and end of which he could not see. 
Then he could understand that he ought not to be impatient because he 
could not see the immediate execution of sentence against evil. 



526 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 9 :lj 2. — These remarks on God's providence form a new topic in 
the book, yet in reality they are a continuation of the same line of 
thought. In the probationary state, "God maketh his sun to rise on the 
evil and the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and the unjust." 

3. — The result of this is already noticed in the preceding topic that 
men take advantage of God's long-suffering and use their probation as 
a time in which to do evil. 

4-6. — The word "for" in verse 4 were better rendered "nevertheless." 
The writer at this point throws in the thought that "while there is life 
there is hope." Hence the weakest alive have, of course, more hope than 
the strongest dead. The thought of verse 5 is that those who are dead 
have no longer connection with earthly affairs, and such connection as 
they had in life is forgotten when such connection has ceased. This 
verse and the following do not argue the non-existence of the dead, but 
simply affirm that their connection with earthly affairs has ceased. 
With the close of such probation ends the formative period of the 
character. 

7-10. — Now comes a rule of daily conduct: Eat and drink in the fear 
of God, keep thyself pure, and be joyful. The Hebrew says, "Enjoy life 
with the wife whom thou lovest," etc. — excellent advice from one who 
had tried to live with a thousand women, and who among the thousand 
had not found the sweet love that comes from one good wife. Verse 10 
might be paraphrased, work diligently while the day lasts for the night 
cometh when no man can work. 

11, 12. — And finally, remember that the result is wholly in God's hand. 
We may labor to make ourselves ready for any accomplishment, but what 
seems to us a very trivial affair may change the whole result. Hence the 
necessity, after we have done our best, of looking to the Lord and trusting 
his help for results. 

13-18. — Under these remarks on wisdom an illustration is given of the 
last point. The men of the city had made great preparations to defend 
it, and having done their best had failed, but the unlooked for wisdom 
of one man had supplied the lack and brought salvation. Yet as a rule 
wisdom is little heeded. When it is heeded and quiet attention given to 
its claim it is better than weapons of war. But as one act of folly may 
destroy much good work, so the act of one sinner may destroy much good 
influence. 

■Ch. 10 :l-3. — A little folly may render practically useless much wisdom, 
just as a little dirt may spoil much clean, desirable food. The heart stands 
for all that is precious and sacred to n mam and his rijht hand :3 the organ 



ECCLESIASTES. 527 

of greatest action. And so verse 2 conveys this impression, with a wise 
man the object of his strongest efforts is to serve his most important 
interest. Xot so with a fool. He (verse 3) advertises by every word and 
action that he is a fool. 

4-7. — Yielding to the will of the offended ruler is the surest way to 
pacify him. The effect of folly in rulers as indicated by verse 6 is often 
seen in elevating to power foolish persons and unduly degrading their 
betters. Thus (verse 7) servants are made into princes and priirces 
made into servants. 

8-10. — Folly in daily affairs is responsible for the fall into the pit, the 
bite of the serpent, the hurt by the stones or the wood, or the useless 
outlay of strength because the ax is not sharpened. These things are the 
price which a man pays for his folly. Wisdom in the administration 
of affairs would avoid these dangers and defects. 

11-15. — When folly has mastered the individual, he is a babbler. Most 
of the authorities suppose the first part of verse 11 to mean that a serpent 
will bite unless enchantment is used. Maurer translates it, "There is no 
gain to the enchanter," meaning that the serpent will bite before he can 
use his art. Who has not seen the truth of verses 12-14 in the case of a 
fool? Verse 15 shows how little is the profit of any work he tries to do. 
"Don't know enough to go to town" is about equivalent to "Don't know 
enough to go in when it rains." 

16-20. — Suppose folly has mastered a ruler. He is a child in actions 
and given to pleasure. Morning was the time when Eastern princes sat 
to dispense justice. The thought of this verse is, woe unto a land when 
its princes are given to feasting when they ought to be discharging their 
duties. The drinking of wine was a large figure in Eastern feasts, and 
the meal was usually made an excuse to fill up with intoxicants. The 
result would be, naturally, that just as a building goes to ruin for want 
of attention, so a government thus administered would drop into decay. 
Instead of establishing themselves and their government by justice, they 
expect by taking bribes to be able to have all their extravagances satisfied. 
The word "thought" in verse 20 answers to the common daily discourse. 
The prince who, even in the hearing of only his own followers, should 
curse the king, or even in his bed chamber where he would be overheard 
only by his most intimate servants, would find that somebody would be 
almost sure to let out the secret, and it would go as swiftly as if it had 
wings to the ear of the king. 

Ch. 11 :l-6. — In these directions about charity the advice is to sow 
largely. Seven signified completeness. Eight meant to go beyond that; 



528 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that is, dispense charity fully and even go beyond a full dispensation of 
it. Here is probably the text which Jesus had in mind when he said, 
"Make to yourself friends by the mammon of unrighteousness ;" that is, 
so use your earthly substance that it will make you friends in the time of 
need. The miser withholds lest he should come to want. Here the 
argument is, provide for yourself friends by your means lest you should 
come to want. The miser's argument for withholding is here used as 
the supreme argument for distributing. When the evil mentioned in 
verse 2 is perfected it will come just as when the clouds are full of rain 
they empty themselves, and just as when the tree is uprooted by the gale 
it must lie where it has fallen. This shows why the sower of righteousness 
ought to be diligent and not to be deterred by prophecies of evil ; just as 
the sower of grain must not be deterred from sowing at the proper season 
because of the threatening of the skies. We who cannot know God's ways 
are expected to sow bountifully wherever we may and leave the results 
to God. 

The reason for the above is concisely stated in verses 7 and 8. Living 
is pleasant and the instinct of life is strong; but though a man enjoy 
much life the time is sure to come to each one when he shall have need 
of friends and help. Hence in the days of his fullness he should provide 
against the time of his need. 

9. — Under the head of "advice to youth" is first the statement of the 
certainty of judgment. The writer recognizes the individual's free moral 
agency and says, in brief, Young man, do as you please, for everyone is 
accorded that right; but remember while you are doing it that you will 
be called to give an account for what you do. Every individual must, 
either here or hereafter, give an account for every act. 

10-12-7. — Hence this rule of action — rejoice in right doing; obey your 
Creator in youth, so that the evil days will not come when you say, "I no 
longer have pleasure in right doing." The verses which follow,, 2-7, are 
descriptive of the aged person. As the clouds which bring storm shut 
out the light of the sky, so wrong doing in an individual darkens the 
light and sunshine of his bright and innocent youth, and the thought is, 
remember God, that such evil may not come to you. The keepers 
mentioned in verse 3 are thought to mean the arms ; --the grinders, the 
teeth; those that look out of the windows, the eyes; the doors, the lips; 
daughters of music, power to make and enjoy it. "The teeth being almost 
gone and the lips shut in eating, the sound of mastication is scarcely 
heard. In the East all mostly rise with the dawn, but the old are glad 
to rise from their sleepless couches or painful slumbers still earlier, viz., 



SONG OF SOLOMON. 529 

when the coek crows, before dawn." (Holden.) That which is high, 
verse 5, is thought to mean they shall be afraid to ascend a hill. Fears 
in the way suggest constant fear of falling. The almond tree put forth 
white blossoms before it leafed, a picture of the white hair of the aged 
man. 

To such, a small insect would be an annoyance, just as to a child. In 
the East a gilded lamp was suspended from the ceiling by a silken cord 
mixed with silver threads. When the cord was broken the lamp was 
dashed to pieces. The pitcher waslet down into the deep well by a cord 
wrapped around a wheel. These figures are used to represent bodily 
functions. When these functions cease there is dissolution — the body 
returning to earth, the spirit into the hands of God. 

8-12. — In view of all the above the preacher was diligent to teach the 
people. He sought out the truth, put it into words, and so presented 
them as to make the lesson clear and impressive. Then he adds this 
warning : There may be much weary study to little profit, but by these, 
my words, your soul will be profited. 

13, 14. — Finally, he concludes, the whole duty of man is to do God's 
will, for every act of the life, good or bad, shall ultimately pass in review 
before him. 



SONG OF SOLOMON 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 
1-3-5 The church's love for Christ. 
1-6 Her statement. 

7 Her question of him. 

8 His reply. 
9-2-6 Their dialogue. 

7 Her charge concerning him. 
8-17 Her simile. 

Chapter 3. 

1-4 Her search for him. 
5 Her charge concerning him. 
6-4-15 Christ's love for the church. 
6-11 His coming to her. 



530 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 4. 

1-15 His praise of her. 
16 The church's invitation to Christ. 

Chapter 5. 

1 His response. 
1 Her exhortation. 
2-6-3 A description of Christ by his graces. 

2 His importunity for her companionship. 
3-5 Her sloth. 

6 His withdrawal. 
7, 8 Her search for him. 
9-16 Her description of him. 
Chapter 6. 

1 The question of her companions. 
2, 3 Her answer. 
4-7-9 The church's graces. 
10-13 Her invitation to her groom. 
Chapter 8. 
1-14 Strength of love. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-6. — This book identifies itself as the work of Solomon, and is 
supposed to be his best song out of about one thousand written by him. 
There can be little doubt that it is an allegory teaching by the use of 
common figures the relation between Christ and his church. This first 
theme is the statement of the love of the church for Christ put in her own 
language. The human kiss being expressive of the tenderest affections, 
the figure is here used as expressive of her strong desire for his affection.. 
Ointment was largely and commonly used by the Orientals, and this 
figure is expressive of those attractive characteristics which draw to the 
possessor all with whom he comes in touch. Such attraction is implied 
in the language of verse 4, and further it is noted that these character- 
istics are of such a nature that they attract the most upright and most 
desirable class. Not only are they attractive, but the language of the 
verse expresses the most intimate secret communion, as in the expression 
"into his chambers." Following this thought is an expression of gladness 
and rejoicing which is a natural result of such communion. Verses 5 
and 6 are doubtless expresiive of the history of Christ's church from the 
standpoint from which this writer viewed it. Judaism was the church. 



SONG OF SOLOMON. 531 

The blackness mentioned was originally drawn from the image of the 
black goat skins with which the wandering tribes covered their tents, and 
furthermore the color of their human skins partook of that blackness, 
because of the climate in which they lived. It might be properly said of 
Judaism, "I am black like the tents of Kedar, but comely like the curtains 
of Solomon/' It is altogether likely that verse 6 is expressive of the 
great historic fact of their slavery in Egypt. Their birthright and their 
promises were theirs by virtue of their paternal descent. Hence the 
saying, "My mothers children were angry with me/' may refer to the 
Egyptians, whose former slaves they were ; which Egyptians were originally 
descended from a common stock, but were not of their faithful father 
Abraham. The Egyptians had made the Israelites the keepers of Egyp- 
tian interests, and therefore the Israelites had of necessity neglected their 
own interests meanwhile. The curtains of Solomon doubtless referred 
to the beautiful curtains of the temple. 

T. — The object of supreme interest to Judaism, the end and aim for 
which their nation was called and their peculiar religious rites as a 
people, all center in the coming of the Messiah. Hence the propriety 
of the language of verse 7 as expressive of their desire for his presence. 
This verse 7 represents the church as inquiring of his customary haunts 
in order that she may be familiar with them and be with him. 

Terse 8 furnishes the answer to the preceding question. The language 
is wonderfully suggestive. He says, If thou knowest not where I lead my 
flocks thou mayest easily find out by tracking their footsteps. If anyone 
has any doubts as to the ultimate destiny of the church which Christ leads 
they may satisfy their minds by noticing the direction in which he heads 
his followers. The value of the church is easily understood by the 
tendency of its influence on the human life. And so the church, like 
its Good Shepherd, may lead its flock into green pastures and beside the 
still waters. 

9-2-6. — The dialogue which follows this answer extends up to verse 6 
of the next chapter. Terse 9 seems to be the declaration of the church 
concerning Christ. To Judaism the thing most celebrated for beaut v 
and swiftness was such a company of horses as they would find in use by 
Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The horse was the special favorite of the 
Egyptians, and therefore in Egypt the admiration for the horse would 
attain its highest development. * * * Verses 10 and 11 would then 
be the retort of Christ to the church, equivalent to this, Thou art 
beautiful, my bride, and I will still further beautify thee. It is suggestive 
at this point that Judaism was the richest nation of the world, and could 



532 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

afford to inlay her house of worship and overlay its furniture with pure 
gold. * * * Verses 12-14 are again the language of the bride to her 
beloved. The spikenard was an herb used on the table to give a pleasant 
smell. Myrrh was a very costly ointment made from a tree of that name. 
The expression here might represent the woody part of the tree or the 
ointment obtained from it. The latter part of verse 13 might be better 
understood if the pronoun "he" were rendered "it." The sweet-savored 
bundle was hung over the breasts of her who was graced by it, and so here 
the thought is, the sweet savor of the Savior's name and character shall 
constantly lie the closest possible to the church's heart. The language of 
verse 14 is similar. It suggests a sweet-savored clump of vegetation in 
a vineyard. Such is the Savior's name in the church. The camphor was 
used by the women of old to deck their persons. Engedi in South Pales- 
tine, near the Dead Sea, was famous for its shrubs. * * * The rest 
of chapter 1 and the first two verses of chapter 2 would again be the 
words of Christ to the church. He refers to her meekness in look and 
action and her sweet and attractive graces. It is not impossible that the 
latter clause of verse 16 refers to the fertility of the land in which the 
church (Judaism) had been located, and in its wider application would 
refer to the fertility and resources of all lands which should afterward 
come under the molding influence of Christianity. As verse 17 indicates, 
the house of the Lord in Judaism was made of the most valuable, durable 
and comely material, and similarly in all lands Christianity produces 
those things of the highest usefulness and beauty, and is in turn honored 
by the first fruits of all it produces. The first verse of chapter 2 Christ 
applies to himself, and the second verse he applies to his beloved, the 
church. * * * Verses 3-7 are again the language of the church 
concerning her beloved Christ. In verse 3 she asserts that he is as much 
superior to all others as the fruit-bearing apple-tree is to the common- 
wood. It furnishes the same shade as ordinary trees, and delicious fruit 
in addition. In verse 4 she gives us the figure of a husband bringing his 
bride to a banquet, and the banner which he spread above her (an insignia 
of honor) was love, and upon it was inscribed his own name. Verse 5 
is expressive of abundance at the feast. "Brina; a copious supply of 
flagons, strew me with apples, for I am sick of love," the expression 
conveying the thought of the highest degree of sensible enjoyment that 
can be experienced in this life. Verse 6 is suggestive of that characteristic 
attitude of the bridegroom and bride in which his left hand presses her 
head close to his while his right arm supports her body at his side. 
The charge of verse 7 is expressive of the bride's solicitude for her 



SONG OF SOLOMON. 533 

groom. It was considered a mark of great disrespect among Orientals to 
awaken the sleeper, especially if he be a person of rank. Hence the 
charge is indicative of the highest possible respect. 

The simile of verses 8-17 opens with an "exclamation of joyful surprise 
evidently after a long silence." She represents her beloved's approach to 
her as like the coming of a roe or a young hart. His expression as he 
beholds her face reminds her of that of these meek and gentle animals as 
they look through the latticed windows behind the walls of their garden. 
It would seem that the remainder of the simile bears out that figure. 
The joyful roe coming from the mountains where he has discovered the 
fresh pastures of the spring tells his beloved to come and follow him out 
from their winter quarters under the green skies where flowers are 
blooming, birds are singing and vegetation putting forth its fruit. Out 
in God's beautiful earth, in the shelter of his rocks, in the secret places 
of nature's bowers, they feast together in their love each in the light of 
the other's graces. They make common cause against their common 
disturbers which destroy their pasturage, feeding meanwhile among 
God's lilies and guarding themselves in the times of their danger against 
their common enemy. Such is a beautiful picture of how Christ leads 
his people into green pastures and beside still waters into the secret 
places of his presence, going constantly from one grace to another until 
the night of life has broken and they are fanned by the keen breath of 
an eternal morning. 

Ch. 3 :l-4. — In the church's search for her anointed companion the 
figure used seems to indicate that for some wise purpose the bridegroom 
had withdrawn for a time from abiding with his beloved companion. The 
bridal couch stood for the most intimate and endearing association. His 
absence would at once become apparent and the loneliness unendurable. 
She goes to seek him. She inquires for him, and in her earnestness soon 
finds him, and brings him into the most private of her private chambers, 
the place where she whispers the innermost desires of her heart. It is a 
suggestive comment on this text that after he came to the world, Christ, 
during his sufferings and death and burial, was withdrawn from his 
sorrowing, lonesome bride, the church, and then after the forty days 
following his resurrection went into heaven, our holy of holies, behind the 
vail, thus leaving his church to the healthful exercise of seeking him. 
Thus it is that in each individual experience Christ has withdrawn from 
our material sense that we by cultivation may perfect that inward and 
vital communion with him "whom having not seen we love, in whom 
though we see him not yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable, and 



634 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

full of glory receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our 
souls/' 

The charge of verse 5 is a repetition of that of verse 7 in the preceding 
chapter, an expression of the highest possible respect. In this union of 
Christ and his church the familiarity does not breed contempt. 

6-11. — All the preceding was a description of the church's (bride's) 
love for Christ, her groom. Now begins a description of his love for her. 
To convey this thought he is represented as coming to her out of the 
wilderness. The writer was able to draw his imagery from historic 
conditions. God had called from the religious wilderness which sin had 
made a chosen family, which he organized nationally and for forty years 
trained in the material wilderness with their sacrifices (pillars of smoke 
perfumed with myrrh, frankincense and all powders that were bought 
and sold in commerce) . All these things mentioned in verses 7-11, which 
Solomon had as king of Israel, the honor and the graces and royal 
environments, belonged of course to the Messiah whose coming was the 
pivotal point of all Israelite history. Every honor put upon that nation 
was an honor put upon their coming king, the Christ, and the history of 
Israel's national greatness was, in a word, simply a detailed statement 
of Christ's coming to his bride, the church, of which church Judaism 
was a miniature. The name Solomon meant "peace," and so here* his 
name is fittingly used both to represent the Jewish church and to typify 
the consummate flower of Judaism, the coming "Prince of Peace." What 
Solomon did for his brides Jesus Christ does for his bride the church. 

In chapter 4, verses 1-15, the groom praises his bride. The imagery 
which he uses is drawn first from nature, additional touches being put 
to it by reference to the military strongholds which men had builded. 
Of course it must be remembered that by all fair rules of rhetoric the 
figure cannot be carried too far, so that while he here uses imagery 
descriptive of the personal charms of the bride, it ought not to be 
contended that the expression eyes, locks, teeth, etc., necessarily represent' 
conditions in the nation of which the writer was king. The only essential 
thought is, Thou, the bride of Christ, art very fair. It is not only logically 
probable, but rhetorically allowable that some of the personal charms 
here represented were suggested to the writer by physical conditions' 
and productive resources of the nation. For instance, the land raised 
many goats, sheep, pomegranates and the like, so that the Jewish church, 
the bride, would literally be bedecked by these things, goats and sheep 
being of natural utility, while such as pomegranates would be hung as an 
ornament. The neck, being the emblem of strength, would be represented 



SONG OF SOLOMON. 636 

by the military fortifications of the land. In such a figure the breasts 
stand for the nourishment of the young, and in this nation were specially 
prominent two phases of individual nourishment, the physical and the 
religious. Physically, the land flowed with milk and honey ; religiously, 
it was the mother of all spiritual instruction. Summing up all it was 
very properly said in round terms, verse 7. The invitation of verse 8 is 
suggestive of that physical greatness of which the nations could boast, 
and all the verses which follow, to and including verse 15, are an ampli- 
fication of that thought. 

The first part of verse 16 is really a part of the preceding theme, 
Christ's praise of his church. It is his call upon the winds to blow upon 
his garden — the north wind being that which clears the atmosphere, 
and the south being the gentle, pleasant breeze. The figure suggests the 
Holy Spirit "clearing away mists of gloom, error, unbelief, sin, which 
intercept the light of Christ, then infusing spiritual warmth, causing 
the graces to exhale their odor/' The last sentence of the verse is the 
church's invitation to Christ. She owns the garden to be his, and invites 
him to take possession of it. 

Ch. 5 :1. — The first verse of chapter 5 is his response. This is expressive 
of his delightful and satisfactory partaking of the fruits of his vineyard. 
It is always a supreme delight to Christ to see the graces of his people 
flourish. 

The last clause in verse 1 appears to be an exhortation of the church 
to her beloved and his friends to partake largely of her fruits. It is 
suggestive of the strong desire of the church to bring forth abundantly 
that which is meet for the Master's use. 

2-5. — !N"ow follows a description of Christ by his graces. The three 
preceding topics suggest the desire of the early Jewish church to do its 
Master's will. This desire was conspicuous in the early love of the church 
for its promised Messiah, and is made prominent in the writings and 
exhortations of their prophets. There was always a large element in 
Judaism -who were faithful watchers for the promised blessings of 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and there is no doubt that this was true in 
the days of Solomon, and at the time when he wrote this book he was 
doubtless one of them. I think it plain, however, that this poetical 
description of the mystical union between Christ and his church of 
necessity looked forward, describing conditions which would come to pass 
in later developments. In this verse 2 the groom is described as coming 
to his bride, the church, and knocking for admission to her. Whatever 
else the figure may picture, it is certain that this very thing happened in 



536 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

the days of Christ's incarnation. There can be no question that when 
Christ came to the world the Jewish church desired him, but was asleep 
as to her real needs and the manner of his coming. He stood without, 
rejected. 

The figure of her sloth in verses 3-5 shows how dilatory she was to 
recognize and consider his claim. The figure of his reaching in (verse 4) 
points out the strong exertions which he put forth that, on coming to hi3 
own (as shown in the last theme in chapter 3), he might be received of 
his own. All that splendor of the Jewish ceremonies which paved the 
way for the coming of the Christ was lost, in that when "he came unto 
his own his own received him not." His exertions at last partially 
aroused the Jewish nation, and the vast number of Jews that did believe 
on him by the preaching of the word might well express her final arising 
(verse 5) to open to him, bringing with her the typical sweet-smelling 
gifts of Judaism. 

6. — But when she opened he had withdrawn. "When he came unto 
his own and his own received him not," he turned to the Gentiles, and as 
most clearly shown in Romans, God's original plan of carrying salvation 
to the world through the Jewish nation was so altered that it was first 
given to the Gentiles, and by them will be carried back ultimately to 
the Jews. 

In verses 7 and 8 she is represented as going out to hunt her beloved 
and being wounded and dishonored by the watchmen and keepers of the 
city. The marvel of all history is the way in which poor Judaism has 
been peeled and scattered. And plaintively she is appealing, "If ye find 
my beloved" (the promised Messiah), tell him that my love for him has 
overcome me. 

Verses 9-16 is her description of her beloved. Some one of those whom 
she has so plaintively addressed asks the question, How shall we know him 
when we see him (verse 9) ? She says, He is white (beautiful), ruddy, 
expressive of health, "a standard bearer among ten thousand," comely, 
the last expression being expressive of his wondrous leadership. "Fine 
gold" indicates purest worth, the bushy, that is curled, black locks, a type 
of beauty. The meek eyes, set by rivers of waters, are suggestive of those 
streams of tears which flowed from their sources because of the ingrat- 
itude of his people, as instanced at the weeping over Jerusalem. All 
these descriptions of his person, and the additional adornments put upon 
him, are expressive of the Oriental types of beauty and habits of dress. 
It is thought by some that the washing with milk refers to the white of 
the eyes. 



SONG OF SOLOMON. 537 

The question of chapter 6, verse 1, is very suggestive. The Gentile 
world was ready to receive the Messiah. This description and estimation 
of him by Judah made her all the more willing. The acceptation of the 
Christ by the Gentile world grew out of the preaching of him by the 
Jewish disciples and the Christian faith of the world is based upon that 
knowledge and representation of him found in the Jewish writings. 

In the light of the above, verses 2 and 3 become plain. The question, 
Where is the Christ to be found ? is answered, "In the garden" which he 
has prepared for the human family, the blessed religion of which he is 
the embodiment, and in which all the sons of men may be planted as white 
lilies in the midst of which he dwells in pleasure. 

4-7-9. — The description of the church's graces must then of necessity 
embrace the Gentile church. The words Tirzah and Jerusalem would be 
natural figures expressing beauty to this Jewish writer, but the church 
of Jesus Christ has incorporated into itself the powers of the earth. This 
prophetic description of her beauty and greatness led the writer to put 
into the groom's mouth the language of verse 5, "Your beauty has 
overcome me." The imagery of the following verses, 6-8, are such as 
would be employed by a writer in the days of Solomon. His highest 
concept of beauty would be that of a beloved woman who would stand 
pre-eminent in the groom's affections, over her companion queens and 
concubines. This is made especially clear in verse 9. Yerse 10 intensifies 
the thought of verse 4. Yerse 13 is an intensification of praise. The 
word "Shulamite" is thought to be the feminine corresponding to Sol- 
omon, and so would signify the queen of peace. The thought of verses 
11-13 would be that the groom when he looked to see how % his garden 
flourished had found himself (verse 12) bearing an innumerable company 
of willing followers, the last word of verse 12 being literally "my willing 
people." Chapter 7 continues with the description of this glorious 
queen. She is called a prince's daughter, and the description of her 
person is that of a perfect and beautiful woman. The description is in 
many respects identical with that of chapter 4 in which he praised her. 
His delight in her increases as her graces increase. The language of 
verse 7 suggests the ingathering of the nations, and so her increase of 
stature and the comparison of breasts to clusters is suggestive of 
multiplied agencies for physical and religious nourishment which grows 
out of the civilization made by Christianity. The last clause of verse 8 
suggests that the spirit (breath) which goes out of her has the aroma of 
delicious ripened fruit. 

10-13. — After declaring her intimate attachment to the groom she 



638 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

invites him to go abroad and be seen with her and tend their vineyard, 
and there receive the most intimate and endearing tokens of affection. 
Mandrakes, being nsed as a remedy for barrenness, is suggestive of the 
multiplication of spiritual children which should come to follow in the 
footsteps of faithful Abraham. 

Ch. 8 :1-14. — It is suggested by expositors that the language of verse 1 
relates to the period in which the Christ left his bride between his 
ascension and his second coming. The spiced wines mentioned in verse 
2 are said to be introduced into this song in the absence of the bridegroom. 
It seems probable enough that if she is here mourning the absence of her 
bridegroom she would here express her longing by declaring, "If you 
were as my brother," you would be constantly with me and then I could 
rejoice in your presence, as in verses 2 and 3. The same charge of 
chapters 2 and 3 is here repeated, and perhaps in every case where the 
declaration is made the bride is in an attitude of intense desire for his 
presence, which feeling perhaps gives rise to this charge indicative of her 
reverence. The ingathering of the Gentiles is strongly pictured in verse 
'5. In the picture in the writer's mind the Gentile church has been 
gathered in and comes with her beloved, in the eyes of the Jewish world 
like a beggar stranger taken in from the highway. Hence, as expressive 
of the feeling of Judaism (see verse 6), "Set me as a seal upon thine 
heart," the strength of her love being expressed by this language, which 
conveys the idea of her jealousy at the sight of another taking her place. 
Verses 6 and 7 are exceedingly expressive in conveying the idea of the 
strength of love, and also of its value. It is not improbable that at this 
point the writer, grasping the conception of the ingathering of the 
Gentiles, and conscious as he then was of her darkness at the time in 
which he wrote, should use the language of verse 8. The Gentile world 
might be called "a little sister" in that she lacked the enlightenment 
which had been given to her elder sister, Judaism, and lacking such 
enlightenment was destitute of the means of physical and spiritual 
nourishment to her children. The writer was anxious for her, and, as 
verse 9 indicates, was willing to extend to her his instructions in defense 
and thrift, in brief to civilize her. The writer says of Judaism (verse 
10), "I already have these accomplishments." ISTo doubt the remainder 
bf the chapter refers to the Jewish church as a vineyard expressive of its 
development, the writer closing with this warning note to his own nation, 
The Gentile world hear thee, Christ; cause my people to hear thee and 
make haste to come to us speedily. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

OK KINGS AND PROPHETS. 



The dates of the accession of the kings are of course only approximate, 
but they are near enough for practical purposes. Make a study of this table. 



JUDAH. 


ISRAEL. DATE B. 


c. 


PROPHETS. 




Rehoboam. 


Jeroboam. 


975 


Iddo. 


Ahijah. 


Shemaiah. 


Abijam. 




960 




Ahijah. 




Asa. 




957 


Azariat 


t. Ahijah. Hanani. Jehu 




Nadab. 


954 










Baasha. 


950 


Azarial 


t. Hanani. 


Jehu. 




Elah; Zimri. 


930 






Jehu. 




Omri. 


930 






Jehu. 




Ahab. 


918 


Elijah. 


Elisha. 


Micaiah. 


Jehoshaphat. 




912 


Elijah. 


Elisha. 


Micaiah. 




Ahaziah. 


896 


Elijah. 


Elisha. 


Micaiah. 




Jehoram I. 


893 




Elisha. 


Jahaziel. 


Jehoram I. 




890 




Elisha. 


Jahaziel. 


Ahaziah. 




885 




Elisha. 


Jahaziel. 




Jehu. 


884 


Jonah. 


Elisha. 


Zechariah. 


(Athaliah). 




883 




Elisha. 




Jehoash I. 




878 


Jonah. 


Elisha. 


Zechariah. 




Jehoahaz I. 


855 


Jonah. 


Elisha. 


Zechariah. 




Jehoash II. 


840' 


Jonah. 


Elisha. 




Amaziah. 




836 


Jonah. 








Jeroboam II. 


824 


Joel. 






Uzziah. 




808 


Joel. 


Hosea. Amos. Isaiah. 




Zachariah. 


776 


Joel. 


Hosea. Amos. Isaiah. 




Shallum. 


775 


Joel. 


Hosea. 


Isaiah. 




Men a hem. 


770 


Joel. 


Hosea. 


Isaiah. 




Pekahiah 


762 




Hosea. 


Isaiah. 


Jot ham. 


Pekah. 


757 


Micah. 


Hosea. Oded 


Isaiah. 


Ahaz. 




743 


Micah. 


Hosea. Oded 


L. Isaiah. 




Hoshea. 


730 


Micah. 


Hosea. 


Isaiah. 


Hezekiah. 




726 


Micah. 


Hosea. Nahum. Isaiah. 


Manasseh. 




697 






Isaiah. 


Amon. 




644 








Josiah. 




640 


Zephaniah. Jeremiah. 


Habakkuk. 


Jehoahaz. 




610 




Jeremiah. 


[Huldah. 


Jehoiakim. 




609 




Jeremiah. 


Daniel. 


Jehoiachin. 




598 




Jeremiah. 


Daniel. 


Zedekiah. 




598 


Obadiah. Jeremiah. Daniel. Ezekiel. 



ISAIAH. 



INTRODUCTION". 

Uzziah was the ninth king of Judah. In II Kings 15 :l-7 he is called 
Azariah, showing that he had two names. Jotham was the tenth king 
of Judah. Ahaz was the eleventh, and Hezekiah the twelfth. Uzziah 
was the king who one day went into the temple to burn incense (which 
only the priests were allowed to do) and was smitten with leprosy. It 
was about the last years of his reign that Isaiah began to prophecy, near 
754 B. C. His prophetic life reached through the reigns of the three 
following kings, sixteen, sixteen and twenty-nine years, so that he must 
have prophesied more than sixty years. It was within this period that 
the kingdom of Israel was carried captive to Assyria. By referring to 
II Chron. 26 it will be seen that Uzziah was a good king at first, and 
was greatly prospered of the Lord, but his prosperity made him proud, 
and it became his destruction. Isaiah began to warn the people, but the 
evil conduct of the nation grew worse and worse until finally Hezekiah 
made Isaiah his chief adviser. His death took place in the reign of 
Manasseh, the thirteenth king of Israel. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1 Introduction. 
2, 3 God's declaration about his people. 
4-9 The prophet's reproach. 
10-20 God's message to his people. 

10-15 Inefficiency of sacrifice. 

16-20 Appeal for rectitude. Promise and threatening. 
21-2-5 The message about Jerusalem. 
21-23 Her condition described. 
24-31 Her judgment foretold. 

Chapter 2. 

1-5 Her subsequent glory. 

6-9 Reason why God had forsaken his people. 
10-4-1 The punishment which was to follow. 

2-6 Blessed renown of the purged city. 



ISAIAH. 541 

Chapter 5. 

1-6 Parable of the vineyard. 
7 Its application. 
8-30 The illustration. 

8-10 Covetousness. Its result. 
11-17 Drunkenness. Its result. 
18-25 Presumptuous impiety. Its result. 
26-30 God's executioners described. 

Chapter 6. 
1-13 Isaiah's vision. 

1-4 The throne of heaven. 

5 The prophet's terror. 

6, 7 The touching of his lips. 

8 God's call, and his answer. 

9-13 God's message to him. 

Chapter 7. 

1, 2 Combine of Syria and Israel against Judah. 
3-9 God^s message to Ahaz by Isaiah. 
9-13 Rebuke for unbelief. 
14-16 A sign promised. 
17-25 A prophecy against Judah. 

Chapter 8. 

1-4 A prophecy against Syria and Israel. 
5-8 Eeason for Judah's scourge by Assyria. 
9, 10 Prophecy against the enemies of God's people. 
11-9-7 God's instructions to Isaiah about the defense of believers. 
8-10-4 Eeason for the scourge of Israel. 

5-19 The punishment that should follow on Assyria. 
20-23 Effect of punishment upon Israel. 
24-34 The promise of deliverance from Assyria. 

Chapter 11. 

1-12-6 The rule of the descendant of Jesse. 

Chapter 13. 

1-14-23 Prophecy against Babylon. 

24-27 Confirmation of Assyrian downfall. 

28-32 Warning to Palestine. 

Chapter 15. 

1-16-14 Prophecy against Moab. 



542 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 17. 

1-11 Prophecy against Syria and Israel. 
12-18-7 Final calamity of the enemies of God's people. 

Chapter 19. 

1-22 Prophecy against Egypt. 
23-25 The triple alliance. 

Chapter 20. 

1-6 Captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia. 
Chapter 21. 

1-10 Reassurance of the destruction of Babylon. 
11, 12- Prophecy against Seir. 
13-17 Prophecy against Arabia. 
Chapter 22. 

1-25 Isaiah's lamentation for Jndah's scourge by enemies. 
Chapter 23. 

1-18 Prophecy against Tyre. 
Chapter 24. 
1-27-13 The re-establishment of divine rule in the earth. 

1-23 Judgment of the nations. 
Chapter 25. 

1-12 The prophet's praise for the good that shall follow. 
Chapter 26. 

1-21 Security of those trusting in God. 
Chapter 27. 

1-13 The dethronement of evil. 
Chapter 28. 

1-30-33 Judgment on the Hebrews for sin. 
1-4 Their drunkenness and pride. 
5, 6 The spared remnant. 
7, 8 Their decline. Its cause. 
9-13 Dullness of the people. 
14-20 Inefficiency of their human alliance. 
21-29 The true source of supplies. An illustration. 
Chapter 29. 

1-6 Scourge of Jerusalem. 
7, 8 Failure of her enemies to destroy her. 
9-14 Religious sloth of the people. Its result. 
15-24 Statement of God's purpose. 



ISAIAH. 543 

Chapter 30. 

1-7 Reliance of the people upon Egypt rather than God. 

8-11 Its explanation. 

12-17 Result. 

18-26 The reward of those who trust God. 

27-33 His destruction of the Assyrian. 

Chapter 31. 

1-9 Exhortation to trust to God rather than to Egypt. 

Chapter 32. 

1-8 The reign of a righteous king. 
9-14 Warning to the self-indulgent. 
15-20 Giving of God's spirit. Its result. 

Chapter 33. 

1-12 Judgment against the enemies of God's people. 
13-24 Privilege of the godly. 

Chapter 34. 
1-17 God's curse on the nations. 

Chapter 35. 
1-10 The description of his kingdom. 

Chapter 3G. 

1-37-38 War of Assyria against Judah. 

1-22 Siege of Jerusalem. Rabshakeh's message. 

Chapter 37. 

1-5 Hezekiah's message to Isaiah. 

6, 7 Isaiah's answer. 

8 Rabshakeh's return to Sennacherib. 

9-13 Message to King Hezekiah. 

14-20 Hezekiah's prayer. 

21-35 God's answer by Isaiah. 

36-38 Destruction of the Assyrians. 

Chapter 38. 

1 Hezekiah's sickness. 
2, 3 His prayer. 
4-8 God's answer by Isaiah. 
9-20 The king's description of the case. 
21, 22 The means of recovery and its sign. 



544 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 39. 

1, 2 Hezekiah's indiscretion. 
3-7 God's message to him by Isaiah. 
8 Hezekiah's response. 

Chapter 40. 
1-11 God's message of comfort. 

1, 2 Sufficiency of his people's punishment. 
3-8 The coming king. 
9-11 Nature of his rule. 
12-31 A description of God's character. 

Chapter 41. 

1-7 Conquest of Cyrus. 
8-29 God's promise of future help. 

Chapter 42. 

1-9 A description of the promised Messiah. 
10-12 Exhortation to praise God. 
13-16 The divine method of evangelization. 
17-25 The reproach of Israel's unfaithfulness toward God. 

Chapter 43. 

1-7 God's redemption and care of his people. 
8-13 Their witness to this matchless providence. 
14-21 Declaration of judgment against Babylon. The new story of 

providence. 
22-28 Israel's ingratitude. Its result. 

Chapter 44. 

1-8 God's promise of added blessings to his people. 
9-20 The senselessness of idolatry. 
21-28 The promise of restoration to Jerusalem. 

Chapter 45. 

1-17 God's promise to Cyrus of aid in his conquests. 
18-46-13 God's promise of salvation to his captive people. 

Chapter 47. 
1-15 The humiliation of Babylon. 

Chapter 48. 
1-22 The reason for the giving of this prophecy. 



ISAIAH. 545 

Chapter 49. 
1-26 A prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom. 

Chapter 50. 

1-3 The explanation of Israel's captivity. 
4-9 God's instruction and care of his prophet. 
10 An exhortation. 
11-51-8 God's message to both the evil and the righteous. 
9-11 The prophet's appeal to God. 
12-16 God's answer. 

17-52-12 His joyful tidings to Jerusalem. 
13-53-12 A description of the Messiah. 

Chapter 54. 

1-57-21 The universality of his kingdom. 

Chapter 58. 

1-59-15 Eebuke of God's chosen nation for her sins. 
1 The charge. 
2-5 Their inconsistency. 
6, 7 Manner of its correction. 
8-14 The happy result. 

Chapter 59. 

1-15 A picture of their iniquity. Its result. 
16-21 A description of God's salvation. 

Chapter 60. 
1-22 The glory and supremacy of God's earthly kingdom. 

Chapter 61. 

1-3 The anointed herald of its approach. 

4-9 Reconstructive influence of this kingdom. 
10, 11 The prophet's joy. 

Chapter 62. 

1-5 The prophet's desire and faith as to the future of Zion. 

6, 7 His charge to the faithful. 

8-12 God's promise to restore Zion to power. 

Chapter 63. 

1-6 His vengeance on her enemies. 

7, 8 His loving kindness to his people. 
9-14 His sympathy in their affliction. 

15-64-12 Appeal for God's pity in Israel's national distress. 



546 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter '65. 
1-16 God's answer. Beason for Israel's calamity. 

1 The gathering of the nations into the chosen family. 
2-7 Israel's disobedience. 
8-10 The faithful remnant. 
11-16 The curse for disobedience. 
17-25 Description of the New Jerusalem. 

Chapter 66. 

1, 2 Character of God and the service which he demands. 

3, 4 Some abominations of Israel described. Their result. 

5-14 The marvelous increase of Zion's true children. 
15-24 God's judgments against his enemies and gathering of the nations 
into his church. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :1. — The first paragraph of this book serves as an introduction 
for the entire sixty-six chapters. To read Isaiah intelligently one should 
refer back to Kings and Chronicles, where is given the details of the 
reigns of these kings mentioned in verse 1. 

2, 3. — Ilzziah was the ninth king of Judah. Since the days of David 
the people of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms. The southerly 
kingdom was called Judah. The northern was called Israel. Isaiah was 
a prophet of the kingdom of Judah, and his prophecies were mainly 
about that kingdom. Since the days of David the people had been 
growing more and more corrupt, and the reigns of many of their kings 
had been of that character. By referring to the history of Uzziah it will 
be seen that he had committed a most sacrilegious act at the temple, and 
for this had been smitten with leprosy. The acts of the kings were 
reflections of the character of the people, and it is not a matter of wonder 
that at this time a prophet should rise to denounce the sins of the nation. 
Verses 2 and 3 express God's message to them. The story of Israel's 
repeated rebellion in the wilderness and "their actions in the days of the 
judges, as well as in the period of the kings, give force to the declarations 
of these two verses. How repeatedly and stoutly they had rebelled was 
a matter of history and a source of wonder. It would seem (verse 3) 
that even the dumb animal is more consistent in his actions than was 
this people. 

4-9. — The prophet now heaps upon them most severe reproach. The 
language of verse 4 is precisely what God had been declaring by Moses 



ISAIAH. 547 

and others -of his prophets for years past. See the story of the wilderness 
wanderings to confirm the words of this verse. And now he pleads, 
"Why should you be stricken any more ?" The language of verses 5-9 
is expressive in detail of the low condition into which the nation had 
fallen and the exceeding danger of destruction into which it had come. 
The prophet here sees and gives a picture of what is shortly to be unless 
they repent. The story of the captivity which soon followed showed how 
certainly he was right. Many of these warnings, declarations and 
threatenings are quoted by the New Testament writers. 

10-15.— Verses 10-20 contain the message of the Lord to the people. 
Had that message been heeded this people would never have gone into 
captivity. They are here addressed as Sodom and Gomorrah, indicating 
their sinfulness. The first part of the message declares that their 
sacrifices are an abomination while they continue in their present course. 
The Jew by a long continuance in the ceremonial law had come to think 
that the performing of those and similar ceremonies was real religion, 
whereas it was only a picture to call and hold the attention of the 
worshiper to justification by faith in a Messiah to come whose greater 
sacrifice for the sins of a world was pictured by these sacrifices on Jewish 
altars. Jesus declared the same thought precisely when he took issue 
with the scribes and pharisees for the outward religious displays and 
their inward wickedness. The old prophet, Samuel, had long since voiced 
the same thought when he reproved King Saul for sacrifice at the 
expense of obedience (I Sam. 15:10-23). 

16-20.— The second part of this message is an appeal for right prin- 
ciple. The language is plain. Real repentance means the turning away 
from the former course. In verse 16 is the negative feature. In verse 17 
is the positive. It is as necessary to be aggressive in well doing as to shun 
evil doing. Verse 18 shows that the thought of religion in the mind of 
God embraces the highest type of mental concurrence. The promise and 
the threatening is unmistakable. How certainly the threat was executed 
is shown by the history which followed. 

21-23.— The message about Jerusalem is startling. The description of 
her condition should have roused the whole nation. It was the capital 
city, the place where the temple was situated, and was the glory of the 
people of Israel. Before Israel took possession of the land this city was 
called Salem, which means "city of peace/' It was here that the line of 
the Melchizedek priests held sway. (Gen. 14:17-20). That such a city 
wrested from the hands of idolaters, who had more recently possessed it 
and put in the hands of God's chosen people, should become thus 



548 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

corrupt, was not only a matter of surprise, but a standing reproach. The 
rules laid down in the law of Moses for the government of the nation 
had been trampled under the feet of open rebellion, and those who needed 
protection were being preyed upon by those who should have been their 
protectors. 

24-31. — Here follows a description of the result which should follow. 
Evildoers were to be cut off (verse 24). The language of verse 25 is 
descriptive of the work of purification, or the setting right of the nation's 
wrongs. The right conditions, described in verses 26-27, would be like 
those in the days of Moses and. Joshua. In accomplishing these results 
the destruction should be such as to strike terror to presumptuous Jews 
and make them ashamed of the covetousness by which they had meanly 
possessed themselves of the estates which belonged to others. There is 
little doubt that at this time all the laws which concern the original 
distribution of the land and the holding of it had been grossly violated, 
and that the land was fast passing into the hands of the few money 
getters. 

Ch. 2 :l-5. — In the picture of the city's subsequent glory which Isaiah 
sees a condition is described which was to prevail when righteousness 
was established. It looks forward to that time when the Jewish Messiah 
should come. Eighteousness should be exalted, and from Jerusalem as 
the place of the Messiah's coming should go that law which should set all 
nations right. This very language was used by the early Christians as 
a prophecy of what should take place under Christianity, and the history 
of all the centuries since his coming has demonstrated this interpretation 
to have been correct. 

It matters not whether or not Isaiah foresaw the time of Christ's 
coming ; the language which he here uses exactly describes the conditions 
which should arise under the blessed influence of the Christ's teaching. 
The word which went out from Jerusalem is molding the character of 
nations, and slowly but surely, by the progress which Christianity brings, 
is coming that condition of things by means of which war will not only 
be repudiated by the better sense of refinement, but will become out of 
the question by means of its destructiveness. 

' 6-9. — The reason why God had forsaken his people is clearly set forth 
in verses 6-9. The very things here described are the things for which 
the nations about Israel had been destroyed. Soothsaying, intermarrying 
with strangers, trusting in riches rather than in the Lord, and making 
their national denfense not the God of Israel, but their war equipments — 
all these things had made Judah and Israel like the nations about 



ISAIAH. 549 

them ; and so far had they copied the ways of strangers that small and 
great humbled themselves before idols. God had diligently and repeat- 
edly warned his people in the law against associating with and copying 
the ways of the surrounding nations. In the days of the judges the 
angel of the. Lord had appeared to the people and told them that because 
they had failed to destroy the heathen as God had commanded, those 
same heathen should become thorns in the side of Israel and a snare to 
them. These words of Isaiah show how fearfully true the sayings had 
proven. 

10-4-1. — The punishment which was to follow is described in the rest 
of this chapter, also in chapter 3, and in the first verse of chapter 4. 
The description of it is terrible. The lofty looks of man were to be 
humbled, and that seemingly inconquerable thing, pride, was to be 
brought into the dust. The excellencies of the land of which the chosen 
family was accustomed to boast were to be destroyed, and the land and 
its people were to become a reproach. The people in their terror should 
seek refuge in the caves of the earth, and these idols of which they had 
been so repeatedly and faithfully warned should be thrown in disgust 
by this grief-stricken people to the moles and bats. Famine was to 
follow this desolation to torture the lowly and the great. Children were 
to be set up as rulers over the land, and so great should be the distress 
that the people would eagerly grasp after any seemingly fortunate one of 
their number to be their ruler; and yet so great should be the distress 
of even an} - such seemingly fortunate one that he should spurn the offer 
and cry in despair, "I have not bread nor clothing. Jerusalem is fallen 
because their doings have provoked the Lord." The language of verse 9 
is doubtless a picture of things as Isaiah saw them. Evil always writes 
itself on the countenance as well as declares itself in the life. Verses 10 
and 11 state the rule of reward and punishment, which is as sure and as 
unchangeable as God its Maker. The remainder of this theme indicates 
something of the character of the evil which was destroying this chosen 
family; the social evil was sapping the foundation of society, hence the 
curse pronounced in verses 16-26. The climax of this curse is pronounced 
in the first verse in chapter 4. So great should be the desolation that a 
crowd of women should lay hold on one man and say, "We will not look 
to you for support, but let each of us have you for a husband that we 
may not have the reproach of dying childless." The number seven 
signifies completeness, hence the figure here represents a complete and 
possibly indefinite number. 

2-6. — Here follows a description of the blessed renown of the city after 



550 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

it shall have been purged. It is a remarkable fact that the chastening 
of the Lord always intensifies the affections of his children. After such 
purging all the believers would naturally turn their thoughts to it as the 
place in which the Lord had re-established his neglected service, and so 
those who were allowed to dwell there under the new conditions would 
be accounted especially fortunate. 

Ch. 5 :l-6. — The judgment which is here pronounced on the nation is 
illustrated under the figure of a vineyard. The parable of the vineyard is 
a story told to illustrate the condition of this chosen family. Just as any 
wise person would do with a vineyard on which he had bestowed much 
labor and from which he had received no fruit, so the owner here is 
represented as doing with his vineyard. 

Verse 7 applies this figure to the house of Israel and the house of 
Judah. Upon that vineyard the Lord had bestowed much time and 
careful training. When he looked for fruit he found the same fruitless 
and forlorn condition as among heathen nations — lack of justice, lack of' 
wisdom, lack of religion, lack of everything that was refined and desirable. 

8-10. — He now illustrates the application by pointing out the defects 
of the chosen people. Verse 8 indicates the extent of covetousness which 
prevailed in the nation. The thirst of land holders to increase their 
domains became so great that they are here represented as alone in the 
midst of the earth ; that is, they had no near neighbors, seeing that their 
dominions are so extended. The result is shown in verses 9 and 10. 
Desolation is abroad, and the land lacks inhabitants. Ten acres of 
vineyard yields the smallest pittance where under just conditions the 
increase would be enormous. 

11-17. — The next theme follows naturally. All such conditions as here 
described invariably give rise to over-indulgence on the part of the land 
holders and their followers. Such landlords would be drunkards. The 
result would be just what is described in verses 11-14. The effect of such 
drunkenness is clearly told in verse 15. Thus evil is made to a large 
extent to work out its own correction. Particularly is it true of drunk- 
enness that it destroys all who violate God's law by laying hold on it. It 
brings into the dust the meanest, and it spares not the mightiest. None 
are proof against its destructiveness ; and thus is verified the word of 
God, which says, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to 
poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." 

Following such destruction of evil comes again the normal condition 
(verse 17), which had been destroyed to carry out the covetousness 
of the money getters. The places which, because of their vastness, were 



ISAIAH. 551 

practically waste, should again be cultivated, and yield their increase. 
The presumptuous impiety displayed by these selfish law breakers is 
indicated in the language of verse 18. Their own vanity was a fruitful 
source of their sin, and they drew sin after them as men would draw a 
treasure wagon with a cart rope. They said in substance, "If God is not 
pleased with our ways let him manifest himself that we may certainly 
know his desire." They were not content to work out right principles 
and be governed by the law of equity, but were willing to call evil good 
and good evil; in other words, to prostitute every principle of right to 
their own selfish desires. Such are well described in verses 21-23. But 
the result is swift and sure (see verse 24). So universal was this 
condition that no small punishment would work the desired results. 
Therefore verse 25. 

26-30. — This description of the executioners which God would send 
brings out a great truth ; namely, that God uses the enemies of his people 
to execute vengeance on his rebellious children. The language of verses 
27-29 indicate that God's care often extends over his enemies in directing 
them to work out his will. The enemies which carried Israel into 
captivity were as certainly under the hand of God as was the army of 
Israel under Joshua. Thus it is that God often overrules human actions 
and makes the wrath of men to praise him. Yerse 30 gives a very dark 
picture of the distress in the chosen land and among the chosen people. 
For the confirmation of this word see the history of Judah's captivity in 
Kings and Chronicles. 

Ch. 6:1-4. — Uzziah was the king whom God smote with leprosy for 
going into the holy of holies to burn incense. It was about this time that 
Isaiah began to prophesy. The vision of this same throne and the same 
king sitting on it is given in Revelation, chapter 4, to John. The 
language used in the description in each case is indicative of the greatness 
of power by which the throne of the Almighty is surrounded. It is easy 
to understand that in each of these visions there is recorded only what 
the writer notices, and different minds always see different phases of any 
given subject and draw different conclusions. To catch the spirit which 
prevailed in the nation which led Isaiah to begin his prophecies read 
II Chron. 26, especially the apostasy from verse 16 on. Such a vision as 
this was necessary to properly stir up the spirit of prophec} r in those days 
of national decline into overwhelming calamity. The character of 
Isaiah's prophecies will show how thoroughly he was stirred, and how 
good use he made of his prophetic qualities. The vision in Eev. 4 will 



652 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

tell who are the seraphim, and Exodus 40 :3-i will give a key to the smoke 
mentioned. 

5. — From the nature of things it would be. a frightful thing to Isaiah, 
knowing the condition of his nation and conscious of his own weakness, 
to have the God of heaven reveal himself in open vision. Such a manifes- 
tation as that was supposed to mean inevitable destruction to those to 
whom the vision was given, hence the language of the prophet in this 
verse, uttered in his terror. 

6, 7. — The altar mentioned is further described in Eev. 8 :l-6. From 
this referrence it is evident that the coal mentioned was the glowing, hot 
prayers of the saints on earth. Such a coal touching the lips of a 
prophet would not only stand for conscious remission of sin in answer 
to the prayers of faith, but it would mean the putting of his mouth in 
order for the delivery of a burning message to earth". 

8.— As was to be expected then, under such transformation of feeling 
and confidence in the prophet, as soon as God called for volunteers in 
earth, he at once offered himself, saying, "Send me; I am ready if you 
can use me." It should be noted in this connection that in answering the 
prayers that were going up and being offered on the golden altar before 
God, he used human agency, and calls for volunteers. 

9-13. — The message from God was full of irony. Go and say to this 
miserable people, "Keep on hearing without understanding, and keep 
on seeing without perceiving." Use the goodly supplies which God has 
given you to fatten yourselves, . and lull yourselves to sleep with his 
precious messages, but keep yourselves away from the influence of his 
spirit lest he should heal you of sin. The question of the prophet in 
verse 11 was a most natural one. Lord, how long shall such a state of 
things continue, or what shall the result be ? The answer was, They will 
continue it until they are carried into captivity; verses 10 and 11 and 
history proves the saying to have been correct. Yerse 13 is no doubt 
a prophecy of the return from captivity. A tenth should be true to God, 
and when they returned and had been broused (see margin), equivalent 
to breaking back or biting off a tree, just as a tree retains its substance 
though the leaves fall, so the substance of the future nation should be 
in these faithful ones, who because of their faith were brought back to 
inherit the land. 

Ch. 7:1, 2. — Ahaz was the eleventh king of Judah. Pekah was the 
eighteenth king of Israel. For the account of this conspiracy see II 
Kings 16. The word Ephraim was often used to mean the kingdom of 
Israel. Israel had been growing worse and worse until its career as a 



ISAIAH. 553 

nation had drawn to a close, and her next king after this was the one 
under which the whole nation went into captivity. This union of the 
northern kingdom with Syria, the enemy of God's people, spread terror 
throughout Judah. 

3-9.— God sent a message by Isaiah to comfort and encourage Ahaz. 
Isaiah's son was sent along with his father. The name of the son meant, 
in Hebrew, "the remnant shall return." The giving of such a name to 
a child was indicative of the prophet's faith. Probably since he began his 
public prophecy he had been reiterating that the people should go into • 
captivity for their sins, and that only a remnant should come back. 
God's message to him in verse 11 of the previous chapter confirms that 
view. God assures the king through the prophet that the compact shall 
be a failure. Eezin, king of Syria, having Damascus for his capital city, 
was warred against by the king of Assyria, and Damascus was taken and 
Bezin slain. About two years after this a part of Israel was carried into 
captivity (II Kings 15 :29). In the reign of Hoshea, about twenty years 
after, another part was carried captive. (II Kings 17 :l-6.) The third one, 
which utterly broke up Israel as a people, was in the twenty-second year 
of Manasseh, king of Judah, when Israel was colonized with foreigners, 
sixty-five years from the utterance of this prophecy. (Usher.) King 
Manasseh, of Judah, was at that time carried captive. (II Chron 
33:11-13.) 

9-13.— The latter part of paragraph 9 properly belongs to the following 
verses. Evidently the king did not believe the prophet's message, and the 
language indicates that a large measure of the success of the prophecy 
depended upon the king, to whom it was directed. However sure may be 
God's promises to men touching human affairs, they imply human faith 
and co-operation in working out their fulfillment. The language of verse 
11 is equivalent to saying, If you lack wisdom or ability in performing 
your part, God will supply it. If you doubt that, ask of God a sign and 
he will grant it. The king's evident lack of faith coupled with his 
unwillingness to seek God in the matter, called out the vigorous protest 
of verse 13. 

The sign spoken of in verses 14-16 most probably referred to a virgin 
well known to both, who was to be married and bear a son. The Hebrew 
word "Immanuel" means "God with us." This name given to a son 
signified the faith of the parent, that God would send deliverance. 
Butter and honey were considered the best of food for children, and 
whether the middle clause of verse 15 be read "that he may know" or 
"when he knoweth" or "till he know," the important thought is that 



554 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

of verse 16; within two years both Syria and the land of Israel had been 
despoiled of their kings. Some anthorities make the two lands referred 
to Judah and Israel, and understand this passage to mean that before the 
promised Messiah shall come both these kingdoms shall have ceased to 
be kingdoms. This interpretation, however, is very foreign to the thought 
of the context. 

17-25. — Now as a fitting sequel to that unbelief which refused to ask 
a sign, the prophet foretells the evil that shall come upon Judah because 
of the unbelief of her kings. Assyria, to whom Judah looked for deliv- 
erance, while it proved a temporary help to Judah, was in the end a great 
scourge. The word "hiss" in verse 18 might be rendered "whistle/' a 
method of causing bees to settle. While the two insects mentioned in 
this verse were characteristic of the respective countries named, it is plain 
that they were only symbols of the armies of the two countries which 
were to meet in Judah as a battleground. The shaving of the head, beard 
or feet was considered the greatest indignity, and this language is simply 
descriptive of the indignity that should be heaped on Judah as a nation. 
Verses 21 and 22 indicate that a man's personal property should be 
reduced to the smallest amount, and that by the devastation of the land 
these few animals should roam at will, finding abundant pasture. Verses 
23 and 24 are further indication of the universal desolation. In verse 25 
the revised Bible makes the thought clearer, "Thou shalt not come 
thither for fear of briers," etc. The thought is that the desolation should 
be so great that only dumb beasts would be able to penetrate the briery 
wastes. 

Ch. 8 :l-4. — The aforementioned prophecy against Judah was because 
of its lack of faith in God. Here follows a prophecy against Assyria and 
Israel, the two nations combined against Judah. This prophecy was to 
be written in large letters and in the plain language of the people, so that 
no one might fail to understand it. See the margin for the meaning of 
the last word in verse 1. The high priest mentioned in verse 2 is the 
same as the TTrijah mentioned in II Kings 16:10, and authorities note 
the fact that he, being an accomplice of King Ahaz in idolatry, would not 
likely be open to the charge of conspiring with the prophet. Hence he 
would be a proper witness to testify to the truth of Isaiah's prophecy. 
The prophetess mentioned in verse 3 is no doubt the virgin of chapter 
7 :14, who had since become Isaiah's second wife. It is thought that the 
son mentioned here was a second child, not the Immanuel of chapter 
7:14. Thus nineteen months intervened from the prophecy of chapter 
7:14, nine before the birth of Immanuel and ten from that time to the 






ISAIAH. 655 

one here mentioned, adding eleven or twelve months before the latter 
could cry "father." We have about three years in all agreeing with 
chapter 7:15-16. 

5-8. — Shiloah is the same is Siloam. This pool at Jerusalem was closely 
identified with the religious services of the Jews. The name Siloam 
means "sent." Whether that name became attached to it because the 
waters were sent to this spot by an aqueduct or because of some of the 
religious ceremonies attached to the place, is not clear. However that 
may be, Siloam came to stand for God's help toward his people, and so 
here the thought is, since Judah turns away from her alliance with God 
and makes alliance with idolatrous Israel and Syria, therefore another 
nation (Assyria) shall flow over Judah as a result of her alliance. The 
Immanuel in verse 8 refers primarily to chapter 7:14, this name itself 
and the circumstances which called it out being typical of the promised 
seed of the woman who should finally "bruise the serpent's head." 

9, 10. — In this description of the scourge that should come upon the 
the people of God through their disobedience, it was natural that the 
prophet should add a word about the ultimate outcome of the miserable 
nations that were allowed to scourge God's people. These nations being 
themselves unbelieving and disobedient, it was nothing to their credit that 
God overruled and made use of their doings for the correction of his 
people. They were to be broken, their power like the proud "waves of 
the sea" might come so far and no farther. Beyond the point where God 
allowed it all their plans should come to naught. The enemies of God's 
people may be the means by which the father chastens his children; 
nevertheless, woe is theirs because of their enmity to God's cause. 

11-9-7. — God's instruction to Isaiah about the defense of believers 
may be summed up thus: Do not become panic-stricken and say a 
confederacy for defense, but fear the Lord and say he is our defense. 
The middle clause of verse 14 referring originally to God the Father was 
aptly applied by the New Testament writers to Christ the Son, the 
principle being the same in both cases (see Rom. 9 :33) . It was true then 
and it has ever since been true that such a faith requirement would be 
a stumbling block to many (see verse 15, also Paul's argument in Rom.) 
Hence the pertinency of the advice in verse 16. The remedy for all such 
unbelief is the teaching of the law; the result of such teaching is the 
multiplication of believers (verse 18). 

8-10-4. — The contrast of verse 19 is used as a guard against the 
abominable idolatry into which the people were so liable to fall. Verse 
20 is the direction in the true way, and verses 21 and 22 are the legitimate 



556 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

outcome of dealing with impostors. But in all this he is supposedly 
speaking to those who will hear his message, and so he here declares 
(chapter 9 :1) that the ultimate outcome of the troubles endured by God's 
children shall not be their total destruction, as was the case with the 
kingdom of Israel, but should retain their national identity until the 
coming of the Messiah. In the second clause of verse 3 see the revised 
Bible ; it should be read, "Thou hast increased the joy." All these verses 
up to and including verse 5 are descriptive of the conditions- resulting 
from the coming of the Messiah, and verses 6 and 7 are personally 
descriptive of the Messiah himself. 

5-19. — The reason of the scourge sent upon Israel is plainly set forth 
in these verses. In the pride of their hearts the people refused to 
recognize God as one upon whom they depended, hence Syria and 
Phiiistia were to devour Israel, but the end was not yet. The people 
would not be admonished by this evil which came upon them, but should 
heap up to themselves lying prophets, and so should be despoiled. The 
language of verse 14 means the highest and the lowest. Verse 15 makes 
the application, and such a state of things in Israel would inevitably 
result in the condition mentioned in verse 17, but the end is not yet. 
Because of such a condition wickedness should increase like fire in a 
thicket until the land should develop the conditions mentioned in verses 
20 and 21, but the end is not yet. Growing out of all this, vileness should 
increase until they should be overwhelmed by their enemies and go into 
the most distressing and humiliating captivity/ The word "under" in 
verse 4 might better be rendered "among," still the end was not yet, for 
the kingdom of Israel went into captivity and never returned. 

20-23. — The description of the punishment that should follow on 
Assyria explains itself. It might be allowed to punish Israel, but that 
would not make any the less its own deserved punishment. Verse 7 
explains why. It does not recognize God's hand. It is proud. (See 
verses 8-1 1.) Therefore God will bring upon it as indicated in verse 12. 
Verses 13 and 14 are also the language of Assyria, and should be classed 
with verses 8-11. Because of this boastful attitude, the incongruity of 
which is shown in verse 15, God was to bring the punishment of verses 
16-19. 

The result of it all was that a certain per cent of Israel did turn from 
idolatry to the living God. They cast in their lot with the kingdom of 
Judah and became incorporated with and known as their brethren the 
Jews. When the Messiah did finally come a certain per cent of the Jews 
received him, and so the language of verse 22 is quoted by Paul in his 



ISAIAK. 557 

argument in Romans. (See Rom. 9 :27.) Punishment may work much 
havoc, but all the good we know grows out of its wise administration. 

24-34. — The promise of final deliverance from Assyria was a check 
against despair. The assurance was that when the people had been 
chastised sufficiently to turn them to the Lord that God would send to 
them an irresistible deliverance. Just as the people had been helped in 
the days of the judges and at the time of the Exodus, so they would again 
be helped. Verses 28-32 are a detailed description of events that should 
take place in the breaking of Assyria's power. And verses 33 and 34 
describe the power by which Assyria was to be broken. 

Ch. 11 .-1-12-6.— There can be little doubt that the language of chapters 
11 and 12 reach far into the future, not only of Isaiah's day, but also our 
day. When the prophet looked forward and saw the power of Assyria 
broken and captive Israel returned from Babylon, he looked far beyond 
these events to find the cause, and sees in the distance the great salvation 
of the Lord God Almighty restoring earth again to the conditions of 
Eden. The ruling person described in these verses could not be any ruler 
of Judah between the days of Isaiah and the days of Jesus of Nazareth, 
for such conditions as here described have never been fulfilled. And they 
were not to apply to the days of the incarnation of Jesus, for he distinctly 
declared in those days that his was not an earthly kingdom. Isaiah's 
description of the kingdom of the expected Messiah (which was the great 
end and aim of all the history of the chosen family) sweeps across all the 
intervening time between his day and the millennium. The "root of 
Jesse," when his gospel shall have run its course among the nations, shall 
come to reign over his own (Rev. 20:4-6), and shall bring not only 
perfect peace among the factions of the chosen family, but perfect unity 
between Jew and Gentile (see Rom. 11). It is likely that the gathering 
mentioned here belongs to the latter part of Rev. 19, and the destruction 
of enemies mentioned there, is here pictured under the names of Philistia, 
Edom, Moab, Ammon, Assyria, Egypt, the only enemies which the 
chosen family then knew, and whose territory must be occupied by any 
enemies who would ever withstand a government at Jerusalem. The 
conditions of the millennium would well call forth such language as that 
of chapter 12. It is a joyful thanksgiving of the faithful for the mercies 
of God as shown in the salvation of the nations through Jesus Christ. 
In the third chapter of Genesis is Eden lost; here is Eden restored, and 
the fallen race brought again into conscious and intimate contact with 
Jehovah. 

Ch. 13:1-14-23.— After the far future vision of chapters 11 and 12 



558 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the prophet again returns to the nearer future in which God will continue 
judgments mentioned in chapter 10, by bringing into the dust the proud 
conquerors of Assyria. In these chapters 13 and 14 are given the details 
of the destruction that shall come to Babylon. All these events are steps 
in the oncoming of that blessed condition described in chapters 11 and 12. 
These prophecies of the evils to come on the surrounding nations were 
calculated to keep the chosen family from despair amid their own 
calamities, it discouraged their making alliances with other nations for 
protection, it taught them that God was over all the nations, using them 
to further his plans. The time of this prophecy was about one hundred 
and seventy-five years before Cyrus took Babylon. It was immediately 
after this event that the seventy-years captivity in Babylon came to an 
end and the Hebrews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild 
the temple (Solomon's temple), which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. 
In these two chapters then the prophet is describing that judgment which 
was to come on Babylon, and which should bring deliverance to God's 
captive people. The language of verse 2 refers to the military banners set 
on' elevated places and the beckonings and signs used in the military 
siege which overthrew Babylon. These Medes, Persians and Armenians 
which composed the army of Cyrus were set apart (sanctified) to work 
out God's will. Horsley explains the last clause of verse 3 thus : "Those 
who are made to triumph for my honor." The variety of nationalities 
among the soldiery of Cyrus explains the language of verses 4 and 5. 
The last clause of verse 8 suggests anger and great haste and strong 
efforts at self-defense. The language of verses 10 and 11 indicates the 
overturning of earth's governments and the reducing to chaos of those 
conditions which shortly before the ruin seemed stable as the firmament 
and pre-eminent as the light which comes from its luminaries. Yerse 12 
indicates that the slaughter would go on until a man should be counted 
more precious than any price which could be set. Thus the earth govern- 
ments of that age were to be overturned, men should flee away in terror, 
and such as could be found would be frightfully abused (verses 13-18). 
Verses 19-22 have been literally fulfilled, though such a prophecy of the 
greatest city then existing was at the time probably a subject of con- 
temptuous ridicule because of its seeming impossible fulfillment. Here 
in the midst of this description of Babylon's downfall is the statement 
that Israel shall be returned to their own land (which took place by the 
edict of Cyrus one hundred and seventy-five years -later), and further, 
that the chosen family should have as captives the Babylonians. (Verses 
1-3. ) From verse 4 on are given the taunts which should be hurled against 



ISAIAH. 559 

Babylon at her downfall. The antecedent of "he" in verse 6 is Babylon, 
also of "thou" in verse 8. The word "hell" in verse 9, meaning "grave" 
or "place of departed spirits," indicates a conscious condition of evil 
spirits after death. The language of verse 12 is probably applied directly 
to the king of Babylon. The position which he held at the time of this 
prophecy was that of chief light bearer among the nations. There was no 
king so great as he. The pride of the nation which ignored God led to 
the appalling downfall here prophesied. Then this great king became the 
chief ridicule of the nations and was not allowed even a decent burial, a 
most signal disgrace to the Oriental mind. The dynasty then ruling 'in 
Babylon ended with the destruction of Belshazzar (see Dan. 5). There 
is no more wonderful fact in history than that this great Babylon of the 
plain of Shinar (Gen. 11) is now a marshy waste. 

24-27. — Here is a confirmation of the prophecy against Assyria as 
stated in chapter 10. It is noted by authorities that these words" would 
be a comfort to the Jews in their captivity in Babylon, because this 
prophecy, which is here future tense, would at that time have been 
fulfilled and so be a matter of history, and for that reason would 
encourage the people to believe that God would also fulfill his promise 
about the downfall of Babylon and the return of the Jewish exiles. 
Assyria was conquered by the Medes and Babylonians 625 B. ft, eighty- 
seven years before the downfall of Babylon (538 B. C.) 

28-32.— It is generally interpreted by expositors that "Palestina" 
refers to the Philistines. Smith says, "Palestine in the authorized 
version really means nothing but Philista." The Hebrew word is 
"Pelesheth," rendered in four places in the Psalms "Philistia" or 
"Philistines." The antecedent of "him" in verse 29 is Uzziah, who had 
subdued the Philistines (II Chron. 26:6). "In the reign of Ahaz they 
took several towns in South Judah. Here Isaiah prophesies their final 
subjugation by Hezekiah." (Jamieson.) The designations in the latter 
part of verse 29 are probably terms applied by the Philistines to Uzziah. 
Maurer translates the latter part of verse 31: "There is not one (of the 
Philistine watch guards) who will remain alone (exposed tothe enemy) 
at his post," through fright. The answer then that shall be returned to 
the Philistine nation is, "The Lord has founded Zion," etc., meaning that 
God has interposed in behalf of his people against their enemies. 

Ch. 15:1-16-14.— Chapters 15 and 16 are a prophecy against Moab. 
Ar was the metropolis of Moab, and Kir was a citadel not far awav. The 
antecedent of "he" in verse 2 is Moab. "Bajeth" were better translated 
"to the temple," meaning the Moabite place of worship. Jamieson 



560 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

translates the next clause, "Dibon (is gone up) to the high places to 
weep." This town was in a plain north of the Arnon, and is the same 
place as the Diinon mentioned in verse 9. Heshbon was an Amorite city 
twenty miles east of the Jordan, taken by Moab after the carrying away 
of Israel. -Elealah and Jahaz were two cities near it and near each other. 
Even the armed men were to forsake the thought of defense and join in 
the cry of terror. The thought of verse 5 is, they shall flee (crying) like 
a heifer of three years, that is, one in her full vigor, and so able to make 
the greatest noise. Luhith was a mountain of Moab, and Horonaim a 
town close to Zoar. Ximrim was a city in Gilead near Jordan, the name 
of which meant limpid waters. The language of verse 1 in chapter 16 
seems to be advice to the Moabites to send from all Moab to the king of 
Judah the tribute of lambs which they had formerly paid, and so gain 
Judah's favor and protection. The figure of the shadow in verse 3 is 
that of making a shelter from noonday heat. It is probable that at the 
time this was written (about the first year of Hezekiah) the Assyrians 
were spoiling Judah, but that power was to be broken shortly after (latter 
part of verse 4), and so if Moab should now be kind to Judah's outcasts, 
Judah would soon be in a condition to return kindness to her when her 
calamity came, as it did about three years later when Shalmaneser seized 
on Moab. Verse 6 expresses a conviction that Moab will not take this 
advice on account of her pride, and therefore her calamity shall come 
upon her. The language of verse 11 is expressive of the strength of the 
prophet's sympathy for this people whose sins have doomed them to 
destruction. Wearied with their heathen rites (verse 12) they shall 
come to the house of their idol god to pray, but their prayer shall not be 
heard. The language of verse 1-4 was fulfilled against Moab when Israel 
was carried into captivity by the Assyrian Shalmaneser. 

Ch. 17:1-11. — Damascus was the capital of Syria, and Syria and 
Israel had leagued together. "Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, had 
already carried captives from Damascus, the capital of Syria, in the 
fourth year of Ahaz (II Kings 16:9) ; and now in Hezekiah's reign a 
farther overthrow is foretold.*' (Faussett.) Aroer was a city of Israel, 
and the great fortress in Ephraim was Samaria, the capital city of the 
kingdom of Israel. The last sentence in verse 3 means that these defenses 
should be overthrown just as the glory of the children of Israel had been, 
through their sinfulness. The thought of verses 5 and 6 is, that just as 
a reaper of grain in the fertile valley of Eephaim (Philistine country) 
leaves but a stalk here and there, so there shall be but little left in Israel 
and Syria after the scourge here threatened. Such experience would turn 



ISAIAH. 



561 



the thoughts of those remaining to the God of heaven (verse 7), who had 
loaded them with blessings and yet had threatened all these calamities 
if they forsook him (verses 10 and 11) and followed the ways of the 
heathen nations about them. See Deut. 28. 

12-18-7.— The calamity here threatened upon the enemies of God's 
people teaches that while God does use the wrath of man to praise him, 
nevertheless man is responsible for that wrath, and must answer for it 
^o greater calamity can come to any people than to become so confident 
of their own strength that they forget God. The expression in verse 13, 
"a rolling thing/' means a thistle down (see margin). The language 
here used is thought to apply directly to the Assyrian hosts under 
Sennacherib. (See II Kings 19.) The language beginning chapter 18, 
which seems like a prophecy against Ethiopia, authorities contend, arises 
from a wrong translation; it should not be rendered "woe unto the land," 
but is "ho," calling attention of Ethiopia to the destruction of the 
enemies just mentioned, who were also the enemies of Ethiopia. Yerse 1 
is better understood rendered "land of the winged bark," referring to the 
sail vessels of bulrushes. (Ewald.) Maurer, however, thinks the wings 
refers^ to the armies of the Ethiopians, who are advancing to meet the 
Assyrians. So many expressions occur in this chapter that need correction 
that the student is advised to use the revised Bible. For instance 
"scattered" and "peeled" doubtless mean "tall" and "smooth." Instead 
of "meted out" and "trodden down" read the margin. Instead of "have 
spoiled" read "divide." The whole passage is the ascription of prestige 
to the Ethiopians. He is calling them to witness the destruction of the 
common enemy of Judah and Ethiopia. The thought of verse 4 is, God 
will calmly look on while the sun shines and the dew causes to prosper 
the enemies' harvest (military campaign), but before it comes to 
maturity (verse 5) he will cut it down. Yerse 6 continues the figure, 
and makes the immature crop harvested from the "vine of Assyria" food 
for birds and beasts for a long time to come. This doubtless means that 
the destruction of Assyria will prove a help to many of the surrounding 
peoples. Such a result would cement the friendship of this "tall and 
smooth" nation with the Jewish nation. ( See revised version on verse 7. ) 
It is a remarkable fact that when Christianity was first preached there 
were friendly relations between Ethiopia and Judah, and that after 
Phillip's preaching to the Eunuch (Acts 8) a Christian church was 
established in Ethiopia, which remains to this day. 

Oh. 19:1-22.— Concerning this prophecy against Egvpt, G. Y. Smith 
says: "Chapters 19 and 20 are connected, but with an interval between. 



562 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Egypt _ had been held by an Ethiopian dynasty, Sabaco, Sevechos, or 
Sabaco II, and Tirhakah, for forty or fifty years. Sevechos (called So, 
the ally of Hoshea, II Kings 17 :4) retired from lower Egypt on account 
of the resistance of the priests; and perhaps also, as the Assyrians 
threatened lower Egypt. On his withdrawal Sethos, one of the priestly 
caste, became supreme, having Tanis (Zoan) or else Memphis as his 
capital, 718 B. C. ; whilst the Ethiopians retained upper Egypt, with 
Thebes as its capital, under Tirhakah. A third native dynasty was at 
Sais, in the west of lower Egypt; to this at a later period belonged 
Psammetichus, the first who admitted Greeks into Egypt and its armies ; 
he was one of the dodecarchy, a number of petty kings between whom 
Egypt was divided, and by the aid of foreign auxiliaries overcame the rest 
670 B. C. To the divisions at this last time, Gesenius refers verse 2 ; and 
to Psammetichus, verse 4, 'a cruel lord.' The dissensions of the ruling 
castes are certainly referred to. But the time referred to is much earlier 
than that of Psammetichus. In verse 1 the invasion of Egypt is repre- 
sented as caused by /the Lord;' and in verse 17 'Judah' is spoken of 
as '& terror to Egypt,' which it could hardly have been by itself. 
Probably, therefore, the Assyrian invasion of Egypt under Sargon, when 
Judah was the ally of Assyria, and Hezekiah had not yet refused tribute, 
as he did in the beginnig of Sennacherib's reign, is meant. That Assyria 
was in Isaiah's mind appears from the way in which it is joined with 
Israel and Egypt in the worship of Jehovah (verses 24 and 25). Thus 
the dissensions referred to (verse 2) allude to the time of the withdrawal 
of the Ethiopians from lower Egypt, probably not without a struggle, 
especially with the priestly caste; also to the time when Sethos usurped 
the throne, and entered on the contest with the military caste by the aid 
of the town populations, when the Saitic dynasty was another cause of 
division. Sargon's reign was between 722-715 B. C, answering to 71B 
B. C, when Sethos usurped his throne." Light is thrown on verses 5 and 
6 by the fact that "a public record is kept at Cairo of the daily rise of the 
water at the proper time of the overflow, viz., August ; if it rise to a less 
height than twelve cubits it will not overflow the land, and famine must 
be the result. So, also, when it rises higher than sixteen, for the waters 
are not drained off in time sufficient to sow the seed. Yerse 6, "they shall 
turn the rivers," rather "the streams shall become putrid," i. e., the 
artificial streams made for irrigation shall become stagnant and offensive 
when the waters fail. (Maurer.) Horsley, with seventy, translates, 
"And waters from the sea shall be drunk;" by the failure of the river 
water they shall be reduced to sea water. Judah was to be a terror to 



ISAIAH. 563 

Egypt because its king, Hezekiah, was a subordinate ally of Assyria in 
the invasion of Egypt under Sargon. Verse 18, instead of "destruction," 
read "city of the sun," that is, Heliopolis. Light is thrown on verses 
19-22 by the historic fact "in 149 B. C. Ptolemy Philometor, king of 
Egypt, was persuaded to allow a temple to be built in Heliopolis by Onias 
on the ground that it would induce Jews to abide there, and that the 
very site was foretold by Isaiah six hundred years before." (J. F. B.) 

Assyria and Egypt were joined (verses 23-25) under Alexander as 
parts of his empire. Jews and proselytes both met at the feasts of 
Jerusalem. (J. F. B.) 

Ch. 20:1-6. — Chapter 20 is a continuation of the subject of chapter 
19, but at a later date. "In the reign of Sargon (722-715 B. C), the 
successor of Shalmaneser, an Assyrian invasion of Egypt took place. Its 
success is here foretold, an£ hence a party among the Jews are warned 
of the folly of their 'expectation' of aid from Egypt or Ethiopia. At a 
later period (chapter 18), when Tirhakah, of Ethiopia, was their ally, 
the Ethiopians are treated as friends, to whom God announces the 
overthrow of the common Assyrian foe, Sennacherib. Egypt and Ethiopia 
in this chapter (verses 3 and 4) are represented as allied together, the 
result no doubt of fear of the common foe ; previously they had been at 
strife, and the Ethiopian king had, just before Sethos' usurpation, with- 
drawn from occupation of part of lower Egypt. Hence, 'Egypt' is 
mentioned alone in chapter 19, which refers to a somewhat earlier stage 
of the same event, a delicate mark of truth. Sargon seems to have been 
the king who finished the capture of Samaria which Shalmaneser began. 
The alliance of Hoshea with So, or Sabaco, of Ethiopia, and his refusal 
to pay the usual tribute, provoked Shalmaneser to the invasion. On clay 
cylindrical seals found in Sennacherib's palace at Koyounjik the name 
of Sabaco is deciphered, the two seals are thought, from the inscriptions, 
to have been attached to the treaty of peace between Egypt and Assyria, 
which resulted from the invasion of Egypt by Sargon, described in 
this chapter; II Kings 18:10 curiously confirms the view derived from 
Assyrian inscriptions, though Shalmaneser began, Sargon finished the 
conquest of Samaria; 'they took it' (cf. II Kings 17:4-6). In Sargon's 
palace at Khorsabad inscriptions state that twenty-seven thousand two 
hundred and eighty Israelites were led captive by the founder of the 
palace. Whilst Shalmaneser was engaged in the siege of Samaria, Sargon 
probably usurped the supreme power and destroyed him ; the siege began 
in 723 B. C. and ended in 721 B. C, the first year of Sargon's reign. 
Hence arises the paucity of inscriptions of the two predecessors of Sargon. 



564 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser, the usurper, destroyed them, just as 
Tiglath-pileser destroyed those of Pul (Sardanapalus), the last of the old 
line of Ninus ; the names of his father and grandfather, which have been 
deciphered in the palace of his son, Sennacherib, do not appear in the 
list of Assyrian kings, which confirms the view that he was a satrap who 
usurped the throne. He was so able a general that Hezekiah made no 
attempt to shake off the tribute until the reign of Sennacherib ; hence 
Judah was not invaded now, as the land of the Philistines and Egypt 
were. After conquering Israel he sent his general, Tartan, to attack 
the Philistine cities, 'Ashdod,' etc., preliminar}- to his invasion of Egypt 
and Ethiopia; for the line of march to Egypt lay along the southwest 
coast of Palestine. The inscriptions confirm the prophecy; they tell us 
he received tribute from a Pharaoh of 'Egypt ;' besides destroying in part 
the Ethiopian ^o-Ammon,' or Thebes (Xahum 3:8); also that he 
warred with the kings of 'Ashdod/ Gaza, etc., in harmony with Isaiah 
here; a memorial tablet of him is found in Cyprus also, showing that 
he extended his arms to that island. His reign was six or seven years in 
duration— 722-715 B. C." (G. V. Smith.) Verse 1, "Tartan, probably 
the same general as was sent b} r Sennacherib against Hezekiah (II Kings 
18 :17). Gesenius takes 'Tartan' as a title. Ashdod, called by the Greeks 
Azotus (Acts 8 :40) ; on the Mediterranean, one of the 'five' cities of the 
Philistines. The taking of it was a necessary preliminar}^ to the invasion 
of Egypt, to which it was the key in that quarter, the Philistines being 
allies of Egypt. So strongly did the Assyrians fortify it that it stood a 
twenty-nine years' siege, when it was retaken by the Egyptian Psamme- 
tichus." (J. E. B.) 

Ch. 21 :1-10. — Here follows a reassurance to the people who were about 
to become captives in Bab}don that they would be delivered and their 
captors destroyed. (See chapters 13 and 14.) The "wilderness of the 
sea" mentioned probably meant that the site of Babylon had formerly 
l)een a marsh and would become so again, a declaration literally fulfilled. 
Serimas made the dykes, Cyrus destroyed them. Violent wind from 
Arabia swept Babylon from the south; so from the wilderness, that is, 
the plain between Babylon and Persia, came the military hordes under 
Cyrus, which by their military strategy (treachery) took Babylon. It is 
supposed that Isaiah here is imagining himself one of the exiles in 
Babylon, and so, moved by her calamity or as one writer puts it, supposing 
himself a banqueter at Belshazzar's feast on the night that the city was 
taken, exclaims, "My pleasure," verse 4. While Babylon was preparing 
for that feast the Persian riders (verse. 7) were coming. The first clause 



ISAIAH. 565 

in verse 8 should read, "he cried as a lion." Cyrus cut the aforementioned 
dykes which confined the river, let it flow over the country, and so entered 
the city by its bed. 

11, 12. — On the prophecy against Seir, Barnes says: "One out of Seir 
asks, What of the night? Is there a hope of the dawn of deliverance? 
Isaiah replies, The morning is beginning to dawn (to us), but night is 
also coming (to you). Cf. Psalm 137:7. The Hebrew captives would be 
delivered, and taunting Edom punished. If the Idumean wish to ask 
again, he may do so ; if he wishes an answer of peace for his country, 
then let him 'return (repent), come/ " Duma was a tribe and region of 
Ishmael, in Arabia. J. F. B. thus continue the comment on this passage : 
"What of the night — what tidings have you to give as to the state of. 
the night? Kather, What remains of the night? How much of it is 
passed? (Maurer.) Night means calamity (Job 35:10; Micah 3:6) 
which then in the wars between Egypt and Assyria pressed sore on 
Edom; or on Judah (if, as Barnes thinks, the question is asked in 
mockery of the suffering Jews in Babylon). The repetition marks, in 
the former view, the anxiety of the Idumeans. Verse 12. Eeply of the 
prophet, The morning (prosperity) cometh, and (soon after follows) 
the night (adversity). Though you, Idumeans, may have a gleam of 
prosperity, it will soon be followed by adversity again. Otherwise, as 
Barnes, Prosperity cometh (to the Jews), to be quickly followed by 
adversity to you, Idumeans, who exult in the fall of Jerusalem, have 
seized on the southern part of their land in their absence during the 
captivity, and now deride them by your question (chapter 23 :5-7). This 
view is favored by Obadiah, verses 10-21. If ye will inquire, inquire. If 
you choose to consult me again, do so (similar phrases occur in Genesis 
43:14; II Kings 7:4; Esther 4:16). Eeturn, come — 'be converted to 
God (and then), come* (Gesenius) ; you will then receive a more 
favorable answer." 

13-17. — In this prophecy against Arabia it is asserted that the trav- 
eling companies or caravans shall be driven through fear of the foe into 
unfrequented routes. Temam was a tribe occupying an oasis in that 
region. Kedar was a wandering tribe in the north of the country. 

Ch. 22 :l-25. — This lamentation of Isaiah on account of the scourge of 
Judah some think to be a prophecy of the attack by Sennacherib in the 
fourteenth year of Hezekiah ; others think it describes the destruction by 
Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Zedekiah. The "valley of visions" men- 
tioned is thought to mean Jerusalem, the nursery of prophets. "Going on 
the house tops" means panic on the approach of an enemy. Their 



566 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

destruction was not to be by the sword, but by famine and pestilence, 
caused by the coming siege, hence the prophet's sorrow. The language of 
verse 8 refers to the destruction of the defenses of the land, and that of 
verse 9 to turning off of the water supply of the city. Verse 11 probably 
refers to the fact that Hezekiah so manipulated the water supply as to 
shut it off from the enemy, and that the people failed to look to G-od as 
the source of their protection. God's call to them to repentance, whether 
by his prophets or by calamity, was answered by such conduct and 
language as verse 13, hence verses 14-19. Shebna was an officer of the 
palace; he was to be deposed and Eliakim put in his place. Authorities 
note that he is singled out as the subject of prophecy, the only instance 
of an individual being so in Isaiah. He was probably one of the irreligious 
faction that set at naught the prophet's warning. He seems here to have 
been building a grand sepulcher for himself, and the prophet says to 
him, "What business hast thou here and whom hast thou of thy family 
who is likely to be buried here that thou buildest, etc., seeing thou art 
soon to be deposed from office and carried into captivity/' (Maurer.) 
Verses 15-19. The closing verses (20-24) show that all the honor was 
to be heaped upon Eliakim. Verse 25 no doubt refers to Shebna, who 
imagined himself so secure that there could be no downfall. 
- Cli. 23 :1-18. — In this prophecy against Tyre, the ships of Tarshish 
were Tyrian ships returning from Tarshish (Tateshus), a point in Spain 
with which the Tyreans had much commerce. After the siege mentioned 
there would be no house left. Kittim was probably Chittim, a city in 
the south of Cyprus of the same nationality as Tj-re. Tyre was a colony 
of Zidon. Zidon was originally a fishing station. Verse 3 refers no 
doubt to the fact that the commerce of the sea was largely of the grain 
produced in Egypt by the overflow of the dark waters of the Nile. Tyre 
was the stronghold of the sea, and Zidon, from whom she sprung, is" 
here represented feeling shame for the downfall of Tyre, whose population 
in the latter part of verse 4 is destroyed. The isle mentioned in verses 
2 and 6 doubtless refers to new Tyre, which was on an island one-half 
mile from the shore. Tarshish had been kept in hard bondage by its 
parent city in the silver and lead mines, but now that Tyre was to be 
destroyed not only would she be relieved from that bondage, but the 
inhabitants of the destroyed city would flow into her. Verses 7-9 indicate 
that the author of this humiliation was the Lord, and that it was because 
of the pride of the city. The language of verse 10 may refer to the 
flowing out of the inhabitants of Tyre into Tarshish, as the Nile overflows 
its banks. The girdle referred to may mean the protecting wall. The 



ISAIAH. 567 

expression "merchant city" in verse 11 were better rendered "Canaan," 
and means evidently that part of Canaan called Phoenicia. The Oriental 
compared a city which had never been taken to an nndefiled virgin; this 
explains the language of verse 12. , It is probable from verse 13 that the 
siege which fulfilled this prophecy was that of Nebuchadnezzar. The 
siege lasted thirteen years. The Assyrians had conquered it before this. 
After the fall of Babylon, Tyre was rebuilt, and as in these verses 16-18 
represented as a harlot attracting notice by her song, "courting all 
nations and admitting anyone for the sake of gain." Alexander the Great 
destroyed the city after this, and again it was rebuilt. Brown says of 
verse 18, "Her traffic and gain shall at last be consecrated to Jehovah. 
Jesus Christ visited the neighborhood of Tyre (Matt. 15:26); Paul 
found disciples there (Acts 21:4), and it early became a bishopric." 

Ch. 24:1-33.— Chapters 24 to 27 inclusive deal with the re-establish- 
ment of the divine rule in the earth. The first step in this change which 
the prophet foresees is the judgment of God on the nations, because the 
highway to the establishment of right conditions is the destruction 
of evil conditions. There is little doubt that chapter 24 describes the 
downfall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar (and probably applies as 
well to its subsequent destruction by Titus, A. D. 70). The language is 
easy to be understood. All classes suffered together. Yerse 5 shows the 
cause. Verses 14 and 15 suggest that after the calamity of national 
destruction the people of this chosen family shall lift their voices to God 
from the remote and scattered places of the earth. Verses 16-20 convey 
the impression that from that calamity there shall be no escape. It 
shall be universal and overwhelming. And not only shall the chosen 
family be called to account for their sins, but the surrounding nations, 
the very ones used to chasten the chosen family, shall be overwhelmed 
with judgment for their evil doings. Their power shall be broken and 
they shall be made captive and brought to grief. The sun and moon 
mentioned here are doubtless greater and lesser earth powers. 

Ch. 25;1-12. — This song of praise in chapter 25 is the outburst of the 
prophet's gratitude in his consciousness of the fact that the hand of God 
was over all the machinery of nations, and that he would make it work 
out his will. The city mentioned in verse 2 was no doubt Babylon, which, 
as the prophet has already said, was to go down after the seventy-years 
captivity. The language of verses 3-5 may refer to the fact that the 
judgment of God on Babylon, which was notorious as an oppressor of all 
nations, should create in the nations who had been thus oppressed a 
fear of the Lord and publish him as a protector and a refuge of the poor 



568 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

and the need}-. Verses 6-8 are literally fulfilled in the fact that out from 
Jerusalem went the religion which was to conquer the earth. Wine on 
the lees meant wine which according to the concepts of that time was 
made good by age. Christianity, which was the great end and aim of 
God's dealing with Abram and his descendants, was to be the gracious 
revelation of God which should bring life and joy to all nations, seeing 
that he was the one by whom life came to the fallen race. A knowledge 
of him at once destroys all confidence in all other religions as false and 
incompetent. As a comment on verse 8, read Eev. 21 and 22 chapters, a 
description of the effect which Christianity shall finally produce on the 
earth. Certain it was and so it proved that in the working out of the 
prophecy described in chapter 24, Moab was to be put down. (See 
chapter 15:16.) 

Oh. 26:1-21, — And not only was that song of security sung in Judah, 
but it has been sung around the world, and is to this day. The salvation 
of Jesus Christ is a greater protection to any land than walled cities 
or great military works. Yerses 3 and 4 have and still are comforting 
thousands of pilgrims in the earth, and have been so often verified in 
human experience that none can question their truth. What has been 
(verse 5) in all the history of the past will continue to be so long as God 
holds the throne of the universe. The man who trusts in God is an 
infinitely greater power than he who does not, no matter how great his 
wealth or prestige, and it is only a question of time when both wealth 
and prestige shall be taken from the hand of the thankless unbeliever and 
given to him who reckons and renders to God his due. The truth of verse 
10 is attested every day. All God's blessings which he daily heaps on the 
unjust are like pearls cast before swine. Verse 11, however, is a hint 
that the zeal displayed by the people of the Lord shall be a source of 
f uture shame to those who refused to be admonished by it. Verses 11-13. 
are a statement of the same triumph of true religion over idolatry, and to 
that true religion (verse 15) the nations will ultimately come. (See 
Eom. 11.) Trouble often proves to be the only way by which the careless 
may be led to turn to God. After all the time and trouble which the 
Lord took to prepare Israel for the great purpose he had in view, when 
at last he came to his own they received him not except a very small 
number of them. The figure of verse 18 and the declaration which 
follows it was strikingly true, but the declaration of verse 19 is to the 
effect that the Hebrews shall finally awaken from their stupor.' (See 
latter part of Eom. 11.) In view of the trouble which is to come, Isaiah 
calls his people to hide themselves from it (by getting right with God). 



ISAIAH. 569 

Ch. 27 :1-13.— The terms of verse 1 in chapter 27 are used to describe 
the powers of evil. Similar terms are used for a similar purpose in the 
book of Revelation. The working out of the conditions mentioned in 
the preceding chapters are the very means by which the Lord will bring 
destruction to evil in the earth. Every act which aids the kingdom of 
God strikes evil a withering blow. Pure religion in the earth is the 
garden which the Lord keeps and defends from all harm. In this chapter 
the chosen family is set as a type of God's kingdom. Verses 4-6 declare 
that God is not visiting the iniquity of men upon them according to their 
deserts. If God's enemies were to take direct issue with him the battle 
would be short. Their only hope lies in making peace with God, for 
God's kingdom shall be ultimately victorious. The thought of verse 7 is 
that God has not dealt roughly with Israel as he has with Israel's enemies. 
But he has dealt severely with Israel, and by this means brought Israel 
back to her sense of right and dependence upon God (verse 9). The city 
mentioned in verse 10 is no doubt Babylon, the great enemy of God's 
people. Verses 12 and 13 refer to the regathering of Israel to her own 
land as it shall take place after the destruction of Babylon. 

Ch. 28:1-4.— The prophecy 'of chapter 28 is put about 725 B. C. 
Previously the prophet has just spoken of the destruction of evil. That 
prophecy looked far into the future. Xow he returns to the time in 
which he is speaking, and foretells evil that is shortlv to come to pass. 
This prophecy was probably uttered very shortly before the kingdom of 
Israel was carried into captivity by the Assyrians. The whole kingdom 
was permeated with drunkenness. Hence the language of verse 1. Such 
a condition always casts down with violence, as indicated in verse 2. 

5, 6.— The prophet foresees the speedy destruction of this nation, and 
compares it to a first-ripe fig, which is gathered and immediately eaten. 
At this point he declares that such as remain shall recognize the hand of 
God m the captivity, and shall declare their perceptions in passing their 
private judgment on the case. It is probable that the residue mentioned 
here refers to the kingdom of Judah, which was not carried captive at 
the time of Israel's captivity. Large numbers of the Israelites at that 
time took refuge in the kingdom of Judah. The "turning back the battle 
at the gate probably refers to the fact that the enemies of Israel were 
kept from entering Judah by Judah's soldiers. 

7, 8.— But verse 7 indicates that Judah also was suffering from 
drunkenness. The language of that verse is a sad comment on the 
religious condition of the most highly enlightened nation of the world 



570 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Those who are addicted to the drink habit always err, and are never to 
be trusted. Beside that they are proverbially unclean and abhorrent. 

9-13. — Under such a condition the question of verse 9 was a natural 
one. Who is there to receive the message of God ? None, it would seem, 
but children. He declares that the message had to be unduly repeated as 
if for children. Then he says (verses 11 and 12) he will speak to these 
disobedient people by strangers, referring no doubt to the fact that God 
is about to bring the Assyrian army against them. Then the plain, 
child-like precepts, which they had not heeded, would become a snare to 
them, in that their sin would bring destruction to them, just as these 
precepts had declared. 

14-20. — The remainder of the chapter applies unquestionably to the 
kingdom of Judah. No doubt they were priding themselves on the fact 
that they had made such an agreement with Assyria, that they fully 
expected to escape the evil that came on the kingdom of Israel. That was 
making a covenant with death or sheol, or in other words attempting 
to keep on the line of peace with their enemies by submitting to their full 
desires. In great contrast with that method is God's method mentioned 
in verses 16 and 17. He lays in Zion.a great principle on which all 
believers are to build. That principle was justice and righteousness. 
There can be no doubt that there was embraced in that principle the 
promised Messiah, by virtue of whose salvation the principles named are 
embodied in human life and character. This plan of salvation, which 
was manifested to the world by the promised Jewish Messiah, would 
produce the inevitable result of verses 17 and 18. Evil must go down 
before it. And those who allied themselves with evil should be trodden 
down in the battle. Judah was to suffer as did Israel. The language of 
verse 20 is another way of saying, "That to which you trust is insufficient 
to protect you." 

21-29. — The Lord shall show himself (verse 21) against you, as in the 
incidents mentioned he showed himself in your behalf. Hence the 
exhortation of verse 22. The bands mentioned were no doubt the enemies 
of the Hebrews. Prom verse 23 to the end of the chapter the foregoing 
argument is illustrated by affairs of common life. The plowman finishes 
his plowing and then sows. And further, after the crop is raised, he does 
not thresh the tender grains with the heavy cart, but with the staff. 
Bread corn (wheat) was threshed by driving a cart over it. "Because" 
in verse 28 were better rendered "but." The meaning is that the owner 
would not keep on tramping it until he ground and spoiled the grain. 
God who furnishes such wisdom to man will exercise similar wisdom in 



ISAIAH. 571 

his discipline of his people, scattering and scathing (but not destroying), 
that they may be purged of their sins and be made fit for the purposes 
of God. 

Ch. 29:1-6. — The word Ariel means "the lion of God," and is here 
applied to Jerusalem, the city which God had rendered invincible. 
Maurer thinks the latter half of verse 1 is irony and means, "Add yet 
another year to the one just closed" in the round of formal sacrifices. 
It is a suggestive comment on the last clause of verse 2 that the terrors of 
verses 2-6 which describe the evils brought upon Judea and Jerusalem 
under the invasion of Judea by Sennacherib was the very discipline 
necessary to make the city faithful to God. God's people learned the 
lessons of faithfulness to him only in the thunders of conflict and the 
devouring flames of fire. Even at this day we usually learn this lesson 
only from the bitterest experience. 

Verses 7 and 8 throw a rainbow of hope on the dark, threatening cloud. 
The nations may combine against the beloved city, but they shall not be 
able to overthrow her. Their prospects of conquest shall vanish like a 
dream of the night. So it happened with Sennacherib, as will be seen 
later in this book. The history is already familiar to the student of 
Kings and Chronicles, but here is Isaiah's prophecy regarding it made a 
few years before the events came to pass. 

As indicated in verses 9-14, the people through their drunken self- 
indulgence had yielded to an intoxication more deadly than that of liquor. 
They were drunken with the spirit of sleepy indifference. Paul refers to 
that condition in his day, and quotes from this very point in Isaiah to 
show a parallel. (Rom. 11.) A better punctuation of verse 10 makes 
it read, "The Lord hath closed your eyes (the prophets), and hath 
covered your heads (the seers)." The figure is that of one retiring to 
rest closing the eyes and covering the head. Isaiah here and Paul in 
Romans are reproving the people for such sloth. It was because of such 
sloth that the words of God were sealed, or above the comprehension of 
men. He who diligently and faithfully studies always becomes a work- 
man able to rightly divide the words of truth. As indicated in verse 14, 
there has never been that in human wisdom which could unaided work 
out salvation from sin. Hence God had to set it aside as incompetent 
and furnish a sufficient plan of salvation, revealed through Jesus Christ, 
the promised Messiah. 

In verses 15-24 that purpose is stated. This chosen family of God 
had turned away from all the counsel and plans of God and substituted 
instead their own habits of life and plans of national protection. In 



572 BIBLE SGHOOL BOOK. 

short, they did as they pleased and said, "Who sees or knows our plans ?" 
Such an attitude was virtually saying to God, "We know better than you." 
Here he describes (verses 17-19) the joyful nourishing of Christ's 
kingdom, and declares that in that day the truth shall be made plain. 
And not only so, but the enemies of the truth shall be defeated (verse 
20), those who, when a man's speech shows him to be righteous, imme- 
diately become his enemy, laying snares for him who reproves their wrong 
doings, and sell out the just for the unjust (verse 21). The salvation 
wrought out in this plan of God and embodied in Jesus Christ, the 
promised Messiah, was the great end and aim for which this chosen 
family was called and set to the task of working out a civilization and 
scheme of religion which should be the pride of the whole earth and 
the embodiment of wisdom to all people. 

Ch. 30 :l-7. — Authorities declare that in the summer of 714 B. C. 
ambassadors were on their way to Egypt to seek aid against Assyria. God 
had expressly prohibited such alliances with heathen nations, and Isaiah 
here rises to vehemently denounce the arrangement. The better rendering 
for "cover," etc., is "who pour out drink offering," this act standing for 
the making of a covenant. Zoan and Hanes were two cities of Egypt 
which were seats of reigning princes, and so to such points the ambas- 
sadors would go to complete their arrangements. The explanation of 
verse 6 is that the desert between Judea and Egypt was full of dangerous 
beasts and serpents. Through this they carried presents to Egypt, seeking 
their military aid. 

Verses 8-11 are God's directions to Isaiah concerning the Hebrews. 
Verse 9 indicates their character. What a sad decline from the ideal 
character which Moses set before them. They were demanding of their 
religious leaders that they take them simply in the line in which 
they chose to go, regardless of God's will in the matter. Such a religious 
condition, whenever and wherever found, is an all-sufficient comment 
upon reliance upon men rather than upon God. 

The result of such a condition is graphically pictured in verses 12-17. 
The people were responsible for it, and it was a fatal disorder, here 
compared to a high wall bulged out in a way which made it easy to 
destroy. Eeal religion was a protection. This kind of a religion was no 
protection, but would be so completely demolished that no two parts of it 
would remain together. A good comparison is made in verses 15-17 
between God's ways and man's ways. All history confirms the obser- 
vation that a man's best protection is a peaceful, Christlike character. 
History shows that the trust of the Hebrews to Egypt did not save them 



ISAIAH. 573 

from national destruction and captivity. As foretold by the latter part 
of verse 17, very few were left, simply one here and there. 

j.8-26. — There was, however, to be a gracious reward to those who amid 
all this apostasy should keep faith in God. After severe affliction on the 
people for their sin there should be a regathering, and out from this 
Hebrew nation should go instruction of such a character that every man 
would know when he was leaving the proper way. Idolatry should be 
destroyed from the land, and peace and plenty would reign. It is a 
significant comment on this passage that after the Babylonian captivity 
idolatry was never known among the Hebrews. Had their chastisement 
taught them to correct other religious errors as well as it taught them 
to correct idolatry the nation of Hebrews would have received their 
Savior and would have remained no doubt a prosperous nation to this day. 

27-33. — In chapter 37 of this book it will be seen how some time later 
the words of this prophecy were strikingly fulfilled. The latter clause of 
verse 28 is the figure of a prisoner with a hook in his jaw, according to 
the custom of that day. The thought of verse 32 is that every time the 
Lord brings disaster upon the enemies of the Hebrews it shall bring 
joy and rejoicing to Israel. Tophet was the valley of Hinnom, where a 
fire was kept constantly burning to consume the refuse of Jerusalem. 
It is here used as a figure of the destruction that should come on the 
enemy of Jerusalem. 

Ch. 31 :l-9. — In view of these facts the reasonableness of the exhor- 
tation in chapter 31 is apparent. The prophet desired that the people 
should look to God for protection, as their law taught them to do. Their 
refusal to recognize God was the source of all their troubles. The first 
three verses show why they should not trust to the Egyptians. The next 
two show why they should trust the Lord, hence the impassioned appeal 
of verse 6. The remaining verses foretell the downfall of idolatry and 
the destruction of Ass} r ria. 

Ch. 32:1-8. — The first eight verses of chapter 32 describe the rule of 
a king and his subordinates, which condition was to be an outgrowth of 
the return of the people to their allegiance to God. ~No king who ever sat 
on the throne of the Hebrews could answer to this description. It must 
refer to the looked for* Messiah, whose just character makes that 
discrimination between right and wrong which clearly divides between 
them and sets the one over against the other. The last clause of verse 8 
may be rendered, "By liberal things shall he stand," referring to the 
result of good deeds. This theme is a climax of all which has gone before, 



574 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

reaching far into that future in which the righteous kingdom shall be 
established on earth. 

In verses 9-14 the prophet returns to that deplorable condition of his 
own day in which all the evils which he foresaw near at hand were 
aggravated by the intolerable indifference and self-indulgence of the 
people. These words are calculated to rouse them to a realization of the 
result of their own neglect. 

In verses 15-20 the prophet again looks beyond these evils which he 
foretells to the time when the peaceful influence of the truth should make 
the land a place of blessedness and rejoicing for all its inhabitants. Had 
the Hebrew people been ready to have received their Messiah when he 
came this condition here described would have continued right on to the 
millennium described in Eevelation. 

Ch. 33:1-12. — In chapter 33 a curse is pronounced against those 
enemies of God's people who spoiled their land and nation. Yerses 2-6 
is the language of such in the Hebrew nation as kept their faith in God 
amid all the apostasy of the nation. Verses 7-9 describe the condition 
which sin brought upon the people, after which chastisement the Lord 
again exercised his power in behalf of his chosen land and people. This 
prophecy is said by authorities to have been made in the autumn of 713 
B. C, being the last of Isaiah's prophecies concerning the overthrow of 
Sennacherib. 

13-24. — Special attention is here directed to the fact that the God 
against whom the people had sinned was he who held in his hand life 
and death, and that those who hoped to escape his wrath and judgments 
must have clean hands and a pure heart. Such are sure of God's pro- 
tection and his supplies. The language of verse 18 indicates that those 
who proposed to collect tribute from God's people, and who counted the 
towers of defense to report their strength to the enemy, should melt 
away before the power of God. The thought of verses 21-24 is that when 
God protects no war vessels shall be able to pass that way, and that their 
enemies shall be so completely overthrown that even the lame among 
God's people shall be able to gather spoils. 

Ch. 34:1-17. — In this chapter the prophet speaks a word to the nations 
of the earth. The burden of this message is, seeing that the nations have 
forsaken God and gone in their own ways, the. Lord will deliver them to 
the results of their doings. The heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars) are 
repeatedly used in the Bible to signify earth governments. So the term 
"heaven" (place where these bodies are fixed) came to stand for the 
united political power of earth, and verse 4 declares that these powers 



ISAIAH. 575 

shall be overturned and destroyed. Edom (descendants of Esau) were 
at that time conspicuous and peculiarly vindictive foes of the Hebrews, 
and so it was natural that Edom should be particularly named in this 
prophecy of coming disaster. Bozrah was originally a part of Moab, but 
seems to have been taken by Edom. This nation was very active in 
urging Babylon to cruelty toward fallen Judah after the time of this 
prophecy, and of course what she did then was in keeping with what she 
was constantly doing at the time of this prophecy, hence the prophet, 
because of what he could see and foresee, made this very pertinent 
prophecy of her utter destruction. The thought of verse 16 is, these 
things shall certainly come to pass; not one detail shall fail. This was 
of course uttered some years before the exile to Babylon. 

Ch. 35 :1-10. — The prophet, looking forward to the evils just named 
which should come on the enemies of God's people, naturally runs on in 
his prophetic description until he shows the aim of all these things and 
the result which follows these judgments. The curses described on these 
nations was not a pleasant subject for the minds of those doomed people 
to dwell upon, yet the visiting of their iniquity upon them was the most 
blessed thing that could happen to the world. It was a prophecy of 
justice and joy to come. Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon suggested the tall 
excellent cedars, the fruitful crops and bewitching flowers. All these 
things meant that the kingdom of God which was to come should have 
everything desirable. Hence, in anticipation of such a kingdom is the 
language of verses 3 and 4. Mark how verses 5 and 6 were literally 
fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus. But he declared to his disciples, 
"Greater works than these shall ye do because I go to my Father." The 
sicknesses which Jesus healed while on earth were simply a hint of what 
the Christian world might expect to do through his power. Christianity 
through its inventive genius and scientific progression (which simply 
means finding out what God has from the beginning had for us to learn) 
is turning deserts into the most fruitful places and not only curing 
disease, but what is greater, preventing it. This is simply man working 
in harmony with God. The highway here mentioned is the daily walk of 
those who are children of God, partakers of this plan of redemption, as 
distinguished from the way of the sinful. This way of salvation, the 
way of faith, is so plain that anyone can walk in it. So the prophet said 
it would be; the sinner, even though he be far below the average in 
wisdom, finds the plan so plain that he can use it and be saved by it. As 
verse 9 indicates, there is nothing which can frighten the Christian from 
the way. As a confirmation of verse 10, every elevating song in the world 



576 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

is the outgrowth of Christian experience and Christian civilization. 
Ch. 36 :l-22. — The events mentioned in this chapter have been noticed 
in the eighteenth chapter of II Kings. It is fair to assume from this 
account that Isaiah wrote the first account of these events, and that 
whoever compiled the book of II Kings took the record there from this 
account. Jamieson, Faussett and Brown say, "Pul was probably the last 
of the old dynasty, and Sargon, a powerful satrap, who contrived to 
possess himself of supreme power and found a new dynasty. No attempt 
was made by Judah to throw off the Assyrian yoke during his vigorous 
reign. The accession of his son Sennacherib was thought by Hezekiah 
the opportune time to refuse the long-paid tribute ; Egypt and Ethiopia, 
to secure an ally against Assyria on their Asiatic frontier, promised help ; 
Isaiah, whilst opposed to submission to Assyria, advised reliance on 
Jehovah, and not on Egypt, but his advice was disregarded, and so 
Sennacherib invaded Judah, 712 B. C. He was the builder of the largest 
of the excavated palaces, that of Koyunjik. Hincks has deciphered his 
name in the inscriptions. In the third years of his reign these state that 
he overran Syria, took Sidon and other Phoenician cities, and then 
passed to southwest Palestine, where he defeated the Egyptians and 
Ethiopians (cf. II Kings 18:21; 19:9). His subsequent retreat after 
his hosts were destroyed by God is of course suppressed in the inscriptions. 
But other particulars inscribed agree strikingly with the Bible ; the 
capture of the "defensed cities of Judah," the devastation of the country 
and deportation of its inhabitants; the increased tribute imposed on 
Hezekiah — thirty talents of gold — this exact number being given in both ; 
the silver is set down in the inscription at eight hundred talents, in the 
Bible three hundred ; the latter may have been the actual amount carried 
off, the larger sum may include the silver from the temple doors, pillars, 
etc. (II Kings 18:16.) The fourteenth year mentioned was the third 
of Sennacherib's reign. His ultimate object was Egypt, Hezekiah's ally. 
Hence he, with a great body of his army (II Chron. 32:9), advanced 
towards the Egyptian frontier in southwest Palestine, and did not 
approach Jerusalem. Eabshakeh in II Kings 18:17, Tartan and Rabsaris 
are joined with him. Eabshakeh was probably the chief leader; Eab is 
a title of authority, "chief — cup bearer." Lachish was a frontier town 
southwest of Jerusalem, in Judah, represented as a great fortified city in 
a hilly and fruitful country. In this chapter is the fulfillment of some 
of the prophecies we have just studied. Verse 7 was a bold attempt to 
discourage the Hebrews from trusting in God by putting before them 
their sins. He had told the truth about Egypt, and now he proposed 



ISAIAH. 577 

to discourage their trust in God. He thinks (verse 8) to make them a 
more liberal offer than Egypt had done. In verse 10 he thinks to overawe 
them. It is plain from what follows that this interview was near to the 
city of Jerusalem. This foul-mouthed Assyrian captain tried to create 
a panic among the people who had come out on the wall to listen. He 
means (verses 16 and 17), After I return from Egypt I will carry you to 
Assyria, a land as fruitful as your own. In verses 18 and 19 he calls 
attention to the way in which he had conquered Samaria (the kingdom 
of Israel). 

Ch. 37:1-5. — The king of Judah showed his good sense by turning to 
the Lord in his time of trouble. He sets the good example before all his 
people of going to the house of prayer. His message to the prophet 
Isaiah was a publicly expressed desire to honor God's prophets and use all 
the means available to fix the minds of the nation on God as their refuge. 
The man who does not publicly honor God is unfit to be a ruler. 

6, 7. — Isaiah answered in a breath all this raving of the enemy, saying 
ir. substance, Pay no attention to him, for he shall never be able to harm 
you. Such calm confidence must have been encouraging to the people, as 
well as exasperating and disheartening to the enemy. 

The return mentioned in verse 8 was the return of this captain and 
his force from Jerusalem to the army of his master, which had just gone 
from Lachish to Libnah. Libnah was a city of Judah which had been 
given to the priests, and was about ten miles northwest of Lachish. 

9-13. — Of this message to Hezekiah, J. F. B. says, "Egypt was in part 
governed by three successive Ethiopian monarchs for forty or fifty years, 
Sabaco, Sevechos and Tirhakah. Sevechos retired from lower Egypt 
owing to the resistance of the priests, whereupon Sethos, a prince-priest, 
obtained supreme power with Tanis (Zoan in scripture) or Memphis as 
his capital. The Ethiopians retained upper Egypt under Tirhakah, with 
Thebes as the capital. Tirhakah's fame as a conquerer rivaled that of 
Sesastris; he, and one at least of the Pharoahs of lower Egypt, were 
Hezekiah's allies against Assyria. The tidings of his approach made 
Sennacherib the more anxious to get possession of Jerusalem before his 
arrival. II Kings 19 :9 more fully expresses Sennacherib's eagerness by 
adding 'again.' Verse 10, he tries to influence Hezekiah himself, as 
Rabshakeh had addressed the people." Sennacherib thinks to overawe 
Hezekiah by referring to the nations which he had conquered. 

14-20. — But again the scheme utterly failed. The king turned to the 
Lord and appeals for his protection and the vindication of God's cause. 
No doubt the people, influenced by this righteous example, joined in the 



578 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

prayer, and thus it was that God could hear the prayer of faith and 
answer and protect his chosen people. 

21-35. — The answer to this prayer came speedily and through the 
Lord's prophet. The pronoun "thee" in verse 22 refers to Sennacherib. 
Verses 22-32 are the direct address of God to Sennacherib. The language 
is sufficiently plain and needs no explanation. 

In verses 36-38 God verifies his promise. This terrible catastrophe sent 
the Assyrian army home in haste to escape complete destruction at the 
hands of the gathering armies of Ethiopia and Egypt. 

Ch. 38 :1. — This stor}^ of Hezekiah's sickness has also been told in 
II Kings. The prayer which he made on this occasion was in keeping 
with the other public acts of his which are here recorded. He was 
desperately in earnest, as these words show. 

2, 8. — Again God sends answer by Isaiah, who had taken to the king 
the notice that he should die. At this time the king had no son. The 
son who was born to the king some time in the course of those fifteen 
years was Manasseh, who was afterward such an idolater. The Assyrians 
never conquered the kingdom of Judah, but were themselves not long 
after conquered by the Babylonians. Herodotus states that the sun-dial 
and the division of the day into twelve hours were invented by the 
Babylonians; from them Ahaz borrowed the invention. He was one, 
from his connection with Tiglath-pileser, likely to have done so (II Kings 
16:7-10). "Shadow of the degrees" means the shadow made on the 
degrees. Josephus thinks these degrees were steps ascending to the 
palace of Ahaz; the time of day was indicated by the number of steps 
reached by the shadow. But probably a sun-dial, strictly so called, is 
meant ; it was of such a size and so placed that Hezekiah, when convales- 
cent, could witness the miracle from his chamber. Cf. verses 21 and 22 
with II Kings 20 :9, where translate "shall this shadow go forward," etc. ; 
the dial was no doubt in sight, probably "in the middle court" (IT 
Kings 20:4), the point where Isaiah turned back to announce God's 
gracious answers to Hezekiah. Hence this particular sign was given. 
The retrogression of the shadow may have been effected by refraction; 
a cloud denser than the air interposing between the gnomon and dial 
would cause the phenomenon, which does not take from the miracle, for 
God gave him the choice whether the shadow should go forward or back, 
and regulated the time and place. Bosanquet makes the fourteenth year 
of Hezekiah to be 689 B. C, the known year of a solar eclipse, to which 
he ascribes the recession of the shadow. At all events there is no need 
for supposing any revolution of the relative positions of the sun and 



ISAIAH. 579 

earth, but merely an effect produced on the shadow (II Kings 20 :9-ll) ; 
that effect was only local and designed for the satisfaction of Hezekiah, 
for the Babylonian astronomers and kings "sent to inquire of the wonder 
that was done in the land" (II Chron. 32 :31), implying that it had not 
extended to their country. Xo mention of any instrument for marking 
time occurs before this dial of Ahaz, 700 B. C. The first mention of the 
"hour" is made by Daniel at Babylon (Daniel 3 :6). (J. F. B.) 

Yerses 9-20 are the king's description of this case in prayer and thanks- 
giving. It is given in this book only, and not recorded in Kings and 
Chronicles. Yerses 9-16 record his prayers and the remainder his victory 
and praise. 

21, 22. — The means by which the recovery was effected is recorded in 
verse 21. Yerse 22 refers to the sign mentioned in verses 7 and 8 of this 
chapter. 

Ch. 39 :1, 2. — This act of indiscretion here mentioned was the showing 
to these foreigners the riches which would stir up their covetousness and 
make their government eager to conquer Judah for the riches it would 
bring to Babylon. The act was like a man of riches keeping his money 
about him and showing it, thus tempting evil men to become robbers or 
murderers of him. 

3-7. — When God sent Prophet Isaiah to him to ask what he had done, 
the king frankly told him all he had done. Then Isaiah told him what 
the result should be (verses 6 and 7). 

Yerse 8 indicates that the king was conscious that what the prophet 
had said was just. But he consoled himself that the catastrophe would 
come after his day. 

Jamieson, Faussett and Brown say this regarding chapter 39 : "For 
one hundred and fifty years before the overthrow of Xineveh by Cyaxares 
the Mede a succession of rulers, mostly viceroys of Assyria, ruled Babylon, 
from the time of Xabonassar, 747 B. C. That date is called 'the era of 
Kabonassar/ Pul or Phallukha was then expelled and a new dynasty 
set up at Xineveh under Tiglath-pileser. Semiramis, Pub's wife, then 
retired to Babylon, while Xabonassar, her son, whose advent to the throne 
of Babylon after the overthrow of Xineveh, marked a new era. Some- 
times the viceroys of Bab} r lon made themselves for a time independent 
of Assyria; thus Merodach-baladan at this time did so, encouraged by 
the Ass}Tian disaster in the Jewish campaign; he had done so before, and 
was defeated in the first year of Sennacherib's reign, as is recorded in 
cuneiform characters in that monarch's palace of Koyunjik. Xabopolas- 
sar was the first who established, permanently, his independence ; his 



580 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

son, JS'ebuchadnezzar, raised Babylon to the position which Nineveh once 
occupied, but from want of stone near the lower Euphrates the buildings 
of Babylon, formed of sun-dried brick, have not stood the wear of ages 
as Nineveh has. Merodach was an idol, the same as the god of war, and 
planet Mars (Jer. 50:2). Often kings took their names from their gods, 
as if peculiarly under their tutelage. So Belshazzar from Bel. Beladan 
means Bel is his lord. The chronicle of Eusebius contains a fragment 
of Berosus, stating that Acisis, an Assyrian viceroy, usurped the supreme 
command of Babylon. Merodach (or Berodach) Baladan murdered him 
and succeeded to the throne. Sennacherib conquered Merodach-baladan 
and left Esarhaddon, his son, as governor of Babylon. Merodach-baladan 
would naturally court the alliance of Hezekiah, who, like himself., had 
thrown off the yoke of the Assyrian king, and who would be equally glad 
of the Babylonian alliance against Assyria; hence arose the excessive 
attention which he paid to the usurper. tf Sick ? — an additional reason is 
given (II Chron. 32:31). c The princes of Babylon sent to inquire of 
the wonder that was done in the land/ viz., the recession of the shadow 
on Ahaz's sun-dial; to the Chaldean astronomers such a fact would be 
especially interesting, the dial having been invented at Babylon. 'Glad' 
— it was not the mere act, but the spirit of it, which provoked God (II 
Chron. 32:25). 'Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit 
done unto him, for his heart was lifted up f also cf. verse 31." 

Ch. 40 :1, 2. — With this chapter begins that part of Isaiah which some 
authorities claim to be a different or second book of Isaiah. So far as the 
character of the prophecy is concerned there is no reason why it should 
not be a direct continuation of the preceding. Having shown previously 
how God has been leading the specially chosen people for a purpose, 
chastising and protecting them and punishing their enemies, he proceeds 
naturally, easily and almost of necessity to unroll the great future for 
which that already described was a preparation, and a knowledge of 
which was necessary to explain and give force to the prophecies already 
given. The character of the preceding prophecies are easily understood 
when we remember that the prophet lived amid such scenes as those 
described in chapters 36 to 39. The closing scene of that history (chapter 
39) shows that the chosen family was to go to Babylon in captivity. 
That was really to be a great blessing to the Hebrews, for it was to be the 
great cure of their idolatry. It was to fit them to be the progenitors of 
the long-promised Messiah. There is no reason why Isaiah should not 
jump over the intervening stretch of history between that time and the 
coming of the Messiah, since that was the great objective point of the 



ISAIAH. 581 

things he had been relating, and especially because the time which would 
elapse before the coming of the Messiah would be longer or shorter 
according to the behavior of the people. These prophecies of Isaiah 
about the Messiah would not have been nearly so remote had the people 
been right. Hence verses 1 and 2 follow very properly after the preceding 
history. In chapter 39 was a sorrowful message. Here follows comfort. 
Some think that the "double" mentioned in verse 2 refers to the twofold 
captivity, Assyrian and Eoman. 

3-S. — The language of verses 3-5 are expressive of that preparation 
necessary to make the way ready for the Lord's coming. The Hebrews 
should have worked out a far more perfect civilization and religious 
governmental system than they did; and they would have done so had 
they followed obediently God's directions to them. Such an object 
lesson would have convinced the nations of the wisdom of the God of 
the Hebrews and made them ready to adopt his religious system. The 
language of verse 4 is simply another way of saying that all difficulties 
should be overcome, righteousness should be established, and so the glory 
of the Lord would be revealed. Verses 6-8 declare that while human 
affairs were short lived, the word of God and the plans embraced in them 
should be everlasting. The language of these verses 3-8 were referred to 
in connection with the preaching of John the Baptist, who was the 
forerunner of the promised Messiah, the Christ, who is the King whose 
rule shall finally fill the earth. 

9-11. — The nature of his rule is well described in verses 10 and 11. 
"Well is it called good news, and so the watchman is commanded to spread 
it. The language accurately describes the tender and blessed yet irre- 
sistible leadings with which Christ cares for his own. Xo language 
could better characterize the doings of Christ's kingdom than this. It 
is God's expression of solicitude for his creatures. 

12-31. — It is evident that the kingdom just mentioned was intended 
to embrace the entire earth. The next theme answers the question why 
God should send such a message of comfort to men, viz., his character 
warrants it. They are his creatures, he is their creator. Mark his power, 
verse 12. Mark his superior wisdom, verses 13 and 14. Xo being was 
able to give him advice. His thoughts and plans are so great that nations 
arid islands are small considerations, and the whole of the great forests 
of Lebanon with their massive cedars and their live animals is not great 
enough to make an adequate burnt offering to God. Here (verses 18-20) 
is interjected a scathing rebuke of idolatry, the making and gilding of 
an image or the carving one out of wood and likening that to such a 



5C2 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

God, when they had from the beginning of their national career been 
taught better things (verses 21-24). Shall you then, he asks, expect to 
hide your thoughts from God? Have you not yet learned of his wisdom 
and his strength? See verses 28-31. 

Ch. 41 :l-7. — The word islands is about synonymous with lands. Let 
the people direct their attention to the argument. The one from the 
east is doubtless Cyrus. Calling to the foot means following the 
footsteps or doing one's will. It is said that Cyrus never went over that 
way until he went as a conqueror. The language of verses 6 and 7 most 
likely refers to the haste with which those whom Cyrus conquered finished 
their idols and fastened them up at his approach, hoping by their help to 
stay his conquest. All these conquests of Cyrus would be salvation and 
help to the Hebrew exiles in Babylon. 

Hence the language of verses 8-29. At the time contemplated by these 
verses the Hebrews, having been seventy years in bondage, would be 
gathered from the then known earth. It would require strong language 
like that of verse 10 to keep them from becoming discouraged. Verse 11 
assures them that their enemies shall later be put to confusion, and (verse 
12) finally annihilated. The mountains and hills here mentioned 
represented earthly kingdoms which this worm, Jacob, under the 
protection of God, should thrash. Furthermore, he was to open fountains 
in the wilderness and plant vegetation there, meaning that out of the 
poverty of this chosen family God was to bring great riches. Yerses 
21-24 no doubt are a challenge to the idolaters, Let your idols show that 
they are gods by foretelling things to come, or by doing some mighty 
works. In both of these ways God proved before the nations bis right to 
be worshiped, and challenged comparison with any other so-called God. 
The one here mentioned as from the north is the same Cyrus as in the 
last paragraph, referring no doubt to the fact that he was from 
Media, while as deliverer of the Jews after the destruction of Babylon 
he was a Persian monarch. Cyrus attributed his success to the God of 
heaven. The remaining verses 26-29 point out the inability of the idols 
to foretell this conquest. 

Ch. 42 :l-9. — In this first theme of chapter 42 is brought into view the 
ultimatum for which what has gone before was a preparation. Here is a 
description of the promised Messiah, who should spring out of this chosen 
family. When he came he would endure heroically the indignities to 
which he was to be subjected, and instead of lifting, up his voice in 
conflict or for vengeance he retired into privacy and bore his burdens 
alone. His gentle character is suggested in verse 3. "The smoking flax" 



ISAIAH. 583 

means a dimly burning lamp. Nevertheless, the result of all his work 
was to plant justice and root out error, and so his law today is the law 
of nations. God his Father, who gave him his place and prominence, 
originated the plan and will carry it to a successful issue. 

10-12. — Hence the eternal fitness of the exhortation, "Sing unto the 
Lord and not to idols.'" The general thought of verses 11 and 12 is, let 
God be praised not only by Israel, but by the surrounding nations. 

The language of verses 13-16 are designed as a word painting to 
represent the energy which God should finally display in stirring up the 
nations. First the enemies were to be mightily conquered, and those who 
before had been utterly helpless were to be brought out of their condition 
into ways of understanding and strength. The thought of the last clause 
of verse 16 is, "I will not fail to accomplish these results." It is a 
notorious fact of history that the shaking and overturning of the earth 
powers and the destruction of human plans and propositions have been 
the means by which God has brought his plans into prominence. 

17-25. — The standing shame of the Hebrew nation was its idolatry. 
In this reproach he declares that they shall be mightily ashamed of it. 
Their blindness was colossal and unpardonable. It seemed to be worse 
than that of any heathen. God had schooled them in the law and 
glorified it before them, and yet they had so disregarded it that they were 
now about to go into the most horrifying captivity, Though God had 
given repeated warning of his anger against their evil ways, they persisted 
in them, until the calamity came which took Israel captive into a far 
country of the enemy. 

Cli. 43:1-7. — At this stage is the beginning of better things. Amid 
the captivity of Babylon the weeping Hebrews felt that they were utterly 
overwhelmed and forsaken. These things were not to overwhelm Israel, 
but to lead them out of the blindness of idolatry. The powerful Egypt 
and Ethiopia were destroyed, but amid all this sea of trouble the Hebrews 
were saved and gathered again to their own land. What better comment 
could there be on verses 4-7? 

Verses 8-13 are a strong appeal to Israel to take note of these events. 
The} r were God's witnesses of his providential acts, and the Hebrew 
scriptures have carried the knowledge of these acts to the ends of the 
earth. Verse 8 shows that they had eyes and ears, which they did not use 
to an advantage. The same is probably as true of this age. The word 
"let" in verse 13 means to hinder. 

. 14-21. — For Israel's sake great Babylon was utterly annihilated. 
Verses 15-17 refer to the deliverance from Egypt, but the thought of 



584 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

verse 18 is, Think no more of that, great as the story is, but rather let 
your mind dwell on this new and greater deliverance from mighty 
Babylon, in which the desolation of the earth shall be turned into 
unspeakable riches for the human family, and where idolatry had 
destroyed the nations, "the knowledge of the Lord should cover the earth 
like the waters cover the sea." 

In verses 22-28 the prophet is calling attention to the fact that in spite 
of all the warnings they have received the Hebrews are not rendering to 
God his dues. "The small cattle" refer to sheep and their like. The 
Jews had been persistent and unpardonable sinners, and they continued 
so in spite of all of Isaiah's warnings, bringing upon themselves the 
Babylonish captivity as the result. 

Ch. 44:1-8. — And yet, he adds, for their comfort, do not be over- 
whelmed with discouragement. Out of this tribulation you shall rise to 
be faithful to God. "You shall name yourselves by my name, and own no 
other god but me. If there is any other god able to foretell these things, 
let him now do so. You are witnesses that I have told you."* 

The senselessness of idolatry is here set forth in verses 9-20. He 
here describes an idol made by a smith and one made by a carpenter. In 
the latter case he shows him selecting a tree, possibly growing it for the 
purpose, using a part of it to make an idol before which he falls down 
to worship, and burning the residue to roast his meat and warm himself 
and bake his bread. He shows that his heart is so deceived that he cannot 
discover the lie in the act. 

21-28. — The final theme of chapter 44 is the promise of restoration. 
Out of all their sad experience the Israelites shall come, cured of idolatry 
and shouting the praises of the Lord. Thereafter they shall hate all that 
savors of idolatry. Thus the Lord indicates that they shall be brought 
to their own habitations, and Jerusalem and the cities of Judah be rebuilt. 
This God was to do by Cyrus, who was to perform his will even to the 
shepherding of his people and the rebuilding of the temple. 

Ch. 45 :1-17. — The conquest of C}-rus mentioned in chapter 41 is here 
shown to be under the direction of God. The right hand was the emblem 
of power, and "loosing the loins of kings" referred to their fright and 
consternation at the approach of the conqueror. The language of verse 
2 meant that Cyrus should overcome all difficulties, and the language 
of verse 3 that in his conquests he should carry away the treasures of the 
countries conquered. It may not be safe to say that all this conquest of 
Cyrus was for the special benefit of Israel; it may have been so, for 
certain it is that Israel received the full benefit of it; but it is safe to 



ISAIAH. 585 

say, as a subsequent topic will show, that for Israel's sake God foretold 
this conquest. In his work as a conqueror Cyrus had backing that he 
knew not of. As verse 7 indicates, God had a right to so order his acts. 
The only sense in which the Lord creates evil is that when free moral 
agents voluntarily do wrong God brings upon them the result of their 
evil doings, and thus conditions are created called evil. The great end 
and aim of all things, as indicated by verse 8, was the establishment of 
righteousness. One thinker has put it thus: "There can be no settled 
peace until there be a certain amount of war. I am a man of peace, and 
therefore for war." The thought of verses 9-13 is, that God has made 
the earth for righteousness, and that those who oppose it shall be crushed. 
He shows here the incongruity of a creature striving with its creator. 
The language of verse 11 is a strong suggestion as to the fit attitude of 
a creature. "Ask of God who knows the future, and ask repeatedly and 
earnestly," equivalent to command, of course always subject to his will. 
There can be no doubt that "him" in verse 13 refers to Cyrus, and there 
is little doubt that verse 14 also referred to C}tus, before whom the 
conquered nations were to bow. Hence the fitness of the prophet's 
ascription to God in verses 15 and 16. 

18-46-13. — The last verse of the preceding theme shows the destruction 
of idolatry, but verse 17 contrasts with that the salvation of those who 
trust in God. The plan which God had laid in calling Abram was not to 
be thwarted. They should come out from their captivity from among 
idolatrous nations, fully realizing the folly of idol worship, and, as verse 
21 indicates, their after teaching should make that folly clear to all the 
world; and so it is proving through the Hebrew scriptures — our Bible. 
Thus it is that verse 22 is coming to be recognized by all the nations. 
Here he declares, as also in the book of Revelation, "that every knee 
shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God." Bel and Xebo were 
idols of Babylon. Their gods went along with them into captivity before 
the conquering Cyrus, and the same act which enslaved them set Israel 
free and brought them with songs to their beloved land. Thus was God's 
protection over them, and very rightly reproaches them for likening him 
to gods made with men's hands. Yerse 8 was a strong appeal. The 
Hebrews were at the very time of this prophecy addicted to the idolatry 
of the surrounding nations, and the prophet is in this book showing them 
the captivity which would result from it. This language is intended to 
be an appeal to them after their release from captivity. He is saying, 
Remember the lesson it has taught you. God by this means was working 
out his plans among the nations of the earth. It is suggestive (verse 11) 



586 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that the standard of Cyrus was a golden eagle. All the history of God's 
dealing with the nations is a warning to the unrighteous of their final 
fate. 

Ch. 47 :1-15. — The prophet now describes the humiliation of Babylon. 
She had been allowed to execute God's punishment upon his chosen 
people, and in doing so she had been extremely cruel. She was to fall 
now from the height of the greatest ease and luxury to that of the most 
abject slavery, and it was to be brought to pass without remedy. Verse 
9 suggests how suddenly calamity often comes to those who think them- 
selves above the need of God. Verses 13 and 14 point out the powerless- 
ness of those who boasted of their wisdom. This is a remarkable 
description of the destruction of Bab}don made by the Lord's prophet 
long before it came to pass. 

Ch. 48 :l-22. — The prophet here drives a nail in a sure place by telling 
why this prophecy is given. He calls to witness the Hebrew nation, who 
profess loyalty to God and yet worship idols, that God foretells these 
things in order that when Israel comes out of bondage in Babylon no one 
of them may say, "Our idols have delivered us." God declared these 
things in order that they might know him to be the author of them. The 
events had never occurred to the minds of men before they were thus 
foretold. God here shows that he let this calamity come upon his people 
as a punishment for their idolatry, but he declares in verse 9 that he will 
limit his punishment so as not to destroy his people. God here strongly 
impresses upon the people his right to be worshiped, and makes it plain 
that it is his hand which brings destruction to Babylon. The pronoun 
"him" in verse 14 refers to Cyrus. God intends by foretelling this 
history to make plain to his people when the history comes to pass his 
providence in their behalf, and intends that it shall be heralded to the 
ends of the earth. 

Ch. 49 :l-26. — These prophecies of the success of God's plans naturally 
carried the mind of the prophet to the future which lay far beyond the 
events which were connected with the conquest of Cyrus. Isaiah foresaw 
the coming of the anointed one of God who was to set up a kingdom that 
was to be universal. Verse 4 suggests the Christ coming to his own and 
being rejected, and verse 6 is suggestive of his turning to the Gentiles. 
Paul in his letter to the Romans uses this very line of argument. The 
religion of Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, is becoming the universal 
religion of the earth; it is making the desert everywhere to rejoice and 
blossom. The language of verse 10 is quoted in the book of Revelation 
with reference to Christ's people. Verse 14 indicates the probable thought 



ISAIAH. 587 

arising in the mind of the Hebrews by carrying the Gospel to the 
Gentiles. The following language shows the absurdity of the concept. 
God has not forgotten or abandoned his original concept, but means to 
graft all the nations of the earth into the tame olive tree, God's Israel, 
the root of which is the Jewish Messiah. Verses 18 and 19 refer no doubt 
to the literal gathering to their land after the conquest of Cyrus as the 
necessar}^ prelude to the events which shall follow. There was to be 
established the church which should enlarge by accession until it filled 
the earth. Thus Israel should exclaim joyfully, "Seeing I was a captive 
in exile, whence came all these my children?" Thus, as indicated in 
verses 22 and 23, captive Israel should be restored to her land, and its 
Messiah's religion should cover the earth. The skeptic would question 
this in the language of verse 24. God's answer was verses 25 and 26, and 
the history of the ages is proving the correctness of the utterance. 

Ch. 50 :l-3. — The first three verses of chapter 50 explain the captivity 
of Israel. It must be remembered that the word Israel as used here 
means the Hebrew nation. God's purpose in the call of Abram had not 
been defeated and his people separated from him by any power which he 
could not control, but he had put them away because of their iniquity. 
Zion was the mother and the Jews were the children. God, the husband 
and father, had not made her over to a creditor to satisfy a debt, had 
made no bill of divorcement, and so could take her back again on her 
repentance. The question asked in verse 2 indicates that this chosen 
people acted toward God as if the separation was final. He cites his 
former display of power to make clear his ability to use Zion for his 
purpose when she returns to him. 

In verses 4-9 the prophet declares how God has taught him so that he 
should be able to teach the people. And it ought not to be forgotten here 
that this teaching depended largely upon Isaiah's willingness and dili- 
gence. He studied, and so learned the lessons which God set before him 
(verse 5). Verse 6 indicates something of what he had to endure for 
faithfully presenting the truth, and verse 7 tells why he endured it. 
Verse 8 is his challenge to anyone who thinks himself able to oppose the 
prophet's message. It is a call to stand up and declare his case. And 
verse 9 declares the prophet's faith as to results, knowing as he did that 
he was right, and that those who opposed him were wrong. 

The exhortation of verse 10 was an encouragement to the righteous 
man. Nothing is surer than the servants of God sometimes have to walk 
in darkness. The face of the Father will sometimes be veiled, just as it 



588 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

was in the case of Jesus, who cried, "Why hast thou forsaken me ?" At 
such a time the disciple must walk by faith. 

11-51-8. — This message to the two classes of people opens with a 
warning to the evil-doers. It says in a word that the trouble which they 
stir up shall be the making of sorrow to themselves. On the other hand 
the righteous are counseled to look to their Father Abraham for an 
example of the result of faith. Verse 3 is God's promise for the future. 
After the discipline of their sins he will thus gather them again, and not 
only so, but according to verses 4-6, the light which shall arise in Israel 
shall shine to all the world, and shall shine forever. Therefore, he 
concludes, be not afraid of men. They are not worthy of fear. Have 
regard only to my commandments, which shall never fail. 

9-11. — Here the prophet breaks out in an appeal to God to show his 
power in behalf of his people just as he has done of old. Eahab was a 
poetical name for Egypt, and the dragon was the emblem of Egypt, hence 
the reference here is to the plagues and Exodus, and the thought of 
verse 11 is, that just as they were delivered from Egypt, so God should 
deliver them from .the captivity just foretold, and they would return to 
their land with songs and everlasting joy. 

God answ r ers this appeal in verses 12-16. Do not fear man, and do not 
forget your maker. Do not be enslaved day by day with fear of destruc- 
tion by an oppressor. The captives shall go free and shall be provided 
for. To this end I have put these words in your mouth. It is noticeable 
here that all of the glory from God's salvation flows from the working 
out of this plan of which the prophet was here the exponent. 

17-52-12. — No w r onder then that he now flashes out this joyful message 
to Jerusalem. Verses 17-20 remind her of what she has suffered for sins. 
And verses 21-23 declare that the fury is to be removed from Israel and 
given to her enemies. The last part of verse 23 refers to the custom .of 
walking over the backs of captives. Chapter 52 rings with the joyful 
strains of exhortation to Zion to prepare for the glory which is about to 
come upon her. You received nothing, verse 3 declares, when you were 
sold, and you shall have a redemption which requires nothing but your 
faith. Just as the Lord delivered them from Egypt and from Assyria, so 
he will deliver from Babylon. Yerse 7 uses the figure of a messenger 
coming over the mountains with good news. Here was a message 
intended to encourage Israel in the dark hours of her captivity in 
Babylon. It was that of a watchman coming to Zion with a message that 
her captivity was over, and that she should return again to freedom and 
joy. When that time came there would be among the watchmen of Zion 



ISAIAH. 589 

no voice which would dissent from the plain conclusion that God's hand 
was manifest in the deliverance of the Hebrews. This deliverance of 
God has become a part of the world's history, universally accepted. The 
prophet gives them a charge to walk worthy henceforth of their salvation. 
The thought of verse 12 is, God will order that the great political power 
of earth shall order and guard your return to Zion. This would be 
equivalent to God going before them as a vanguard and also behind them 
as a rear guard. 

13-53-12. — That description leads the prophet easily to his description 
of the Messiah who should come to this chosen nation as the embodiment 
of all the plans and purposes for which it was called. The word 
"sprinkle" in verse 15 should be rendered "startle." Just as many were 
astonished at him, so he in his turn would astonish the nations by the 
brilliancy of his conquest. The salvation of the Jewish Messiah has 
molded all the subsequent history of the nations and dictated the course 
of their rulers and mighty men. The greatest wonder connected with 
this histon^ was that this chosen Zion as a nation rejected him and his 
teaching, hence the language of verse 1. One said of verse 2, "The 
Messiah grew as a plant from a root of the house of David which had 
gone to decay and was set in barren ground." The prophet is here 
describing the conditions in the days of Jesus, and further says about his 
person, it was not in itself such as would be a special attraction. He was 
subject to the tribulations of common mortals, and men turned away 
from him as unwilling to be involved with him in ignominy. Yerse 4 
says they thought that God was visiting his wrath upon him, while in 
reality he was voluntarily bearing this reproach for the sake of redeeming 
the world, hence the language of verses 5 and 6. His long suffering is 
indicated by verse 7. On verse 8 see the revised version. He was denied 
a just trial, and was cut off from the earth, leaving no posterity. It is a 
matter of history that Jesus was buried by rich men of standing, who no 
doubt thus honored the irreproachable character of Jesus. And now 
verses 10 -and 11 declare, although God permitted him such experience, 
when the believer by his faith shall accept the offering of Jesus as a 
ransom for his own soul, then shall Jesus see the increase of his family, 
because then a soul shall be born into the kingdom of God. Thus 
justification comes by knowing Jesus, and the soul is redeemed from its 
sin by his offering. The language of verse 12 indicates that the triumphs 
of Jesus shall be classed by the world among its greatest conquests. 

Ch. 54:1-57-21. — Chapters 54 to 57 foretell the universality of the 
Messiah's kingdom. The reference in chapter 54 is clearly to the Gentile 



590 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

nations. Israel had God for a husband. These nations are represented 
as having no husband. Nevertheless, out of them was to come more 
believers than out of the Hebrews. The Gentile world is represented in 
verse 6 as a wife of youth, forsaken when God joined himself to the 
Hebrew nation, but to be received again with great mercies, and no more 
to be forsaken. Just as God declared to Noah that there should be no 
more flood, so he here declares to the Gentile, world that she shall 
nevermore be forsaken. Yerses 11-17 are God's glowing and comforting 
promise to the Gentile world, a promise not only of spiritual comfort, 
but of material prosperity. Chapter 55 voices the universal call of the 
Gospel. It may be summed up by saying, Hear the word of God, and 
all the promises which have ever been given to the chosen family are 
yours. The antecedent of "him" in verse 4 is probably the Messiah, and 
the nation mentioned in verse 5 is the Gentile world. Verses 6-13 declare 
the method by which the individiial avails himself of this offer of mercy. 
It is to forsake evil and thus fall into the divine plan, assimilate the 
divine thought, and make his ways in harmony with God's ways, all of 
which produces the thought mentioned in verses 12 and 13. Chapter 56 
declares that the one who does these things need have no fear of being 
separated from God's people, for God gives his name and his honor to 
such as obey him. As Paul clearly shows in his letter to the Eomans, the 
whole Gentile world who keeps God's command will be numbered with the 
chosen family and be written as the seed of Abraham. Verses 9-12, also 
the first two verses of chapter 57, describe the conditions of the Hebrew 
nation by virtue of which the Gospel was carried directly to the Gentile 
world ; this is made clear by a study of Paul's letter to the Eomans. The 
antecedent of "his" in verse 10 is Israel, whose watchmen (spiritual 
teachers) were like worthless shepherd dogs. They did not appreciate 
the spiritual needs of the people, and besides were drunken gluttons. 
Verses 1 and 2 exactly describe their unconcern while those committed to 
their charge were perishing. This was exactly the condition of the 
scribes and pharisees in the days of Jesus. This easily explains what 
follows. Both the prophet Isaiah, in his vision of the future, and Jesus, 
in the actual working out of this history, turned away from these self- 
righteous egotists and said, "The publicans and sinners crowd into the 
kingdom of God before you." In this chapter 57 he describes the low 
condition into which the nations have fallen and the energy with which 
they pursued their sin and their forgetfulness of God, declares the 
disastrous failure of their idolatry and the sure success of those who trust 
in God. Hence the appeal in verse 15. God will restore to his favor all 



ISAIAH. 591 

those who return to him,, lead them and send them everlasting peace. 
The word "eternity" in verse 15 occurs but once in the Bible. Verse 19 
indicates that these promises were not only to Israel, who was near by 
means of their former teaching, but to the Gentile world, which was 
considered afar off from God. The world in wickedness was likened to 
the sea casting up mire and dirt. 

Ch. 58 :1. — Under this rebuke of God's chosen nation comes ffrst the 
charge that this chosen nation of Hebrews are sinners before God. God 
here charges his prophet to make this fact plain to them. The wrong 
doing was not to be covered up, nor the offenses apologized for, but was 
to be unsparingly denounced and destroyed. 

2-5. — What the careless, peace-loving individual would commend as 
an indication of religion God here denounces as inconsistency. He says 
the people make a pretense of seeking God and delighting in his ways, 
and then complain that God does not manifest himself in their behalf, 
when as a matter of fact their religious pretense is only to get for them- 
selves social standing so that they may the more readily oppress their 
fellow men. "Exact all your labors''" (verse 3) means "oppress all your 
laborers." Verse 5 clearly indicates that merely going through the 
motions of fasting is not by any means acceptable to God. And what is 
taught here is just as true as any other religious service. God demands 
a service which has the heart in it. 

Verses 6 and 7 show what is the spirit of that fasting which is pleasing 
to God. The doing of that which breaks from a fellow man the fetters 
of sin and lends help to the needy is the kind of self-denial which fulfills 
the spirit of true religion. The thought of the last clause in verse 7 is 
that all flesh is akin, and when anyone turns away a needy human being 
he thus hides himself from his own flesh. 

8-14. — The result of such a course of conduct would be a most happy 
one. Light would arise in the midst of darkness. He would be called 
by the name of righteousness. Wherever he went the glory of the Lord 
would follow his doings. Such a one had the promise of the Lord to give 
him prompt and certain answer to prayer. His character would be 
Godlike, and he would be known as God's friend and the friend of all 
good. The latter part of verse 9 refers to the custom of evil men pointing 
the finger of scorn at the righteous. A righteous course of conduct would 
make one the builder again of that righteous condition which the sin of 
the people had destroyed. It is not only a possible thing, but an easy 
and practical thing to become so interested in righteous development in 



592 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the human family that it will not only be a delight to do the Lord's will, 
but that the will of the Lord and the worker's desire will be identical. 

Ch. 59 :1-15. — In drawing this picture of Israel's troubled condition 
the prophet makes plain the fact that it was not God's lack of power, but 
the sins of the people that kept their prayers from being answered. 
A^erses 3-8 are no doubt the language from which Paul took the first part 
of Romans 3. It vividly describes the condition of the people, and shows 
why the Lord could not save them even though they pretended to be his 
worshipers. The worship which God demands is not so much a service 
of ceremonies as a service which embodies the principles of true religion 
in the affairs of every-day life. In spite of all the warnings of God, by 
Moses and all the prophets, the people had allowed the idolatry of the 
surrounding nations to creep in until their worship of God was mere 
form. Hence God had forsaken them, the nation was about to go into 
captivity, and the groping, stumbling and roaring mentioned in verses 
9-11 is explained by the fact that the nation was filled with the vilest of 
sin. This spectacle of the best nation which God had put upon the earth, 
one which he had specialy trained, going to destruction because of its 
sins, was a sad one, and shows the persistence with which Satan follows 
with his wiles all those who seek to escape him. 

16-21. — In the description of salvation which God sent it is first noted 
that there was no one to take the part of righteousness. This again 
exactly accords with Paul's description in Romans 3. God himself 
brought the salvation, and he here likens it to the armor of a warrior. 
The first step in the working out of this salvation was to visit justice 
upon the enemies of the truth. The language of verse 19 in the revised 
version shows how the nations shall be made to fear the Lord by means of 
his dealing with them. The thought is, that in his contending against 
the wickedness of nations he shall come with the fury of a pent up 
stream driven by the wind. Thus God is using the armies and navies of 
the world to make its governments subject to Christ, the Redeemer, 
mentioned in verses 20 and 21. A part of this last verse declares that 
this salvation once established shall endure forever, and the influences of 
Christ's teaching upon the nations of the earth are justifying this dec- 
laration. 

Ch. 60:1-22. — Chapter 60 describes the supremacy and glory of this 
kingdom in the earth. The knowledge of God, revealed through Christ 
Jesus, lightens the darkest places of the earth by sending in the highest 
civilization and enlightenment and displacing all forms of ignorance and 
superstition. Since the days of Constantine the Christian nations have 



ISAIAH. 593 

been the recognized head of the earth governments. As indicated in 
verse 4, it is a matter of wonderment that the children of this spiritual 
kingdom are being gathered from all the nations of the earth. There is 
no doubt, from the language of verses 6-10, that the prophet here speaks 
primarily of the gathering and restoration of the Hebrew nation after 
the captivity in Babylon. Isaiah sees that the nations about Israel shall 
aid the return from captivity and carry them supplies, and glorify the 
God of Israel. But he sees farther than that; he sees that out of this 
returned nation shall grow the religious powers that shall subject all the 
nations of the earth. This is exactly the description of Christianity. All 
those who have faith in Christ are the seed of Abraham (see Eom. 4), 
and the eternal excellency of all earthly governments is in every instance 
and in every respect the direct result of their assimilation of Christian 
principles. The wealth also of the nations is an outgrowth of Christian 
brain and energy. As suggested by verse 18, even war in time will be 
impossible by means of improved methods of destruction which Christian 
genius is finding out ; hence the language of verses 21 and 22. 

Ch. 61 :l-3. — Doubtless Isaiah uses the first three verses of chapter 61 
with reference to himself originally. The good tidings no doubt refer 
to that about which he had just been speaking. The restoration of the 
Hebrews from captivity was certainly a proclamation of good tidings, and 
a balm to the broken-hearted. Such a season would be a year of God's 
good pleasure to his people and vengeance to his enemies. Our Savior 
takes these words as the text of his first sermon, and declares that they 
are fulfilled in himself, which is also true, because the restoration just 
mentioned was only a preparation for the greater restoration which was 
embodied in Jesus. Thus the prison doors of Babylon became pictures 
of the prison doors of sin, and verses 1-3 apply as well to the captive in 
sin as to the Jewish captive in Babylon. 

4-9. — What is true of this theme is also true of the following one. The 
language originally applied to the Hebrews, whose national laws and 
literature shaped the laws and literature of the nations to come. Judea 
became a leader of nations, and the strange people who brought gifts to 
their altar furnished a prophecy of the ingrafting of all nations into a 
spiritual kingdom of a Jewish Messiah. And so in verses 4-9, all of 
which was true of the Hebrew people, there is also exactly described the 
condition of the Christian church. 

10, 11. — The same is also true of the final theme. The prophet was 
full of joy at the announcement which God had given him for his people. 
The language is also applied to Jesus the Messiah, and as well to all his 



594 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

messengers, who carry the knowledge of this truth to men, clothing them 
with Christ's justification, decking them with the jewels of Christ's 
graces, and causing the word of God to grow and multiply in the earth 
for the transformation of individuals and nations. 

Ch. 62:1-5. — The prophet's joy at the supremacy and power of the 
kingdom mentioned in chapters 60 and 61 is followed here by a strong 
declaration of. his purpose to make himself heard until he had so turned 
the minds of the people into line with God's will that his salvation and 
his glory should be the. uppermost thought in their minds. Yerse 2 
declares his faith as to the result which would follow. He knew the 
power and influence of truth. All governments are coming to recognize 
the supremacy of God's kingdom. For the meaning of the proper names 
in verse 4 see margin of your Bible. This kingdom of God which Isaiah 
here foresaw and described is exactly fulfilled in the kingdom of Christ 
on earth, the delight of God, and the highest desire of all his true sons. 

6, 7. — Naturally, then, he lays a solemn charge upon those who are 
set to carry and maintain the truth, that they cease not to make them- 
selves heard. They are to thunder human duties into the ears of men, 
and cry mightily to God that he give success to their efforts. Verse 6 
indicates the great responsibility which is laid on God's messengers, and 
verse 7 notes the fact that it is in order for human beings to importune 
God for his aid until the great end and aim of the plan of salvation is 
secured, and righteousness covers the earth like the waters cover the sea. 
Such asking as that begets that strong desire which God loves to fulfill. 
Hence he had made it a rule, "Ask and ye shall receive. Seek (a stronger 
term than mere asking) and ye shall find. Knock (signifying deter- 
mination to have answer) and it shall be opened unto you." 

8-12. — At this fitting point the prophet pleads God's promise. What 
he was here exhorting was in line with God's desire and promise, so 
that he knew he was in the right way. It was not God's will that the 
people of his chosen family should thus suffer and be crushed beneath 
their enemies. It was on account of their sin. And God had promised 
that after their sin was purged away in the furnace of affliction that 
they should again be exalted as a nation, should not be robbed of their 
products, but should be known as a holy people upon whom the nations 
should look as specially favored of God. Such a condition would come 
about by telling the people to rally round the standard of God, as 
indicated in verse 10. The figure used in the verse is that of a city 
cleaning up ready for the return of its dispersed inhabitants. God 



ISAIAH. 595 

meant that his chosen people should prepare for the coming in of all the 
nations of the earth who had gone as captives into sin. 

Ch. 63:1-6. — Edom was the persistent and violent enemy of the 
Hebrew nation in Isaiah's day. Hence God's vengeance upon Edom 
would stand for his vengeance upon all enemies of God's people. The 
language of these first six verses of chapter 63 is the language of a 
conqueror. The mighty God comes from Edom, the country of his 
enemies, with garments dyed with the blood of his plotting, scheming 
contestants. The first clause of verse 3 is expressive of God's might. 
The wine press stands for that in which the enemy is crushed. In 
scripture language, earth harvest represents the righteous and earth 
vintage represents the wicked. So in the book of Eevelation. "Alone" 
(verse 3) is equivalent to "unaided." The thought of the entire theme 
is that when men so forsook the cause of God as to leave his cause 
practically without human representatives, God interposed his own might 
and crushed the diabolical enemies of his truth. Thus it had been in 
the days of Noah and Lot. 

7, 8. — Just as the kindness of God was manifest in the destruction of 
wickedness by the flood and the saving of Noah and his family, also in 
the destruction of Sodom and the saving of Lot, so to the prophet's mind 
it is here manifest in the destruction of Israel's enemies and the salvation 
of the chosen family to prepare the way for and to herald that salvation 
which should save all people. There were in the chosen nation of Israel 
those who were true to God and his cause, and who responded nobly to 
his every call, and who faithfully looked for and believed upon the 
Messiah when he came. Then they became heralds of Christ's salvation 
and faithful witnesses for his church. To such God addressed himself 
in verse 8. 

9-14. — As verse 9 indicates, that which brought sorrow to God's 
chosen family brought also heaviness to his own heart. This is clearly 
manifest in the story of God's dealing with his chosen people as he led 
them out of bondage by Moses. God fought against his people only so 
far as was necessary to uphold the truth and repudiate and rebuke their 
errors. He constantly warned them by the prophets that if they turned 
to evil he would turn against them, yet he always reminded them that 
if they forsook evil he would save them for their father's sake, and for 
the sake of his promise to Abraham. God would not let his promises go 
unfulfilled before the nations, and let perish the memory of his glorious 
leading of ancient Israel, unless compelled to do so by the incorrigible 
wickedness of his people. The margin of verse 11 suggests that it was the 



596 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

people who remembered. Probably this calling to remembrance of 
former benefits by the better class of Israel was the very means by which 
God turned the hearts of the people to him again so that once more he 
might lead them as of old. The prophet here probably refers to the 
backslidings and idolatries of the people in the days of the judges. 

15-64-12. — Isaiah is using this knowledge to call the people back from 
their apostasy in his day. He appeals to God to remember and be 
merciful to them as children of Abraham and as the tribes of the Lord's 
inheritance. He makes mention of the sorry condition of the land of 
promise and its specially favored children of former days. He pleads 
for a special manifestation of providence in their behalf, a manifestation 
so terrible as to terrify the adversaries. In verses 5-7 of chapter 64 is 
an acknowledgment of the sins of the nation, but the prophet beseeches 
for the sake of God's heritage that the most high may not forget and 
leave them to perish. It would greatly embolden the nations in their 
idolatry if, after all God's leading of the seed of Abraham, he should 
repudiate and leave them to perish in their sins. Isaiah says of his 
nation, "We have been so long in our sins that salvation seems unlikely, 
and our religion so-called is like a polluted garment. We are so overcome 
by iniquity that there seems no inclination to seek God." By reference 
to II Kings 21 :10-15 this state of things can be understood. In these 
chapters it seems likely that the prophet's mind is running forward to 
the times after the downfall of Judea (chapters 63:18 and 64:11), and 
pleading with God to use the nation to revive righteousness preparatory 
to the coming and reign of the long promised Messiah. 

Ch. 65 :1. — With such a picture in his mind it was easy for the prophet 
to use the language of verse 1 in chapter 65. He sees the Messiah come 
to his own, and his own rejecting him, and the carrying of the Gospel 
to the nations of the earth and their acceptance of it. 

Of his own nation he uses the language of verses 2-7. This not only 
describes their condition in Isaiah's day, but also in the days of the 
apostles. Paul refers to this very verse, and he does also in verse 1 (see 
Rom. 10 :20, 21), calling it very bold in Isaiah to foretell that the Gospel 
of the Jewish Messiah would be given to the Gentiles, and declaring that 
the prophet foresaw that the Hebrew people would be disobedient to 
Christ. Verse 5 exactly describes the pharisee of the days of Jesus. 
From verse 15 in chapter 63 to the end of chapter 64 Isaiah describes 
a condition which existed not only immediately after the destruction of 
Jerusalem, but to an intensified degree in the days of Jesus, and when 
he appeals to the Lord because of it the Lord answers, "My people have 



ISAIAH. 597 

become so stiff-necked that they will not obey me, and so when the 
Gospel is given it must be carried at once to the Gentiles, and the fruits 
of my people's doings shall be visited upon them" (verses 6 and 7). 

8-10. — In the very same argument Paul also refers to the faithful 
remnant. (Kom. 11:5.) There were those in the midst of perverse 
Judea who heard and accepted God's plan of salvation from sin. For 
their sake God would not destroy that chosen nation, but has made them 
the first fruits and gathered under their name the entire earthly family 
of believers; and into the religious literature of Christianity is incorpo- 
rated* the Jewish sacred literature with its countless associations of 
customs and names and places whose history serves as types of Christian 
conquest, and which prove to be sources of continual inspiration to 
Christian soldiers in the warfare against sin. The faithful of God's 
chosen Israel can never be forgotten while Christianity endures. 

Verses 11-16 are the prophet's description of what should come on the 
unfaithful portion of that chosen family. All subsequent history fur- 
nishes the proof of its correctness. The scattered and oppressed Jews 
have been accursed by every age and nation since the days of Christ. The 
words "fortune and destiny" in the revised Bible, or "troop and number" 
in the old version, refer to idolatrous vagaries practised by many Israel- 
ites in imitation of the heathen about them. Thus it has come to pass 
that through the sins of God's chosen family hosts of those who should 
have had an honored place in this salvation scheme have been turned 
aside into eternal shame and contempt. 

17-25. — Verse 17 to the end of chapter 65 describes the blessed 
condition that shall grow out of this great plan of salvation. The new 
heaven and new earth means the earth transformed by Christian teaching. 
It shall so far surpass the former condition that the old times shall be 
forgotten in the joy of the new order of things. The Jerusalem men- 
tioned is the new power of genuine Christianity. Its effect will be to 
lengthen life, so that the person one hundred years old will be accounted 
a mere infant, and the sinner shall be under a curse in the morning of 
his days. The conditions described here are those which lead up to that 
millennial season after the resurrection of the just, when for the 
righteous there shall be no more death. 

Ch. 66 :1, 2. — The first two verses of chapter 66 point out the royal 
road leading to the above named conditions. Such a being as the God 
of verse 1 must be served by such an attitude as that described in verse 2. 

But instead of that humble attitude, verses 3 and 4 describe the 
condition of Israel. The language is somewhat ambiguous, but any one 



598 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

of two or three possible interpretations is suggestive. (1) The killer of 
an ox for sacrifice would presently afterward slay a man, etc. Or (2) 
many ceased to bring the sacrifices, esteeming them much the same as 
killing a man, etc. Or (3) they brought these sacrifices to me (kept the 
letter of the law), but were so wicked that their sacrifices were to me like 
the killing of a man, etc. 

5-14. — But to encourage the children of faith the prophet shows how 
the believers of the family of the new Zion shall increase. Verse 5 shows 
the ridicule to which they shall be subjected by unbelievers, but the 
wonderful success of the new Zion shall put all the enemies to confusion. 
It shall be phenomenal and unprecedented (verses 8 and 9). Verses 
10-14 well describe the flourishing of Christ's kingdom in the world. 

15-24. — The final theme relates no doubt to the overturning and over- 
turning of nations in history, by which God is bringing about the final 
enthronement of right and the final destruction of wickedness. Verse 17 
describes the idolatries prevalent in Isaiah's time. Instead of wasting 
time on Hebrews who would be guilty of such acts God would call the 
teachable ones out of all the surrounding nations, and they should make 
up his new family of God, and they should in turn be the means of 
stirring up the scattered Israelites in time to accept the religion of their 
rejected Christ. (See Eom. 11:11-36.) The closing verses of this book 
indicate that the rebels against God shall be placed where all concerned 
may forever see the results of their folly and forever profit by it. 



JEREMIAH. 

INTRODUCTION. 

About seventy years after the death of Isaiah (about 698) Jeremiah 
began to prophesy (near 629 B. C.) He, was the son of a priest of the 
line of Abiathar, and lived at Anathoth, near Jerusalem, one of the four 
cities given by the tribe of Benjamin to Aaron and his sons. (Josh. 
21:17, 18.) Manasseh, at the beginning of whose reign Isaiah was put 
to death, was fifty-five years on the throne of Judea, and during this 
time we have no account of any prophet speaking. After Manasseh came 
Amon for two years, and after him Josiah, in the thirteenth year of 
whose reign Jeremiah began to prophesy. He prophesied eighteen years 
through the reign of Josiah, three months through the reign of Jehoahaz, 
eleven years through the reign of Jehoiakim, three months through the 



JEREMIAH. 599 

reign of Jehoiachin, and eleven years through the reign of Zedekiah, 
and probably two years in Egypt, where he was carried after the fall of 
Judah, making in all about forty-three years. The other prophets who 
lived at the same time w r ith himself were Zephaniah, Habakkuk and the 
prophetess Huldah, in the first fifteen years of his prophetic career; 
about the middle of it Daniel began his prophecy, and ten years before 
Jeremiah closed, Obadiah and Ezekiel began their prophetic career. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 
1-10 Introduction. 

1 Xame of the prophet. 
2, 3 Time of his prophecy. 
4-10 God's message to him. 
11-16 Vision of the rod and the pot. Meaning. 
17-19 God's assurance to the prophet. 
Chapter 2. 
1-3-5 God's message to Jerusalem. 

1-3 The early love of this chosen people. 
4-3-5 Its present reproach. 
4-7 Want of gratitude. 
8 Apostasy of priests, rulers and prophets. 
9-3-5 God's appeal to them. 

9-12 Their unheard of departure. 
13 Their double evil. 
14-19 Its result. 

20-27 Their former benefits, pledges and perfidy. 
27-3-5 Their plea to God in trouble. His answer. 
6-11 God's contrast of Israel and Judah. 
12-15 His invitation to Israel. 

16-18 Union of Hebrews and the nations at Jerusalem. 
19-25 God's plan of renewal. Penitence of his people. 
Chapter 4. 

1, 2 God's promise to Israel. 
3-18 His exhortation and warning to Judah. 
19-31 The prophet's distress. The picture of desolation. 
Chapter 5. 

1-9 A description of the people's unfaithfulness. Eesuljt. 
10-19 God's threat of judgment. 
20-31 His warning against iniquity. 



600 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 6. 
1-30 Invasion of the enemy foretold. Exhortation and warning. 

Chapter 7. 

1-10-25 Jeremiah's prophecy at the temple gate. 
1-20 His appeal for reform. 
21-26 God's command at the Exodns. Its treatment. 
27, 28 God foretells the rejection of Jeremiah's message. 
29-8-3 The horrible lesson of Hinnom. 
4-17 Persistence of the nation's apostasy. Eesult. 
18-9-22 The prophet's lamentation. 
23-26 Divine direction as to self -congratulation. 

Chapter 10. 

1-10 Warning against heathen cnstoms and superstitions. 

11-16 The retort against idolatry. 

17-25 A prophecy of captivity. 

Chapter 11. 

1-8 God's charge to the prophet about the covenant. 
9-17 Eevolt of the people against the covenant. Eesult. 
18-23 Their conspiracy against Jeremiah. 

Chapter 12. 

1-4 The prophet's plea to God against them. 
5-17 God's answer to him. 

5, 6 Their further treachery foretold. 
7-13 God's dealing with them. 
14-17 His final treatment of their enemies. 

Chapter 13. 

1-14 The lesson of the girdle and the wine skins. 
15-27 Jeremiah's warning to the people. 

Chapter 14. 

1-15-21 The lesson of the drouth. 

1-6 Judah's cry of anguish. 
7-9 Jeremiah's intercession. 
10-12 God's reply. 

13 Jeremiah's excuse for them. 
14-18 God's answer. 
19-22 The prophet's desperate appeal. 



JEREMIAH. 601 



Chapter 15. 

1-9 God's answer. 
10 Jeremiah's self-bewailment. 
11-14 God's answer. 
15-18 Jeremiah's personal plea. 
19-21 God's answer. 
Chapter 16. 
1-13 Destruction of the Judeans foretold. Reason. 
14-21 Their future restoration. 
Chapter 17. 

1-4 Persistence of Judah in idolatry. Result. 
5-11 The law of the curse and the blessing. 
12-18 The true object of confidence. 
19-27 Message to Jerusalem concerning the Sabbath. 
Chapter 18. 
1-17 The lesson from the potter's work. 
18 Plot of the people against Jeremiah. 
19-23 Jeremiah's pra} r er. 
Chapter 19. 

1-13 The lesson of the earthen bottle. 
14, 15 The lesson reaffirmed in the temple court. 
Chapter 20. 

1, 2 111 treatment of the prophet by Pashur. 
3-6 Jeremiah's prophecy against him. 
7-13 The passionate appeal of the prophet to God. 
14-18 His curse of his birthday. 
Chapter 21. 

1, 2 Zedekiah's inquiry of God by Jeremiah. 
3-14 God's answer. 

3-7 Message to the king. 
8-10 Message to the people. 
11-14 Message to the royal house. 
Chapter 22. 
1-30 God's message by Jeremiah to the king's house. 
1-9 The exhortation, promise and threatening. 
10-30 The woe pronounced. 
Chapter 23. 

1-4 Prophecy concerning the shepherds and the flock. 
5-8 The righteous king of David's house. 
9-40 The picture of the evils of the land. 



602 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 24. 

1-3 The prophet's vision of figs. 
4-10 The interpretation. 
Chapter 25. 
1-38 Jeremiah's message to Jerusalem and all Judea. 
1-7 His former warning to them. 
8-11 Their captivity in Babylon foretold. 
12-33 Desolation of the nations. 
34-38 Warning to the shepherds. 
Chapter 26. 
1-24 An incident of the prophecy at the temple gate. 
1-7 God's message by Jeremiah. 
8-11 The prophet's arrest and accusation. 
12-15 His reply. 

16-24 His defense by the princes. 
Chapter 27. 

1-11 God's message for Zedekiah. 
12-22 Jeremiah delivers the message. . 
Chapter 28. 

1-11 Prophecy of Hananiah. 
12-17 God's reply by Jeremiah. 
Chapter 29. 

1-15 God's message to the captives in Babylon. 
16-20 Message concerning those who remained in the land. 
21-32 The fate of three false prophets. 
Chapter 30. 

1-31-40 The written prophecy of Israel's and Judah's restoration. 
Chapter 32. 

1-5 The imprisonment of Jeremiah. 
6-15 His purchase of an estate while there. 
16-25 His prayer. 

26-44 God's assurance of Judah's captivity and return. 
Chapter 33. 
1-26 God's second message to Jeremiah in prison. 
1-6 The discipline of Judah by adversity. 
7-26 The latter glory of God's people. 
Chapter 34. 

1-7 God's message by Jeremiah at the siege of Jerusalem. 
8-22 Message on breaking the treaty about bond servants. 



JEREMIAH. 

Chapter 35. 
1-11 Obedience of the Eechabites to their father. 
12-19 God's lesson to Judah drawn from them. 
Chapter 36. 

1-3 God's command to Jeremiah to write. 
4-8 Jeremiah's order to Baruch. 
9, 10 The writing read to the people. 
11-19 Its reading to the princes. 

20-26 Its reading to the king. His treatment of the roll. 
27-32 Reproduction of the roll. 
Chapter 37. 

1, 2 Character of Zedekiah. 
3-10 His request of Jeremiah. The reply. 
11-21 Imprisonment of the prophet. Secret interview by the king. 
Chapter 38. 

1-6 Casting of the prophet into a dungeon. 
7-9 Appeal of an Ethiopian in his behalf. 
10-13 The prophet's rescue by the king's order. 
14-28 Another secret interview by the king. 
Chapter 39. 

1-14 Fall of Jerusalem. Liberation of Jeremiah. 
15-18 Message of God by Jeremiah (yet in prison) to the Ethiopian. 
Chapter 40. 

1-6 God's message to Jeremiah after his release. 
7-12 Gedaliah made governor. The people resort to him. 
13-16 Johanan warns him of a conspiracy. His disbelief. 
Chapter 41. 

1-10 Murder of Gedaliah and his company by Ishmael. 
11-18 Rescue of Ishmael's captives by Johanan. 
Chapter 42. 

1-6 Petition of Johanan and his company to Jeremiah. 
7-22 God's answer to them by Jeremiah. 
Chapter 43. 

1-7 Their treatment of the message. Flight into Egypt. 
8-13 God's message to them by Jeremiah in Egypt. 
Chapter 44. 

1-14 God's message to all the Jews in Egypt. 
15-19 Their answer to the prophet. 
20-30 His reply. 



604 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

Chapter 45. 

1-5 God's message by Jeremiah to Baruch. 
Chapter 46. 

1-28 Prophecy of Jeremiah concerning Egypt. 
Chapter 47. 

1-7 Prophecy concerning the Philistines. 
Chapter 48. 

1-47 Prophecy concerning Moab. 
Chapter 49. 

1-6 Prophecy concerning Ammon. 

7-22 Prophecy concerning Edom. 
23-27 Prophecy concerning Damascus. 
28-33 Prophecy concerning Kedar and Hazor. 
34-39 Prophecy concerning Elam. 
Chapter 50. 

1-51-64 Prophecy concerning Babylon. 
Chapter 52. 

1-34 Story of the downfall of Judea. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :1. — The land of Benjamin was next north of that of Judah. 
Anathoth was not far from Jerusalem. It was one of the four cities given 
by Benjamin to Aaron and his sons. 

2, 3. — The time of this prophecy was the thirteenth year of Josiah. It 
was more than fifty years since any prophet had spoken, but the career 
of this prophet reaches forward to the captivity of Judah, through the 
reign of five kings. 

4-10. — The Lord gave to the prophet first personal assurance that he 
had been chosen for this work. The meaning of the word "sanctify" is 
separated, or set apart for special use. Verse 6, it is thought that he 
was under twenty-five years of age at the time of his call, and the word 
used for child is the same as used for young man. The legal age for 
entering the priestly office was thirty. The Lord gives to him the signs 
of verse 9 to assure him that his efforts will not be in vain. 

11-16. — In this vision he sees an almond rod. The almond tree was 
called a wakeful tree because it flowered in January and bore fruit in 
March, thus waking early from the sleep of winter. And the language 
here indicates that this tree symbolized God's early execution of his 



JEREMIAH. 605 

purpose. Maurer puts it, "As thou hast seen a vision of the wakeful 
tree, so I will be wakeful as to my word." The boiling pot is said to be 
an Eastern symbol of the raging war. The original of the latter clause 
in verse 13 indicates a pot tipped sideways about to pour its contents on 
Judea. The kingdom here mentioned no doubt refers to the Babylonians, 
because being unable to cross Judea, they must enter from the north. 
About this time they had conquered the Assyrians. The gateway of the 
city was the place of administering justice, and it would be there that the 
victorious Babylonians would practice their cruelty on the Hebrews. All 
this according to verse 16 was God's judgment upon them for their 
wickedness. 

17-19. — Such a picture as this would be a frightful one for a young 
prophet to set before his people, especially since they would resent bitterly 
such an inference. Hence the warning to the prophet. He was made to 
understand that his success depended on the bold discharge of his duty, 
and that though he was a young man he should be a tower of strength 
to his nation. 

Ch. 2:1-3. — Now God gives him a message for Jerusalem. First he 
reminds them of their early history, how they were led of God in the 
wilderness, how they prospered, were protected by him and evil threat- 
ened to all who sought to do them harm. That was a clean picture, and 
would at once engage the mind and interest of all Hebrews. It carried 
back their thoughts to the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

4-7. — But he quickly contrasts with that pleasing story the present 
reproach of the people. In this reproach he first refers to their want of 
gratitude. Even in the days of God's leading in the wilderness their 
fathers had often turned their backs on God, and repeatedly through the 
years that followed they had sinned against him with a high hand. They 
had either forgotten or brazenly ignored the story of the Exodus and the 
promise land, and had defiled Canaan with the abominations of the 
heathen whom they had displaced. 

8. — Even the priests, whose business it was to teach the law, were in 
their hearts' strangers to God. The rulers, whose duty it was to shepherd 
the people, were transgressors, and the prophets, who should have warned 
all against their apostasy, were miserable followers of Baal. 

9-12. — Now the Lord makes this strong appeal to them: Look about 
you to Chittim (the isle of Cypress west) and Kedar, belonging to the 
Bedouin Arabs, east, and see if you can find a precedent for a nation 
changing their gods. Even idolaters do not do that, and yet you have 
changed your God for those who are no gods (idols). 



606 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

13. — Thus the people had committed a double evil; they had forsaken 
God, who gives all things, and they had made for themselves miserable 
idols, that could give them nothing of the water of life. The figure was- 
taken from that of a well. The people had forsaken the flowing fountain 
and had made a miserable tank that could not hold the water put into it. 

14-19. — Mark the result which he here states. Israel was no slave ; he 
was called God's first-born. Nevertheless, ten tribes had gone into 
captivity. Verse 16 mentions two cities which stood for the whole of 
Egypt, one being the capital, the other that with which the Jews most 
came in contact, the reference being to an invasion that was shortly to 
take place by the Egyptians, who put a heavy tax on the land. Verse 17 
furnishes the explanation. The word "Shihor" in the revised version 
means the Nile. "The river" means the Euphrates. The thought is, you 
have brought these calamities on yourselves by your own wickedness. 

20-27. — In verse 20 he refers to God's providences of old in their 
behalf, and how basely they had forsaken him. The same thought is. 
expressed in verse 21 under the figure of a plant. In verse 22 he refers 
to them as a person too dirty to be cleaned with soap. The valley men- 
tioned refers to Hinnom, southeast of Jerusalem, "rendered infamous by 
the human sacrifices to Moloch in it." Verses 23-25 refer to the passions- 
of wild animals, to which the people are here compared by pointing out 
their passions for strange gods. Verse 25 means, Do not wear out your 
shoes running after strange gods, or make your throats thirsty by pleading 
to them. The rest of the verse, however, expresses their determination 
to go on in the same old way. Their shame appears when they are 
confronted with the truth, and can make no answer. 

27-3-5. — They were always willing to turn to God in time of trouble. 
Then God says to them, Go to your idols and let them bring you relief. 
The last part of verse 28 means that they had as many gods as there 
were cities; each city had its local god. Verses 29 and 30 say, Do not 
plead with me; I have tried to bring you to the right way, and you 
would not receive my correction. The people acted toward me as if I 
had been repulsive to them. A woman will not forget that which has 
been an ornament to her, but my people have forgotten, though I have 
been an ornament to them. Verse 33 indicates that their conduct toward 
God had been so outrageous as to become an example for lewd women. 
Verse 35 shows that the worst of all was their claim, notwithstanding all 
this, that they were innocent. They should be ashamed of seeking the 
protection of Egypt just as they had been ashamed of seeking the pro- 
tection of Assyria. From Egypt they should go out in despair with their 



JEREMIAH. 607 

hands to their heads. The common law of marriage forbids a man after 
having divorced a woman, taking her from another man, but from a 
religions standpoint the Hebrews have done repeatedly what was just 
as bad as that. Verse 2 intensifies this same thought. Hence verses 3, 4 
-and 5 are a strong appeal to them to repent. 

6-11. — From verse 6 on, may be another vision given a little later. 
God calls the attention of the prophet to the shameless idolatries of the 
northern kingdom and of her final apostasy. In spite of the fact that 
Judah saw all of this, she also did likewise. And what was still worse, 
Judah pretended all the while to be serving the Lord. Hence the language 
of verse 11. Israel apostatized openly. Judah followed her example 
in secret, and yet all the while claimed to be better than Israel. The 
latter was worse than the first. 

12-15. — It is thought by some authorities that the language of verse 
13 was addressed to Israel and was meant to provoke Judah to jealousy. 
At this time the northern kingdom had gone into captivity, but there is 
no doubt that if in their captivity they had repented the Lord would have 
brought them back again from their captivity. The expression "one of 
a city" indicates that though but one or two Israelites were in a strange 
city they should not be forgotten. Verse 15 indicates a marked change 
from the horrors of their captivity to such as would accept the call to 
repentance. 

Verses 16-18 indicate a condition growing out of the acceptance of the 
Lord's call, which should be so glorious in its consummation that it 
should utterly overshadow all the glory of the Jewish tabernacle. The 
glories of true religion in the heart should outshine all the splendors of 
ancient Israel. It is likely that this language is prophetic of the days 
of the Messiah, and precisely this would have been the case had the 
Hebrews accepted the conditions of this call and the Savior whom they 
afterwards crucified. 

19-25. — The question would naturally arise, How could such a thing be 
after the apostasy and scatterment of the nation? The latter part of 
verse 20 answers the question ; it should come to pass by their repentance 
and turning to the Lord. They must come back as they went away. The 
heights mentioned in verse 21 were the places where the false gods were 
worshiped, and, as verse 23 indicates, these gods failed to bring the help 
which was promised to Israel, but rather (verse 24) cost them their 
possessions. Hence the Tightness of the confession in verse 25. 

Ch. 4:1, 2. — The promise of verses 1 and 2 is plain and fair. God's 
protection of the nation was made dependent upon their faithfulness 



608 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

to him. The thought of the last clause in verse 1 is, Thou shalt take a 
solemn oath to be faithful to me. Had the Hebrews been faithful to God 
the}' would have become literally the joy and pride of all nations. All 
people would have received their God through their preaching and would 
have become one with them in aim and purpose. These first two verses 
are directed to the northern kingdom, who had gone into captivity, and 
still held out to them a part in the covenant. 

Verses 3-18 are directed especially to the southern kingdom, Judah. 
The thought is, Prepare yourselves for a better service. Let not circum- 
cision be simply an empty form. Make your religion mean something 
lest I bring the same evil upon you that was brought upon Israel. The 
lion mentioned in verse 7 was the power of Babylon, which did actually 
destroy Judah because she would not repent. The language of verse 9 
indicates that the punishment should be appalling. The prophet at this 
point pleads God's former promise. But the Lord continues to tell of the 
terrible judgments that shall come upon the people. In verse 14 the 
prophet breaks out in an appeal to the people to take warning, reminding 
them of the evil that has come upon Israel. 

19-31. — The rest of the chapter is a wail of distress and a picture of 
desolation. It foretells the trouble that Babylon shall bring upon them 
suddenly. The power which had once courted the favor of Judah had 
now turned to despoil her. These verses are an actual description of the 
desolation which came upon the land after its destruction by the Baby- 
lonians. This prophet lived to see that destruction and to* write his 
lamentations over it. 

Ch. 5:1-9. — The first nine verses of chapter 5 show the moral con- 
dition which brought about destruction. So universal was the corruption 
that it was said, See if you can find one just man. Their most solemn 
declarations in the name of their God were perjury. As a result God, 
who loved the truth, must contend against them. Not only the common 
people refused to return to him, but even the leaders when appealed to, 
rejected God. Hence the language of verses 6-9. 

10-19. — Even after all this the Lord's threat toward them was tempered 
with mercy. It was in substance, Begin to cut off the branches of the 
tree, but do not as yet cut it down. Yerses 12 and 13 show how the people 
had treated the word of the Lord. For this cause Babylon was brought 
against them, and their implements of warfare kept dealing out death to 
the Hebrews. And so their quiver (the place where their arrows were 
kept) was called an open grave. Verse 19 was to be the Lord's answer 
when they appealed to him for a reason for this destruction. 



JEREMIAH. 609 

20-31. — The final theme of this lesson is easy to be understood. It 
was a command to the prophet to warn the people. God reminds them of 
his power and of the reverence that is due him. He shows that iniquity 
is responsible for all the evil that shall come upon them. He warns them 
of the evil men among them who bite and devour, and who practice evil 
for the unhallowed gain. And finally he speaks of the falsity even of the 
prophets and the priests, declaring that the people are in favor of this 
iniquity, the most hopeless feature of the case. 

Ch. 6 :l-30. — At this point the prophet intensifies his preceding 
utterances by a call to the inhabitants to flee for their lives. The places 
here mentioned are a few miles south of Jerusalem. And he pictures an 
invading army coming from the north, and so says, Build your signal 
towers in the countries south, and warn the inhabitants of coming danger. 
The daughter of Zion meant Jerusalem. Yerse 4 represents the enemy 
so eager for the attack that they make it at noon time, a rare occurrence, 
and continue their hostilities even after nightfall. Yerse 6 represents 
the prosecution of the siege by building a high mound against the walls 
of the city, thus allowing the attacking army to get over the walls. Yerse 
7 states the reason for God's displeasure, and verse 8 gives an exhortation 
to Jerusalem, which if she had followed might have turned aside the 
calamity. The Lord here warns them that the visitation of this calamity 
shall not only be a thing terrible, but the desolation shall be universal. 
Yerses 9-12 describe the process, and verses 13-15 state the reason. Yerse 
16 was the Lord's advice to the people as to the way they should go, 
together with their answer. Yerse 17 is a repetition of the same thought. 
Because of their unwillingness comes the result mentioned in verses 
18-30. In verses 20 and 21 God declares his unwillingness to accept the 
form of godliness without its spirit. Because the nation had fallen into 
that evil, therefore the terrors of the following verses. Yerses 29 and 30 
use the figure of the worker in silver fiercely burning away the dross, 
which, however, reappeared as fast as it is purged away, until the whole 
mass is rejected. 

Ch. 7:1-20. — The prophecy here mentioned occupies the next four 
chapters, and is supposed to have been delivered by the prophet at one 
of the yearly festivals. He stands at the temple gate, where all the 
people will hear him. These first twenty verses are a burning appeal for 
reform. If you will quit your evil, he declares, and trust not in lying 
prophets, you may escape the evils which shall otherwise surely come 
upon you. But you cannot do those evils and be delivered from the 
results. Such a conception would be to regard God's houses as a den of 



610 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

robbers. Verse 12 refers them to Shiloh, where the ark was first placed 
by Joshua, and calls to their minds how it had been forsaken and 
punished because of its evil. Thus, he declares, I will do to Jerusalem. 
The remaining verses remind them that they need not continue prayer 
and expect answers so long as they did the evils mentioned in verse 18. 

Verses 21-26 refer to the fact that when the Hebrews first became a 
nation God referred not to the offering of sacrifices, but to obedience 
When the people became stubborn and refused to hear the voice of G-od 
md keep his commandments he sent them the prophets, but the people 
treated these messengers worse than their fathers had originally treated 
the message of God as given by Moses. 

27, 28. — Here God warns the prophet that the people would reject 
his message.' Nevertheless, it was necessary to warn them faithfully, even 
though the warning was foreknown to be treated with contempt. The 
language of verse 28 would be a cutting truth to hurl at the people. 

29-8-3. — From verse 29 on is voiced the terrible lesson of Hinnom. 
"Verse 29 uses the figure of a woman who casts away her ornaments and 
goes up the hills to weep for her lost children." Some of the abominations 
of idolatry had been put in the Jewish temple, and in this valley just 
by the city they had built idol altars, and were burning their children to 
idol gods. Here, God declares, they should pay the penalty in frightful 
slaughter by their enemies, until there would be so many dead that there 
would be no room in the valley to bury them. Even more, their victorious 
enemies should violate the sanctity of the sepulchers and drag forth their 
dead, possibly in search of plunder, and after robbing them of ornaments 
and treasures spread the carcasses before the idol gods. 

4-17. — The Lord here suggests to the prophet a figure of common life 
to illustrate their persistent apostas}'. The rule is that a fallen man will 
rise, and one who goes away will return ; but these people were persistently 
holding fast to their deceit and refusing to repent of their wickedness. 
Even the dumb brutes displayed more consistency than this people, and 
yet they prided themselves on their wisdom and their possessions of the 
law of the Lord. As a consequence of such a condition, but one course 
was left open to the Lord, to give them into the hands of their enemies 
and destroy them from the land (verses 10-17). 

18-9-22. — Here follows the lamentation of the prophet from verse 18 
through to verse 22 of chapter 9. The prophet here hears the cry of the 
captive people from the foreign land. And in answer to the query, Is 
not the Lord in Zion ? r comes back God's retort, Yes, but why have they 
provoked me to anger with their idolatry ? Then the prophet voices the 



JEEEMIAH. 611 

language of verses 20-22. His feelings are expressed in verse 1, chapter 
9. His inclinations in verse 2. And the explanation of both is given in 
verses 3-6. The seemingly harsh judgment of God in the destruction of 
his chosen people is seen in a very different light when verses 7-9 are 
considered. To the one who has a strong attachment for his native place 
the prophet's feelings as expressed in verses 10-12 are not difficult of 
understanding. The language of verses 13-16 is exactly in accord with 
the threats and promises which God has placed before his people from the 
beginning. It was customary in those days to hire women as mourners 
on funeral occasions, and the prophet here suggests that it is fitting that 
such be hired to make a lamentation over the woes of his native land. 

23-26. — Here is a divine rule as to a thing in which a man may take 
honest pride. It is not wisdom, for that is only a knowledge of relations 
which God fixed long before man. It is not commanding influence nor 
riches, but better than all, the source of it all — the understanding and 
knowledge of God. The wickedness of the nations here mentioned makes 
their punishment just and necessary. And the disappearance of these 
nations from the pages of history shows how certainly their iniquity has 
been visited upon them. 

Ch. 10:1-10. — The first ten verses of chapter 10 warn the people not 
to be influenced by the superstitious signs which characterize the heathen. 
Out of such superstition grew idolatry. After peopling the air and storm 
clouds and waters with gods of their own imaginations the next step was 
to make images of such gods and bow down to them. These ten verses 
furnish a profitable study of the origin of idolatry. 

In verses 11-16 he puts an answer into the mouth of one who is tempted 
by idolaters. Verse 11 is in the Chaldean language. "A formula of 
reply to Chaldee idolaters in the tongue most intelligible to the latter." 
No doubt the speaker pointed to the heavens and said, The god who 
cannot make these heavens must perish. The language of verses 12 and 
13 is then applied to the true God. The meaning of verses 14 and 15 
is, the maker of idols is shamed by his own work. The "portion of Jacob" 
mentioned refers to the true God. 

17-25. — The latter clause of verse 17 applies to Jerusalem. It was 
supposed to be fortified against any sieges, but the prophet here tells 
the people that they will have to move. In verses 19 and 20 he bewails the 
fact, and states the reason in verse 21. The reference in verse 22 is to 
the hosts of Babylon who should spoil the country. They came into 
Judah by way of the north. Verses 23-25 are the prophet's appeal to God 



612 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

for mercy in the correction and for due remembrance in the punishment 
and iniquity of the heathen also. 

Ch. 11 :l-8.- — In the reign of Josiah, Hilkiah, the high priest, found 
the book of the law in the temple when some repairs were being made. 
This was about five years after Jeremiah began to prophesy. "This 
covenant" (verse 2) referred to this find. The "ye" referred to means 
not only the prophet Jeremiah, but also the priests whose duty it was to 
read it to the people. Xo doubt Jeremiah laid this charge upon the 
priests. The covenant was the one that God had given at Sinai, about the 
time of the Exodus. It will be remembered that at that time curses were 
pronounced on the man who failed to keep this. Yerse 6 shows that 
Jeremiah was also sent throughout Judah to proclaim the words of this 
law. He was to remind them how earnestly and constantly God exhorted 
their fathers to obedience, and how in spite of it all they had been 
contrary and disobedient. 

9-17. — King Josiah was trying to reform his nation. The people 
joined together in a deliberate conspiracy to prevent his reform. The 
Lord here calls the prophet's attention to the revolt against him, referring 
to the fact that both Israel and Judah had broken God's covenant. 
(Israel had already gone into captivity and Judah was soon to go.) 
Yerse 11 declares that they should not be able to escape the evil that was 
to come, and their cries to their false gods would be of no help to them. 
The prophet is instructed not to pray for them, because prayer would 
avail nothing in their behalf. "My beloved" refers to Judah. She is 
here used under the figure of the wife of a priest, who because of her 
unrighteous conduct has forfeited her right in his house or to eat at his 
table. The chosen seed of Abraham had been counted as a green olive 
tree, but here the tree is described as being broken with the noise of a 
great tumult, referring, no doubt, to the invading armies which had 
carried some of them captive and were to take others. In spite of all 
God's care and warning he is here obliged to visit upon them the very 
calamities with which in the beginning he threatened to visit them if 
they disobeyed him. 

Yerses 18-23 refer to a conspiracy against the prophet, about which 
he knew nothing until the Lord revealed it to him. It was after the 
prophet had made his tour to the cities of Judah and gone back to his 
home at Anathoth that they conspired against his life. He pleads with 
the Lord for vengeance against these his enemies, and is assured that 
their young men shall die by the sword and their daughters by famine. 

Ch. 12:1-4. — At this point the prophet makes a plea to know why the 



JEREMIAH. 613 

wicked are allowed to prosper. He says, Thou hast planted them and 
they grow and profess to honor you with their mouths, while their hearts 
are far from you. Here he pleads that the Lord may visit upon them 
their just dues for their wickedness which desolates the land, and 
originates such conspiracies as this one against his life. 

5, 6. — In answer to this plea God first foretells that he shall know even 
greater treachery. The figure of verse 5 is, If it wearies you so to run 
against a footman, how can you run against a horse ? And to use another 
figure, Though you are secure in ordinary times, yet it may be different 
when the flood comes (swelling of the Jordan). Yerse 6 explains the 
figures. Even your own relatives will deal treacherously with you, and 
though they profess peace, you may not dare to believe it. All this was 
to say that still greater trials were to come upon the prophet. 

7-13. — Now God tells his future dealing with them. He speaks of his 
chosen people as beasts and birds of prey. Using another figure, he 
compares them to a vineyard that has been despoiled by shepherds with 
flocks. The most hopeless feature of it was that in its desolation the 
people seemed to be entirely unconcerned. Again in verse 12 he uses the 
figure of a land being despoiled by an invading army. The thought of 
verse 13 is, that while at first the heritage promised well by having good 
seed put into it, it turned out at last to be a dreadful failure. 

In verses 14-17 it becomes evident that not only was the chosen family 
responsible for their failure and to be punished accordingly, but that the 
evil nations about them were responsible for their part in the transaction, 
and were likewise to be punished. The nations about Judah, such as 
Tyre, S}rria, Egypt and others, were also to fall under the hand of the 
enemy. And God's chosen people were to be brought back to their land. 
After this they were to be brought again to their own places, where if 
they would learn to do well they should be incorporated and be made a 
part of God's chosen people; otherwise they would be utterly destroyed. 

Ch. 13 :1-14. — This lesson of the girdle was a simple one. The girdle 
was to fit closely about the loins, and was therefore accounted as a most 
important and honorable article of dress, so the chosen people was a most 
important and honorable part of God's plan of salvation, and were to be 
for a praise and a glory, but they refused to be obedient. In the other 
figure the prophet announced that every wine bottle was to be filled with 
wine. When they answered, We know that, the Lord instructed him to 
say to them that all Jerusalem, even priests and prophets, would be filled 
with drunkenness, and would dash one another to pieces in their drunken 



614 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

brawls. Even the nearest relatives would be pitiless toward each other. 
Thus sin becomes destructive of its victims. 

15-27. — Here the prophet warns the people to hear, to put away their 
pride, and to give God the glory due to him before their joy should be 
turned into everlasting sorrow. The prophet saw captivity just before 
the people, and noted with inexpressible sorrow their stubborn refusal 
to serve God was rapidly bringing his vision into reality. He appeals to 
the royal heads of the nation to humble themselves, because he sees their 
power about to be broken and the nation carried into captivity. Verse 20 
doubtless refers to the invasion of the enemy. In verse 21 the rendering 
of the American committee makes the thought much clearer. He asks, 
What will you say when those whose friendship you have been so 
intimately cultivating shall be set over you as masters ? The next verse 
tells the answer which shall be made when the Jews complain of this 
treatment. Then, as if reflecting over the conditions, the prophet adds, 
It is as likely that the Ethiopian will change his color, or the leopard 
his spots, as that you shall do good. And so because of that evil the Jews 
are sure to be scattered. Yerse 26 refers to the custom of heaping 
ignominy on a captive woman by throwing her skirts above her head. 
And verse 27 tells why they were deserving of such ignominy. 

Ch. 14:1-6. — The drouth here mentioned was sent upon Judah as a 
punishment for her stubborn resistance toward God. The expression 
"little ones" means inferior ones or servants. "To the waters" were 
better rendered "for water." It was an almost unheard of thing for a 
hind to forsake her young, and yet it was no doubt a common sight in 
this terrible period. Hunger and thirst crazed her. In their thirst the 
wild asses would stand on the heights and sniff the air, trying to draw 
in the moisture. 

7-9. — The prophet here makes a strong intercession to God in behalf 
of the famine-stricken people. He confesses their sins, and pleads that 
the Lord might abide among them, and not be as a traveler who spreads 
his tent for a time and then takes his departure. He pleads God's promise 
to abide among them, and pleads the fact that they are called by God's 
name. Verse 9 uses the figure of one who is so stunned by a vision of a 
mighty calamity that he leaves the object of his care in utter despair, not 
being able to help him. 

10-12. — The Lord replies to this, The people have loved to wander; 
they have not restrained themselves, and now the Lord will not accept 
them, but will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins upon them. 
Moreover, the Lord commands the prophet not to pray for the people, 



JEREMIAH. 615 

for he would not hear their cry nor accept their offering. He would 
consume them by famine, by sword and by pestilence. ' 

13. — Jeremiah here makes an excuse for them. He says that the people 
have been assured of peace and of plenty by the prophets. 

14-18. — The Lord answers, That they have prophesied lies in my name, 
and that these very false prophets shall be consumed by the sword and 
famine. The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast into the street, 
and shall die with none to bury them. The prophet was commanded to 
express his ceaseless weeping for the terrible condition of his people. 
The field was strewn with those who were slain with the sword, and the 
city with those who were sick with famine. 

19-22. — The prophet here seems to become dismayed. He makes a 
desperate appeal for God's help (see verses 19-21). Verse 22 gives his 
reason. 

Ch. 15:1-9. — God answers, My mind could not be changed even by 
Moses or Samuel. Cast them out of my sight, and when they say, Where 
shall we go, answer, To death or to the sword, or to famine, or to captivity. 
Take your choice. I will appoint the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the 
fowls and beasts to devour and to destroy. And I will toss this people 
to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of the evils 
done by King Manasseh in Jerusalem. No one shall pity the city. But 
because she has rejected the Lord, she is destroyed. I am weary of 
showing her mercy. I have warned them and afflicted them, destroyed 
the husbands, spoiled the young men, brought anguish, terror and death, 
put them to shame and confusion, but the}' would not repent; so I will 
deliver the rest of them to the sword of their enemies. 

10. — Here the prophet bewails himself that he has been made a man 
of strife and contention, bearing a message with which everybody was 
displeased. He says, I have not taken any business advantage of anyone, 
and yet all men curse me. 

11-14. — The Lord promises to make him a power for good, and to make 
those who curse him come supplicating him in the time of affliction. In 
verses 12-14 he refers to the mighty armies from the north, who like the 
well tempered steel cannot be broken. The language of verse 13 refers 
to the treasures of Judah. And the better rendering of verse 14 is, I will 
make your enemies pass into a land which thou knowest not. The "you" 
here mentioned refers to Judah, Jeremiah's people. 

15-18. — Here the prophet makes a personal plea. Do not let thy long 
suffering of mine enemies be the means of depriving me of my life. He 
refers to the fact that he has been faithful to God. Rejoiced in his words, 



616 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

had been called by the Lord's name, and had been boycotted, because of 
his faithful prophesies. The indignation here referred to was probably 
the indignation God feels toward all sin. In the latter part of verse 18 
the prophet grows impatient and suggests that God has failed to protect 
Jeremiah from his enemies, as he had promised to do. 

19-21. — He answers this by saying, If thou wilt return to the patient 
discharge of your prophetic duties, if thou wilt keep separated the 
objectionable from the part of your nature which I can use, then thou 
shalt be my representative. Your enemies shall bow to you. I will make 
you a protection to this people, and when they fight against you they shall 
not prevail. I will deliver you and redeem you from them. 

Ch. 16:1-13. — Having brought .the prophet to realize what God 
demanded of him, the Lord now continues to foretell the evil which he 
is shortly to bring to pass upon Judea. He warns the prophet against 
having a family in that land, and pictures the grievous deaths, bodies 
unburied and unlamented, eaten by the fowls and beasts. The prophet 
is forbidden to mingle with them either in joy or in mourning. The 
prophet himself was to live to see them all go to death or into captivity. 
The question asked by the people in verse 10 shows how unwilling they 
were to be taught. They should have known its answer, but they had 
sinned on and on until wrong seemed to be right in their eyes. Verses 
11-13 is God's answer to the question. 

Verses 14-21 put a silver lining on the dark cloud. It is a question 
whether or not this language was spoken to give joy or pain. Possibly 
the thought is, that the captivity in Babylon shall be so much worse than 
that of Egypt, that the horrors of Egypt shall be forgotten in the greater 
horrors of Babylon. In any event restoration was promised. But such 
restoration meant captivity. And verse 16 describes dreadful things for 
which verse 17 is a reason. Verse 19 implies the restoration and the 
teaching which should follow the coming Christ and the spread of his 
doctrine. Such things as our eyes have witnessed through the years since 
the coming of Christ have made the language of this verse intelligible. 
And this frightful captivity of Israel seemed to be necessary in order to 
carry out these results. 

Ch. 17:1-4. — The persistence of Judah's idolatry is indioated by the 
first verse of chapter 17. The principles of idolatry were engraven where 
should have been graven the principles of God's law. Their persistence 
in idolatry is an illustration of the strength of teaching and of the 
associations upon the life. Because of this curse into which they had 
fallen came the lamentable result named in verses 3 and 4, 



JEREMIAH. 617 

5-11. — From the very beginning God had pressed upon his people the 
thought that they would be blessed as long as they were faithful to God, 
but would be grievously cursed whenever they turned away from him 
and put their confidence in men. The fact that this people could not be 
made to see when evil was about to come upon them, and even despised 
ihe warning of God's prophet, verified the truth of those utterances. So 
long as the people were faithful to God verses 7 and 8 were true of them. 
At the time of this prophecy verse 9 exactly stated the condition. They 
had left trust in Jehovah and tied their faith to man. In verse 9 the 
revised version says "sick" instead of "wicked." The entire nation was 
sick from their sins. The thought expressed in verses 10 and 11 is 
illustrated by a bird which steals eggs which she has not laid, and after 
having hatched them the young birds leave her for their own mother. 
So the one who gathers riches illegally shall have them taken from him, 
and will be obliged to confess that the wisdom of which he boasted was 
after all no wisdom. 

12-18. — Contrasted with such false wisdom is the trust in the great 
Jehovah whom the Hebrews had known since the days of Abraham. 
Those who turned their backs on him should be like persons who had 
written their names in the drifting sand. The name would be effectually 
erased by the first wind which scattered the dust. The prophet is here 
expressing his faith in this God and pleading his help. After mentioning 
(verse 15) the taunts with which they greet him, he declares that he did 
not seek the prophetic office, but that what he said was enjoined upon 
him by the Lord, and he is here asking that the Lord will stand by him in 
the matter and not let his enemies overwhelm him. From such passages 
it can be readily seen that the truth was no more popular in those days 
than in our own. 

19-27. — One of the particular evils against which Jeremiah was called 
to raise his voice is here mentioned. He was to stand in the gate of 
Jerusalem before the kings and their followers and thunder God's 
disapproval, of Sabbath desecration. He was to remind them that this 
same injunction was laid upon their fathers, and that they did not 
heed it. ?vTow, he continues, if you will heed and keep God's command- 
ments about the Sabbath this city shall remain. And Jerusalem shall 
be a center for the worship of the Lord. But if you do not heed this 
injunction this city shall be destroyed. It would seem from these 
admonitions that the leading evil of the times was a violation of the 
Sabbath. Xo doubt the leaders in such desecration were the national 
authorities. 



618 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 18 :1-17. — The Lord now sends Jeremiah to the pottery, where he 
sees the potter lay the mud upon the wheel and work it into a vessel. If 
for any reason it should be spoiled in the making the potter might take 
the same clay and out of it fashion a different vessel. Then the Lord 
declares that he will do just as this potter. When he threatens a nation 
with destruction for sin, if it repent he will save it, so if he promises to 
build and establish a nation, if it sin, he will reject it. The prophet was 
commanded to say to the people that God had determined evil against 
them, but that they might repent and be spared. It is possible that in 
verse 12 the people are answering the prophet according to his own words, 
and so they say, "We will do after the stubbornness of our evil hearts, 
as you put it." So he asks where else can a nation be found which has 
forsaken its gods for other gods. But Israel, which was espoused to 
God, has forsaken me for idols. The thought of verse 14 is, no doubt, 
that the supply of waters was inexhaustible, but what seemed as unlikely 
as the failures of the waters had come to pass, viz., the Hebrews had 
forsaken their God. For that reason their land had become what verse 
16 declares of it. And God had threatened them as verse 17 indicates. 

In verse 18 there is a description of the plot which the people formed 
against the prophet. The charge which they made against him was most 
likely this, that he prophesied that there should be no priests nor scribes 
left to explain the law. They contended that God's promise was to the 
effect that these institutions should never perish. For this reason they 
would call him a false prophet. 

19-23. — Jeremiah prays to the Lord against those who contend with 
him. He pleads that he has been righteous and faithful to God and to 
his trust. Verses 21-23 indicate that they had plotted against the 
prophet's life, and that he is here pleading to God to avenge him of his 
enemies. This prayer of Jeremiah reads much like the prayers of David 
in the days when he was fleeing from his enemies. 

Ch. 19:1-13. — The lesson of the earthen bottle was also taken from 
the potter. The prophet was to take representative elders and priests 
to the valley of Hinnom, which was the theater of the Hebrews' idolatrous 
worship. This prophecy is similar to the one in chapter 7 concerning 
this same valley. It recites how that where they had reveled in their 
idolatry there should be long continued and frightful slaughter. So 
great was to be the calamity that this unfortunate people should come to 
be an object of derision among their enemies. History tells us that in 
the time of the siege of Jerusalem parents did actually eat their own 



JEREMIAH. 619 

children. The prophet broke this bottle to indicate how the power of 
Jerusalem should be crushed. 

14, 15. — After the prophet had given this object lesson to the company 
whom he had taken with him he returns to the city, and standing in the 
court of the temple he rehearses the lesson to the people. Thus both 
the leaders and the common people were made to thoroughly understand 
that God had pronouncd evil against them. 

Ch. 20 :1, 2. — At this point begins the violent treatment of the prophet. 
The son of the high priest after smiting him put him in the stocks as 
a common criminal. Those who think that religion in our day is ill 
respected should compare the deference that is shown to religion now 
with this picture of abuse at the hand of God's chosen nation to an 
honored prophet of God, who was himself one of their own number and 
who was seeking their highest good. 

3-6. — When Jeremiah was brought next day out of the stocks by him 
the prophet scathed this man with a denunciation which he would have 
cause long to remember. The prophet gave him a name which meant 
terror on every side, and draws before him a picture of Babylonish 
captivity, saying that Pashur himself should go in chains to Babylon, 
should die and be buried there, together with those to whom he had 
prophesied falsely. N"o doubt it was with exceeding effort that Jeremiah 
heaped such reproaches on those in authority. But he was obliged to 
do so if he was faithful to God's commands. 

7-13. — The passionate appeal of the prophet is based on the fact that 
he was constantly derided for the position that he took. He could not 
protest mildly, but if he protested at all must do so violently, because of 
their desperate wickedness. And the spirit which was within him would g 
not allow him to be still. The thought of the seventh verse is that the 
Lord had laid upon him a burden, which at this time he thinks he is not 
able to bear. And verses 8 and 9 describe what the burden was like. It 
would seem from the language of verse 10 that a part of their object in 
this denunciation was to scare Jeremiah into ceasing his prophecy. The 
language of verse 11, however, expresses the promise that God will be 
with him, and that his persecutors shall finally come to grief. But the 
prophet wants to see speedy vengeance upon them, anil verse 13 indicates 
his faith that deliverance shall speedily come to him. 

14-18. — It is possible that as the reproaches further pressed upon this 
prophet the language of verses 14-18 welled up in his soul. There may 
have elapsed several days between the appeal mentioned before and this 
curse upon his birthday. It is probable that the language of this theme 



620 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

was taken from the book of Job, with which Jeremiah was no doubt 
familiar. There can be no question but what the language is intemperate, 
and, as in the case of Job, if this prophet could have foreseen the end 
of all his trouble he would not have uttered it, but at that time he was 
exceedingly pressed by the circumstances, and perhaps it sometimes 
seemed as if he would be overwhelmed by the enemies which clamored for 
his life. So it sometimes seems in regard to all our labors, and so we are 
taught that amid all our troubles we are to look to him for deliverance 
out of them all. 

Ch. 21 :1, 2. — In the preceding chapter we found the prophet a captive 
at the hands of Pashur, son of the high priest. Here circumstances are 
reversed, and another Pashur is sent by King Zedekiah to inquire of the 
Lord through Jeremiah, because the king of Babylon was moving with 
his army upon the land of Israel. It must have been very humiliating 
to the son of the high priest to see a messenger of his king make humble 
inquiry of the man whom he had so abominably treated. It is claimed 
that this chapter ought to be placed between chapters 37 and 38. The 
language which he uses in the latter part of verse 2 indicates a very 
different spirit from that by which the prophet was so grossly abused in 
the preceding chapter. 

3-7. — God's answer to Zedekiah was a complex one. First, he sends a 
message to the king; the message was this: Your weapons of warfare, 
shall be of no effect. I will fight against you in anger and wrath, and 
smite the city, man and beast; and pestilence shall consume it. After 
all this woe, you, and such of the people as escape the evils already 
mentioned, shall be carried by the king of Babylon into captivity, where 
he shall show you no mercy. 

8-10. — The second part of the answer was to the people. The language 
of verse 8 indicates the messages which God had already given to this 
people as the way of life. They had given no heed to those messages, and 
now the way before them was the way of death; hence the language of 
verse 9. To remain in the city was to be slain by the sword, by famine or 
by pestilence. To go out of the city would be to become a prey to the 
enemy; however, such might thus spare their lives. It is generally 
supposed that the prophet is here advising the people to desert Jerusalem 
and go to the Chaldean army. This city, Jerusalem, says the Lord, shall 
be given into the hand of Babylon and shall be burned. The picture was 
a most appalling one, and must have been very disheartening to such of 
the people as had not wholly closed their heart against the word of the 
Lord. 



JEREMIAH. 621 

11-14. — The third part of the answer was for the royal house. He 
counsels these rulers to speedily mend their ways for the better and spend 
their time and power in undoing some of the evil they had done. Verse 
12 indicates that in that case the punishment which the Lord would bring 
upon them would be less severe. But the Lord continues, I am against 
you. The word "inhabitant" or "inhabitress" doubtless refers to Jeru- 
salem, and no doubt it styled itself the rock, because of its supposed 
impregnability. Verse 14 indicates that it should receive of the fruit of 
its doings according to the extent of its wickedness. All this language 
leaves no doubt of the truth of the theory that God regulates his dealings 
with men according to their conduct. 

Ch. 22:1-9. — In this chapter God sends a message by Jeremiah to the 
king's house. It is no doubt a different message from the one just 
mentioned, and most likely was sent at an earlier date. The first part of 
it is an exhortation, with promise and threatening. God says to the 
prophet, Go to the house of the king and say, Thus saith the Lord : If 
you undo as far as you are able the wrongs of the past, and cease to do 
wrong in the future, you shall go in and out of these gates in security. 
If you do not, your' house shall become a desolation. It is true that you 
are a great landmark in this chosen family, like Gilead and Lebanon, but 
if you sin, I will destroy you, and your land shall be desolate, and your 
calamity shall be the talk of the nations, and it shall be made so plain 
that all men understand that you suffer this calamity because you turned 
your back upon God and worshiped idols. 

10-30. — The rest of the chapter is the utterance of a great wail of woe. 
It assumes that Judea will not heed the commandments already given, 
but will follow sin to her own destruction ; therefore the language which 
follows. Shallum (Jehoahaz), the successor of Josiah, shall go into 
captivity and die in that land. The wail of verse 13 was no doubt 
especially applicable to his case. He had forsaken God's warnings and 
built his house with evil gains. He had defrauded his servants and 
flattered himself with the language of verse 14. But God hurls back in 
answer the language of verse 15. He holds before him the example of 
his father, whose ways Shallum had disregarded; hence the language of 
verses 18 and 19. Verses 20 and 21 remind them that Israel, whose 
conduct had been like the present conduct of Judea, had gone into 
captivity because, as verse 21 declares, they would not hear the word of 
God. Verses 22 and 23 bewail the woe that shall come upon Judea also. 
Verse 24 declares that although Coniah, king of Judea, were as precious 
as the signet upon God's right hand, yet he should be plucked away 



622 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

from his sins and given into the hand of his enemies, and should die 
with the mother who bore him in the land of captivity. Here the 
prophet bursts into a forlorn wail : Is the king a despised idol ? Why 
is he and his descendants cast away into captivity ; and then, as in answer 
to his own question, voices the exhortation which would have prevented 
all this calamity — verse 29. "Verse 30 was a conclusion. Because the 
kings of Judea had forsaken God, he had forsaken them; he would take 
them forever from their throne. 

Ch. 23 :l-4. — The first theme in chapter 23 is a statement of the woe 
that shall be upon the spiritual leaders of Israel. Instead of teaching 
the Lord's will, they had simply used their office for their own gain, and 
instead of building up the people in the knowledge of the Lord, had 
destroyed their faith by making religion so repellant to them; hence 
the latter clause of verse 2. And therefore God promises that he would 
gather his neglected flock from the countries into which the sin of the 
nation should drive them and restore them to their land and put over 
them shepherds of a character that would keep the* way of the Lord. In 
such a condition they should have lack of nothing. 

5-8. — Many writers understand the language of verses 5-8 to refer 
simply to the restoration of Israel from Babylonian captivity ; but I think 
the meaning is far deeper. It does no doubt imply that, but more. 
Judgment under this righteous branch should be executed in the earth. 
This conclusion is still further apparent in the language of verses 7 and 
8. The Lord did, after seventy years, bring back Judah from Babylon, 
but he has not yet brought her back from all the countries in which she 
has been driven because of her sins ; and when that memorable time comes 
it will be far more remarkable than the exodus of this chosen people from 
the oppression of Egypt. It is confidently expected that such a time will 
come. It accords with all Biblical teaching and all reason, and its 
consummation will be the actual accomplishment of that memorable 
picture of Paul in the book of Eomans, in which he declares that Israel 
shall be saved. By the activity of the children of faith in other nations 
who are also Abraham's seed, Israel shall finally be saved. Such a king 
as is here referred to could be no other than the Messiah. 

In verses 9-40 is given a vivid picture of the conditions which called 
out all these anathema. No wonder the prophet exclaimed (verse 9) when 
he sees what he declares in verse 10. The thought is intensified by the 
utterance of verse 11. Not only were they wicked, but they were wicked 
in the very house of God. When such evil was characteristic of the 
spiritual leaders of the people, what was to be expected of the multitudes ? 



JEREMIAH. 623 

Just as he had seen evil in the northern kingdom (verse 13) so he sees 
evil in the southern kingdom (verse 14), and whereas the southern 
kingdom had blamed the northern kingdom of Israel for its idolatry, 
here, as indicated in verse 14, they had been guilty of even worse conduct. 
Hence God's comparison of them with Sodom and Gomorrah. For this 
reason he is bringing upon them the punishment mentioned in verse 15. 
He warns the people that the prophets speak without the authority of 
God, and lyingly tell them that the Lord says peace and safety, when 
there is neither. The answer to the question of verse 18 is, "Xo one;" 
and therefore the anger of the Lord is compared to a storm. The Lord 
declares (verse 21) that these were self-constituted prophets, and that 
had they desired it, that they might have turned the people from their 
evil ways. The thought of verse 23 is doubtless this : The people act as 
if I could not see afar off, or as if I were like their idols, must be at their 
side in order to observe them; hence the declaration of verse 24. God 
characterizes their so-called dreams as lies which draw the minds of the 
people from God. He declares a dream should be given as a dream, and 
God's word should be given as God's word. Because of this condition 
God declares himself to be against them, and that in future when they 
shall ask after the Lord the reply shall be, The Lord will forsake you, 
and that priest who shall declare that he bears the message of the Lord 
shall be punished. It was because the prophets had so abused the 
expression, "The word of the Lord," that God here declares they should 
use it no longer, but that they should be utterly forsaken, cast away from 
God, and become an everlasting reproach and a perpetual shame. 

Ch. 24:1-3. — After Jeconiah had been carried captive to Babylon the 
prophet is shown two baskets of figs before the temple — one of good figs, 
the other bad ones. Whether or not these two baskets of figs were real 
or whether it was a vision in the mind of the prophet does not appear, 
but in either case the lesson will be the same. God called the prophet's 
attention to their presence, and asked him what he saw, in order that his 
mind might be fixed upon the object from which he would draw the 
lesson. It is a possible thing that this vision occurred the year following 
the picture of the last chapter. 

4-10.- — The interpretation of the preceding vision is clear. Certain 
ones of the Jews who were carried captive of Babylon would be benefited 
by the lesson. They would see in it the hand of God visited upon them 
as the result of sin. They would turn to God in sincere repentance, and 
he would bring them out of their captivity and restore them to this 
chosen land, cured of their idolatry. It is a notorious fact that aftei 



624 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the captivity in Babylon the Jewish people were never again guilty of 
idolatry; but there were others of the Jews who would not receive the 
lesson — such as the king and his counselors, and certain ones who had 
made alliance with Egypt and dwelt there. These were the proud spirits 
who would not be reproved, who would not brook any teaching, and they 
were to be left permanently in captivity, the reproach, the taunt and the 
curse, and they should endure the famine and pestilence until they were 
consumed. The philosophy of all this becomes apparent when we take 
note of the fact that today the most difficult class to lead or teach 
religously or morally are those in authority. Strangely enough, those 
who are set to rule often forget that they themselves are subject to the 
higher law which is over all and above all. 

Ch. 25 :l-7. — The prophet is now sent with a message to Jerusalem 
and all Judea. In the first part of the message he reminds them of 
their former warnings from the Lord through him. For twenty-three 
years he had been reproaching, threatening and encouraging them toward 
the right. Amid it all they had kept their faces turned from God, and 
had gone after idols, and had added injury to insult. The language of 
verse 4 indicates that other prophets besides Jeremiah had also been 
warning the people — e. g., Urijah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, etc. 

8-11. — The penalty for all this stubbornness is now set before them. 
The king of Babylon was to carry them into captivity, and also extend 
his power over the surrounding nations. All this land of Judea should 
be so desolated as to be an astonishment to all beholders, and for seventy 
years Babylon should be the ruler of them all. The language of verse 
10 is in frightful contrast to the blessings promised to the people when 
they came from Egypt with Moses to the borders of the land. And yet 
it is precisely what was threatened repeatedly in case they neglected or 
refused to follow God. 

In verses 12-33 there is given a vivid picture of the desolation of the 
nations which should follow later. The first of these mentioned is 
Babylon, who seventy years after the captivity of Judea had its own 
power broken, and by the consent of the conqueror, Cyrus, the captive 
Jews returned to their own land. Although the Lord used this people 
for the punishing of his incorrigible children, he did not excuse them in 
their wicked ways, and brought the inevitable fruit of their evil upon 
them. Babylon fell on account of its sins. Not only was this true, but 
as history has shown all the nations here named around Judea were 
destroj^ed on account of their iniquity, and exist only in the pages of 
history. The prophet was commanded to take a wine cup to represent 



JEREMIAH. 625 

his fury and cause the nations to drink it. Here (verses 18-20) follows 
the list of the doomed peoples. Verse 28 declares that although they 
might refuse to drink, nevertheless they should be forced to do so. Evil 
was designed against them because of their persistent iniquity. They 
had again and again had examples of the Lord's impatience with their 
evil doings, but they would not be reproved. Therefore the language of 
verse 30. The grapes mentioned represent the wine press of God's 
wrath, which represented the destruction of evil. 

34-38. — Hence the concluding theme. After such a picture of deso- 
lation the prophet says, Howl, ye leaders, for the iniquity that is upon 
you, and the punishment which shall be quickly visited. You shall have 
no escape. In all this you shall hear the Lord's voice, and there shall 
be no attention given to your pleadings. All you have that is desirable 
shall be lost to you in this visitation of God's anger, and it shall appear 
as if God had forsaken his own. « 

Ch. 26 :l-7. — The prophecy of Jeremiah at the temple gate (given in 
detail in chapter 7) is here mentioned to bring out a story of God's 
providence. The prophet stood in the temple court, where the multitudes 
who came and went at the time of the great yearly feast might hear him. 
There he utters the language of chapters 7 to 10. The last clause of verse 
2 indicates that it was not lacking in severity. The declaration that 
Jerusalem should become like Shiloh, that is, it should become desolate 
and forsaken, stirred the enmity of the leaders and their followers. It 
was the pride of the Jew that God would not only keep that nation from 
destruction, but make it supreme over all other nations, but he would 
not be convinced that if his nation sinned God would forsake it. This 
language of the prophet is proof positive that God deals with men 
according to their conduct. 

8-11. — The priests and prophets and their followers laid violent hands 
on the prophet. They did not like the message, and so thought to 
maltreat the messenger, the universal argument of savages. What they 
should have done is to correct their evils, forsake their sins and turn to 
God. Instead of that they summoned the princes (the council of state) 
and charged Jeremiah with uttering falsehood in Jehovah's name, the 
penalty for which was death (Deut. 18:20). The gate mentioned was 
the usual place of dispensing justice. This arrest and accusation was 
much like the manner in which the Savior was afterwards treated by this 
same class of people. 

12-15. — The reply of Jeremiah was bold and pointed. We have no 
right to assume that it did not cost him an effort to stand boldly by 



626 BIBLE- SCHOOL BOOK. 

what he had said. God's charge to him in verse 2 indicates that the 
natural tendency would be to avoid trouble by keeping back some of the 
truth, and so being less severe. But seeing that the Lord ordered it, 
the prophet now declares in answer to his accusers verse 12, and backs it 
by verse 13, showing a silver lining to the dark cloud. While he indicates 
that he is willing if need be to die for the truth, he assures them that 
their act of slaying him will only increase their penalty. 

16-24. — The princes who sat in judgment on the case now render their 
verdict, "Not guilty." The prophet had spoken in the name of the Lord. 
This encouraged certain elders to cite instances where before the prophets 
of the Lord had foretold the destruction of Jerusalem. The first one 
mentioned was Micah. See Micah 3:12. Hezekiah took warning from 
the prophecy, and set himself right before the Lord, thereby averting the 
calamity foretold. The other instance (Urijah) suffered death by King 
Jehoiakim for his prophecy, though he fled to Egypt to escape it, yet 
their slaying of him did not turn away the impending evil, which now 
hangs heavier than ever above them. Ahikam was a man of influence 
and a righteous man, and his bold stand on the side of the prophet 
doubtless saved Jeremiah's life at this time. 

Ch. 27:1-11. — In chapter 27 is a message for King Zedekiah. If the 
proper name Jehoiakim is rightly used here, then this message was given 
to the prophet years before it was meant to be delivered, for Zedekiah 
had not yet taken the throne. Some older translations, however, say, 
"In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah." Most likely this message 
was not given until Zedekiah came to the throne. The first part of the 
message pertains to the nations about. Judah. The message was to be 
carried to these various governments by the ambassadors which came to 
King Zedekiah. The message first laid stress upon the fact that the God 
of Israel was the maker of heaven and earth, and that therefore he had 
a right over it and could give it to whom he pleased. Then it declared 
that the king of Babylon was to have the power over all the places 
occupied by these governments, and that they should be obliged to serve 
him until the time came when for its own wickedness Babylon should 
become a prey to other nations. Further, the message gave assurance 
that the nation which refused to submit should bring destruction upon 
itself. The message warns Judah not to listen to any contrary message 
from any prophet. Obedience to God's order would enable all these 
nations to remain in their places. 

12-32. — The prophet now delivers the message to King Zedekiah and 
the messengers of the other nations who were at his court. No doubt it 



JEREMIAH. 627 

required an extraordinary amount of courage to go to the king's court 
with such a message as that when all these kings were congratulating 
themselves on the confederacy which they had formed. The prophet was 
to make them understand that it was God's power and not their own 
on which they were to rely. He states the case to them in such a way 
that they are made to understand that refusal to obey means death. He 
warns them against lying prophets who will endanger the safety of the 
people by inciting them to rebellion. He also gives the same message to 
the priests and the people that all may thoroughly understand the 
situation. Yerse 18 directs that if any of the prophets in question want 
to demonstrate their good standing in God's sight their best method 
would be to intercede with God that the sacred vessels go not from their 
place to Babylon. Jeremiah assures them that these vessels will be 
carried away, and in process of time be returned to Jerusalem. This 
was done by the hand of Cyrus. 

Ch. 28:1-11. — When Jeremiah brought these yokes to the court he 
probably wore one himself and gave one to each of the ambassadors. 
Hananiah, in the presence of the multitude, breaks the yoke on Jeremiah's 
neck and sets a definite time in which he says the Lord had declared that 
Babylon should be conquered and the sacred vessels returned. (Part of 
them had already gone into captivity with King Jeconiah.) This 
prophecy was a direct contradiction of what Jeremiah had said. Jeremiah 
showed how much de desired the peace of his nation by declaring verses 
5 and 6. But, he continues, the prophet whose words come true is the 
one whom the Lord hath sent. 

12-17. — After Hananiah had broken the yoke and Jeremiah had gone 
away God gave a message to Jeremiah for the false prophet. The 
language of verse 13 implies that his course in making this people to 
believe a lie has made the captivity surer and lengthened its duration. 
So it proved, and instead of freedom within two years, this false prophet's 
death gave testimony to the falsity of his prophecy within two months. 

Ch. 29 : 1.-1 5. — Jeremiah now sends a letter to the captives in Babylon 
who had been taken there in the reign of Jeconiah. The leading spirits 
had been carried away from Jerusalem to keep them from plotting 
against the authority of Bab}ion, and the word "residue" in verse 1 
indicates that many of them must have been killed or died of grief, etc. 
Xo doubt one great object in sending this letter, was to quiet the restless 
captives and save their lives and their nerves. The letter was sent by the 
royal messengers of King Zedekiah. The advice of verses 4-9 was good, 
and would be approved by the king of Babylon. This advice, though so 



628 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

sorrowful to them, had a star of hope shining through the despair (verse 
10). Verses 12 and 13 show the royal way to accomplish that much 
desired return of verse 14. Its consummation was made to depend upon 
their attitu'de. 

16-20. — The advice just given was shown to be all the more plausible 
because of the message concerning those who remained in the land. They 
were continuing on in their evil ways, and the punishment which was to 
come upon them was such that those who had already gone captive 
might well be thankful that they were not in the land when the calamity 
came to a climax. 

21-32. — Ahab and Zedekiah were two false prophets who were no 
doubt stirring up constant rebellion in the hearts of the people at 
Jerusalem, making lying prophecies and doing other evils while they 
professed to be serving the Lord. The punishment was an awful one, 
but no more than they deserved. By reference to the book of Daniel it 
will be noticed that a favorite method of punishment with the king of 
Babylon was to cast condemned persons into a fiery furnace. Shemiah 
was a captive in Babylon who took offense at the letter which Jeremiah 
sent, and thought by writing back to Jerusalem to have Jeremiah put 
in prison. His mean acts, however, only caused his own ultimate death, 
and did not in the least harm Jeremiah. When evil attempts violence 
against God's people it inevitably recoils in punishment upon itself. 

Ch. 30:1-31-40. — This written prophecy was to serve a great purpose. 
It was to be put down so that in future all who were concerned might 
read it. The curses that had just been spoken, by being written would be 
kept in remembrance after their fulfillment as a true prophecy, and then 
immediately following them and by the mouth of the same prophet, the 
glorious promise of the restoration of God's chosen people from captivity 
to Canaan. All Jeremiah's thunderous denunciations were to be verified, 
verse 3, insomuch that men should be paralyzed with fear, but such 
severity of punishment was to be a pledge of speedy deliverance from this 
captivity. The language of verses 8-11 refers, I think, not only to the 
deliverance from Babylon, but looks far forward to the future when 
Israel should turn to his Christ. The reason for all this outpouring of 
wrath which was to precede their restoration was that the chosen family 
was so deeply involved in sin that nothing short of heroic surgery could 
save their lives. The thought of verse 16 is that while all of those who 
seduced God's people into sin had turned from them in their distress, yet 
after God had properly punished them for their correction he would 
take their part and punish their seducers and oppressors. The glories- 



JEREMIAH. 629 

that are described in the latter part of the chapter and in the first 
fourteen verses of chapter 31 refer to the conditions which the chosen 
family should develop when they ceased to battle against the truth. To 
just the extent to which they learned and practised truth by the 
captivity, to that extent were those promises fulfilled to them ; no further. 
In chapter 31, verse 2, he cites God's goodness to the chosen family after 
their provocations in the wilderness, thus indicating his willingness to 
vindicate his own when their conduct would allow, and in the following 
verses develops this same thought by language indicating that God loved 
and would gather from all nations and protect and cherish this his chosen 
people. Verses 15 and 16 illustrate how the prophet's words may be 
fulfilled by events in both the near and distant future. Eamah was the 
place where the captive Hebrews were brought in chains and collected 
together for the transportation into Babylon. This was in the neigh- 
borhood where Rachel was buried, and she as a representative of mother- 
hood is said to be weeping for her unfortunate children snatched away 
from her. Then the Gospel writer applied this same text to the event of 
Herod's destruction of the babes six hundred years later. To the extent 
to which Christ's kingdom comes and universal peace takes possession of 
the earth, the language of verse 16 finds its highest fulfillment. And 
such highest fulfillment is all the outgrowth and the professed aim of 
God's call and discipline of his chosen family. In the call to repentance 
of verses 21 and 22 the writer is leading up to the great consummation 
of the- future for which the call was made. Many of the early Christians 
interpreted the last clause of verse 23 to refer to the incarnation. It 
seems much more likely that it refers to "virgin Israel," who stands for 
the redeemed family voluntarily' forsaking her sins and embracing her 
husband's God, as revealed in Christ Jesus. Hence, I think it refers not 
to the physical side of the incarnation, but is a picture of the union of 
Christ and his church. This agrees with the thought of verse 23. No 
doubt verses 24-30 refer particularly to the return of the Hebrews to 
their land, and their growth as a nation, a prophecy which was at least 
partly fulfilled after the return from Babylon, but which will be com- 
pletely fulfilled when they accept their Savior. By reference to Hebrew 
8 it will be seen that verses 31 and on find their fulfillment in Christ. 
Paul in Romans argues in the same strain. The language of verses 35-40 
refers without doubt to that better day when this chosen family shall have 
accepted the Savior of the world, and shall be gathered again and greatly 
honored of God for their Father's sake. 

Ch. 32 :l-5. — The beginning of the end is now at hand. The prophet 



630 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jeremiah had been persistently and repeatedly and boldly warning the 
king and his subjects of the evil that was about to come upon the nation 
for its sins. They had ridiculed and defied the Lord's message, and now 
the army of the king of Babylon was drawn about the walled city and a 
great siege was in progress. The Judeans were still defiant, but the very 
history of the circumstances would make them angry with Jeremiah, and 
so it is not surprising that we find him in prison. This very fact, 
however, was a testimony to the faithfulness with which the prophet 
presented God's word. Verses 3-5 are the king's echo of the prophet's 
own words, for which he makes a pretense for shutting him up, claiming 
no doubt that his prophecies were treasonable, and that they discouraged 
the defenders of the city. 

6-15. — The "word" mentioned in verse 1 relates to the transaction of 
verses 6-15. Yerses 2-6 were thrown in to show the conditions under 
which the event of verses 6-15 took place. God warned him that his 
cousin should come and ask him to huy the field. Anathoth was one of 
the cities set off to the Levites, and they were not to be sold to the other 
tribes. When the owner failed, his next of kin might buy it until the 
year of jubilee. His act of buying the field was the strongest possible 
evidence of his faith in his own prophecies. The language of verse 15 
was confirmation of his prophecy in chapters 30 and 31. But the 
captivity was to intervene. Hence the. latter clause of verse 14. The 
earthen vessel would be buried and on being opened after -the captivity 
would show the record in a good state of preservation. 

16-25. — The prayer which follows this transaction is worthy of partic- 
ular notice. There can be little doubt that amid all these seemingly 
incongruous circumstances the prophet was perplexed. The low figure 
at which the field was sold and the conditions amid which it was sold 
might all argue that the owner had no faith in the future of the place,, 
and probably most of his countrymen were like minded, so that the only 
one to whom he could hope to make a sale was some prophet like Jeremiah 
who professed faith in the future. And who can say that the very offer 
was not a public ridicule of Jeremiah's faith? However, the prophet's 
act is consistent with his words, but the puzzled prisoner turns to God 
for light on the mystery. It is remarkable that most of this prayer is a 
history of God's dealings with his chosen people. And the spirit of the 
prayer is, "Since thou dealest so mysteriously I have faith in thee, but 
tell me, I pray thee, the reason for this strange command." 

26-44. — God's answer is plain, and was seemingly satisfactory to the 
prophet. Yerse 27 hurls back in answer a part of Jeremiah's own words. 



JEREMIAH. 631 

All the calamities of verses 28-36 were to come upon the nation for the 
reasons mentioned in these verses, just as the people had been warned 
from the beginning. Perhaps the most remarkable history of the ages 
is the fact that after all the help and the teaching which God gave to 
this favored people, that they should be such persistent and imprudent 
imitators of the abominable heathen about them. Xo amount of warning 
nor pleading could prevail to turn them from their apostas} 7 to God, until 
finally the nation was sent for seventy years into captivity. But, con- 
tinues the Lord, I will gather them again from the lands of their 
captivity, and they shall be faithful to me. I will plant them again in 
this land, and fields shall again be bought and sold here. This promise 
referred to that part of the land within the borders of the kingdom of 
Judah. 

Ch. 33 :l-6. — The second message of God to the captive prophet is a 
confirmation of the first message. Jeremiah was voicing the message 
of God, but, as is the case with all men, sometimes in the very midst 
of his testimonies about the future his own weary spirit needed instruc- 
tion and encouragement. To the far seeing prophet there was substantial 
encouragement in the fact that the evils which were to come upon Judah 
should prove corrective. Their fighting against the Chaldeans at this 
time would be in vain, and only bring to the Jews greater calamities, but 
the ultimate result, of their calamity would be to bring them to forsake 
their evil ways and turn penitently to God and permanently serve him. 

7-26. — This fact leads up to the point that the result of getting this 
chosen family right in God's sight should be glorious. Such language as 
that of verses 8-13 expresses the condition in which God desired that they 
should always be, and it was the very condition in which they would 
have been constantly had they not broken God's law. The first part of 
verse 10 described what the city was soon to become, and to Jeremiah's 
prophetic eye it was already so, but he looked still farther into the future 
and saw this sin-burdened nation corrected and pardoned, and the land 
filled again with happy and prosperous inhabitants, "whose God is the 
Lord." However the language of verse 15 may have been fulfilled in the 
conditions of the nation after the return from Babylon, it is certain that 
the language contemplated and embraced the Messiah who was promised 
from the seed of David, and whose salvation should be the great benefit 
from which all minor benefits should flow. This language is only a 
feeble description of the glory that would have attached to the Jewish 
nation if the Jewish people had accepted and obeyed their Christ, the 
carpenter of Xazareth. Their rejection and murder of him and their 



632 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

later repudiation of the doctrine of his disciples was the immediate cause 
of carrying the Gospel first to the Gentiles and the consequent transfer 
of these promises to the believing Gentile world, whom Paul declares in 
his letter to the Bomans to be the spiritual "seed of Abraham, and heirs 
according to the promise/' Thus "David's greater son" perfectly fulfills 
the conditions of verses 17 and 18. For the confirmation of this thought 
as to the latter verse see Heb. 7. Yerses 20-26 are God's most positive 
assurance that the great end and aim of his call of a chosen people shall 
not be defeated, but fulfilled in the "seed of the woman who should bruise 
the serpent's head." These verses are but another way of saying that 
God's promise to make righteousness supreme in the earth is as certain 
to be fulfilled as his promise to make night and day follow each other. At 
the time of these promises to Jeremiah the return of the people from 
captivity in Babylon was a necessary antecedent to the above mentioned 
coming Christ. 

Ch. 34:1-7. — The first seven verses of chapter 34 doubtless refer to 
the message mentioned at the beginning of chapter 32, for which the 
prophet was put in prison. It is mentioned again here and somewhat 
enlarged upon in order that it may introduce the theme which follows. 
The king and princes pretended great indignation against Jeremiah and 
shut him up in prison, yet how much they were after all influenced by 
what he told them will be seen in the next theme. Here he assures the 
king that he shall not die by the sword, but in peace, and be lamented 
by his subjects, and though he does not here mention the fact, it was 
true, that after Zedekiah looked on the king of Babylon his eyes were 
put out, and he was carried captive to Babylon, where he died. 

The explanation of verses 8-22 is this: When the army of Babylon 
besieged Jerusalem, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, the prophet had been 
put into the prison for his prophecy of the success of the enemy. In 
this condition he boldly continued to reproach his people for their sins, 
making a strong point of their disregard of the law against making 
slaves of their own brethren, the Hebrews. As the siege continued to 
press upon them the king, Zedekiah, proclaimed that all the Hebrew 
slaves should go free, and the princes obeyed, and all the people made 
a covenant not to enslave them any more. About this time Pharaoh- 
Hophra, king of Egypt, sent a force against the army of Babylon, and the 
Babylonians drew off from Jerusalem to fight Egypt. The Hebrews, 
thinking the danger past, broke their covenant, and reduced the late 
slaves to bondage again. Then the Lord gives this message to Jeremiah 
(verses 13-16). The penalty is mentioned in verses 17-22. It is a most 



JEREMIAH. 633 

remarkable comment on these conditions that shortly afterwards these 
very leaders went into captivity and to death and their slaves were set 
free by the enemy and left in the land to till and possess it. 

Ch. 35:1-11. — The incident mentioned in chapter 35:1-7 took place 
about fifteen years before this time. The prophet now recalls it in order 
to draw a lesson from it to his people, the Hebrews. The point at issue 
in these first seven verses is that the Rechabites were faithful all their days 
to the teaching of their father Jonadab. And so they could not be prevailed 
upon to drink wine, and had left their tents for the city only because of 
fear of the Chaldeans, Syrians and Moabites, which invaded the land 
in the days of Jehoiakim. This request of the prophet that they should 
drink wine was made at God's directions, and was simply a test of their 
principles. He did not command them to drink, and when they refused 
to do so he highly commended their refusal. These people were descend- 
ants of the family of Jethro, father-in-law of Moses. 

12-19. — The Lord through Jeremiah calls the people to witness how 
faithful the Rechabites had been to their father's teachings, and how 
disobedient the Hebrews had been to the commands of their heavenly 
Father. Therefore the curse of verse 17 was pronounced by the Lord 
upon the Hebrews, and the blessings of verses 18 and 19 upon the 
Rechabites. It is supposed that this people remained in Jerusalem until 
finally Nebuchadnezzar carried them captive, but that they returned from 
the captivity, and have recently been discovered in Arabia. 

Ch. 36 :l-3. — Another incident which occurred in the days of Jehoiakim 
is here cited to call attention of the people to the' fact that Jeremiah's 
prophecies were true ones. God had commanded him to write in order 
that his words might be preserved and be a standing rebuke to the people. 
It- was a complete record of all the prophet had spoken since his career 
began, and it showed how his words had been fulfilled, for in the reign 
of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem two years before 
this writing was read, and after two years took the city and carried 
Jehoiakim and a number of his people captive. The king was sent back 
that year, but after being tribute for three years he rebelled and was 
again taken captive. 

4-8. — Jeremiah's secretary wrote as the prophet dictated. The words 
"shut up" or "restrained" in verse 5 do not mean that he was in prison, 
but that for some reason he could not go into the temple. The fast day 
mentioned in verse 6 was in the next year after Jeremiah had his book 
written, and at the time the enemy must have been about in the act of 
moving upon the city, so that the people were probaoly praying for relief 



634 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

from the danger which threatened. 'The siege above mentioned was no 
doubt interrupted by some operations of the king of Babylon against 
Egypt. 

9, 10. — Under these conditions, Baruch reads them the word of the 
Lord as it came through Jeremiah, so that of course the words of the 
prophet became public. 

11-19. — The man mentioned in verse 11 heard the public reading and 
went and told the princes, who were assembled in the king's house, 
probably for counsel. Immediately the princes sent for Baruch to bring 
the roll and read it to them. The reading produced a sensation among 
them, and they requested Baruch and Jeremiah to go and hide themselves. 

20-26. — The princes now go and report the matter to the king. Jehoia- 
kim ordered the roll brought and read to him, then showed his imprudent 
defiance of the Lord and contempt for his message by cutting the roll 
to pieces and burning it. Little did he think how soon himself and his 
counselors were to go into captivity for their impudence to God. He 
also tried to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch, but could not find them. 

27-32. — Jeremiah now at the command of the Lord has his secretary 
rewrite the book, and adds to it a curse upon Jehoiakim for burning the 
first one. And this curse came to pass, for after Jehoiakim's rebellion 
three years later he was again taken captive and died on the road to 
Babylon and his dead body cast by the wayside, and his son Jehoaichin 
or Coniah was taken off the throne of Judah and his uncle, Zedekiah, put 
in his place. 

Ch. 37 :1, 2. — The prophecies of chapter 36, having been fulfilled as 
history showed, brings Jeremiah again up to the times in which he is 
now living (those of Zedekiah), and he says of this king that neither he 
nor his subjects respected the words of the Lord. 

3-10. — This request of Jeremiah was made probably in the ninth year 
of Zedekiah's reign, just before the Babylonians came upon Jerusalem 
for their final siege. This message came when the Babylonian army 
broke up from Jerusalem to go and meet the king of Egypt, who was 
coming to its aid. Chapter 21 of this book, which is substantially the 
same message, came a little later, after the army of Egypt was repulsed 
and the king of Babylon was returning to Jerusalem. It is most probable 
that the accurate place of chapter 21 and what belongs to it is between 
verses 10 and 11 of this chapter. The prophet's answer to the king here 
is not assuring to him, and shortly after he tries it again, as shown in 
chapter 21, etc., with no better success. 

11-21. — Just before the army of Babylon closes in upon Jerusalem for 



JEREMIAH. 635 

the last time comes the event of verses 11-21. That upstart of the gate 
falsely accuses Jeremiah and brings him to the princes, who also condemn 
him without reason, and he is put in prison, notwithstanding he protests 
his innocence of the charge. After a time the king sent for him to see 
if there was any hope of help from the Lord. It is very clear that the 
king wanted God's help in time of trouble without serving him, as it was 
his duty to do. The prophet's answer in verse 18 was a confirmation of 
what he had before said. Then he chides the king for putting him in 
prison, and calls him to witness that the king's smooth prophets had lied 
to him. Such a message, however displeasing it may have been to Zede- 
kiah, must have called forth his respect, and when the prophet pleaded 
with him not to send him back to prison he was by the king's order put 
into the court, possibly the same place in which he had been lightly 
confined before the Babylonians went away to meet the king of Egypt. 
(See chapter 32.) 

Ch. 38 :l-6. — In this court the prophet continues his prophecies to the 
people. Acting under orders from God, he advises the Hebrews to 
surrender, and thus save their lives. The princes, when they heard his 
advice, wanted the king to put him to death, but the king put the 
responsibility upon them by giving them power to do with him as they 
liked. So they cast him into a miry pit, where they had reason to believe 
he would soon sink in the mire and perish. 

7-9. — It is plain that neither the king nor the princes wanted to take 
the responsibility of killing Jeremiah. When this Ethiopian told the 
king what they had done with the prophet, he saw at once that the 
princes had asked the king to do what they themselves did not dare to 
do. The last clause of verse 9 shows that the final siege was now on in 
earnest. 

10-13. — Two things now conspired to enable the king to do as he liked 
about the case of the prophet. In the first place the princes had all they 
could do to defend themselves. The siege was becoming a serious matter. 
In the second place the princes had shown their unreasonableness in 
asking his death, a thing they were afraid to carry out. No doubt they 
were glad to have the king take the case off their hands. So he gives the 
order of verse 10 to the Ethiopian, and Jeremiah is taken out of the pit 
and put again into the court of the guard. 

14-28. — As the siege progresses the trembling king again seeks the 
prophet for advice. Jeremiah first makes him promise that his life will 
be spared. Then he gives the king the message of verses 17 and 18. The 
king expresses fears that his subjects who had already gone over to the 



636 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Babylonians would betray him, but the prophet assures him that it shall 
not be so if he surrenders, but that if he does not surrender the very 
women of his house shall mock him after they are taken possession of by 
the princes of Babylon. The king cautions him not to tell the princes of 
this message. What he was to tell them in verse 26 was true, but the 
whole truth they had no right to know. 

Ch. 39 :1-14. — In this final siege the city was shut up from the tenth 
month of the ninth year to the fourth month of the eleventh year — 
eighteen months. When the wall was finally broken the king and his 
arnry fled, but were overtaken and captured by the Babylonians. When 
Zedekiah was brought before Xebuchadnezzar his two sons were slain 
before his eyes and the nobles of the Hebrew nation were put to death. 
Zedekiah had seen the king of Babylon as the prophet had foretold, and 
now his eyes were put out and he put in shackles to be carried to Babylon. 
The captain of the guard in the army of Babylon took captive the 
deserters from the city and such of the people as he chose, and left the 
poor in the land and gave them its vineyards and fields. Thus the 
oppressed slaves were given their year of jubilee and their oppressors 
learned what it was to be enslaved. Moreover, the king of Babylon gave 
special charge to his captain to favor Jeremiah, and a delegation of the 
chief officers of the king of Babylon took him out of prison and gave him 
into the keeping of Gedaliah. This man is called by some authorities 
"chief of the deserters to the Chaldeans," and jorobably a man who 
had told the king of Babylon all about Jeremiah, his advice to the 
Hebrews and their treatment of him, for Gedaliah's father had been one 
of Jeremiah's staunch friends. (Chapter 26:24.) As will appear later, 
the king of Babylon put much confidence in Gedaliah. 

15-18. — Ebed-melech was the man who had spoken to King Zedekiah 
in an appeal to have Jeremiah brought out of the mire. God did not 
forget him, because he had been faithful to his word and to God 5 s 
prophet. No doubt at this time, as the siege was nearing its end, he was 
a badly frightened man, and these assuring words of the prophet 
must have been very comforting to him. The meaning of "life for a 
prey" is that he should escape with his life. 

Ch. 40:1-6. — In this speech of the captain to Jeremiah we have the 
strange phenomenon of a heathen testifying almost in the prophet's own 
words to the truth of Jeremiah's prophecies. Jeremiah was no doubt well 
known to the Babylonians, and this captain was very kind to him and 
considerate of his feelings. When the word of God goes forth, though it 
may not always reach the people for whom it is intended, it is sure to 



JEREMIAH. 637 

reach someone, and often the one who would be least expected to be 
influenced by it. If the prophet had consented to go to Babylon he might 
have enjoyed great honor there, but he chose to remain in his own 
country, like a good patriot. 

7-12. — When Gedaliah entered his office as governor over the land 
many of the Jews who were left resorted to him, and other Jews who in 
the nation's trouble had gone into other nations came back and joined 
themselves to him. He advised them to be loyal and industrious, and 
gave every evidence of being a wise ruler. 

13-16. — It is not easy to understand why such a man as Gedaliah did 
not make inquiry about this conspiracy from the prophet of the Lord. 
He could not believe that Ishmael would be so base. This man was one 
of the line of David, and was no doubt jealous of Gedaliah, and so was 
easily leagued with the Ammonites, the old enemies of the Hebrews, to 
slay him. He would not believe this story, though testified to by many 
witnesses, and would not allow Johanan to slay Ishmael. 

Ch. 41 :1-10. — But what followed proved that the story of a conspiracy 
was true. This murderer, under the guise of friendship, slew the 
governor and his entire body of associates and took captive all who were 
left, so that no one escaped to tell the story. Two days, later, as eighty 
men came to Gedaliah, presumably to carry an offering to Jerusalem, 
this man hypocritically enticed them into Mizpah and slew seventy of 
them, sparing ten of them who promised him treasure. The murderer 
now takes all the captives and starts to the land of the Ammonites. 

11-18. — When Johanan heard of it he gathers his forces and starts in 
pursuit. When he overtook them the captives deserted to him in a body, 
but Ishmael and eight of his murderous followers escaped. Johanan was 
now afraid of the Chaldeans, since Gedaliah had been murdered by 
Jews, and they thought that all would be held responsible, and so they 
retired into an out of the way place until they should know where to 
establish themselves. 

Ch. 42 :l-6. — Johanan up to this time seems to have been a good man. 
He had likely been much associated with the prophet under the rule of 
Gedeliah, and knew the history of his prophecies before the destruction 
of Jerusalem. This request of the prophet in verses 2 and 3 was therefore 
natural and proper, and Jeremiah promises to pray to the Lord and give 
Johanan an answer. They promise the prophet to do as the Lord directs. 

7-22. — Ten days later the answer of the Lord came telling them to be 
sure to stay in the land of Judah, and that God would protect them and 
give them favor in the eyes of the Babylonians. They were warned not to 



638 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

rebel and leave the land, and were cautioned that if they did fly to Egypt 
that the very evil which they sought to escape would overtake them there. 
The latter part of this message makes it evident that these people already 
had their minds made up to go to Egypt and wanted the consent of the 
prophet, but they meant to go whether or not he gave his consent. That 
kind of wilful disobedience was the very kind that had destroyed the 
nation, and God condemns it here most unsparingly. The prophet would 
be able to see when he began to deliver his message that the company 
was determined to reject it, and so he reminds them of their promise, 
and how already they are breaking it. Hence the declaration of verse 22. 

Ch. 43:1-7. — The same old spirit of disobedience that had so cursed 
the nation crops out among these few that remain. Had they been 
obedient to God he would have made them the head of a new nation 
of Israel to which the faithful would have been speedily gathered from 
all nations, and so there would have been no interruption in the national 
affairs of God's people except to send out of the nation into captivity 
such as refused to be governed by God's commands. They accused 
Jeremiah of falsehood because their own hearts were wrong, saying that 
his secretary was controlling him in the interest of the Babylonians. 
Then the}^ proceeded further to dishonor God and his prophet by carrying 
the best of all the remaining people, together with these two men of God, 
along with them to Egypt. Tahpanhes was on a branch of the Nile next 
to Palestine, and was a city largely inhabited by Jews. 

8-13. — God now sends Jeremiah to the pavement in front of the palace 
of Pharaoh to give the Jews an object lesson. They had carried him by 
force into Egypt, and now they are forced to hear the prophet's burning 
declaration of God's anger with them for their disobedience. The king 
of Babylon, who had destroyed Judah, was also to destroy Egypt, and so 
the Jews who had added insult to injury were to suffer just what Judah 
had suffered. God had given them fair warning, and they had wilfully 
rejected and despised and lied about God's message to them, in spite of 
the fact that in the land of Judah they had known Jeremiah and the 
treatment his messages had received at the hands of his fellow country- 
men, and also how faithful and true his words had proven to be. It was 
inexcusable and abominable, and deserved the punishment of verse 11. 
They should have submitted to Babylon. 

Ch. 44:1-14. — Following these burning words comes another message 
to all the Jews who had sought refuge in Egypt. It is evident that the 
greater part of them had begun to practice the idolatry of the Egyptians, 
and so they felt that they had escaped the calamity which had come upon 



JEREMIAH. 639 

their land, while at the same time they refused to be rebuked for sin by 
God's prophet, but determined to continue their ways in the land of 
Egypt. Jeremiah points them back to the desolation of the land for 
which their hearts yearned, and told them why it had thus become 
accursed. The declaration of verse 4 was again repeated, as it had been 
so often repeated before. The appeal of verses 7-10 does not move them, 
hence the terrible sentence which went out against the nation of Jews 
now goes out against the refugee Jews of Egypt. The language of verse 
14 refers to such as were carried there against their will, as was Jeremiah 
and his secretary, Baruch ; and who would return at the first opportunity. 
Tradition, however, reports that Jeremiah died in Egypt, probably 
because he had no chance to escape. 

15-19. — There was no attempt at hypocrisy on the part of the people. 
They answered boldly, "We will not listen to your message, but will 
continue to worship the same gods we have been worshiping/' Their 
statement that these false gods had given them plenty in the land of 
Judah shows clearly how men may take blessings and prosperity of the 
Lord, neglect, and finally refuse to give him thanks, and then construe 
his long suffering as approval of their course by the higher power. Thus 
it is that idolatry grows out of the blinded human concept. In spite of 
all the warnings of the prophets so often referred to, the people had paid 
so little heed that they did not realize that what they suffered was God's 
just punishment upon them, after his long suffering, because of those 
very sins to which they are here attributing their former prosperity. 

20-30. — In his reply Jeremiah reminds them that God's patience had 
at last become exhausted with their stubborn rebellion in the land, and 
for that reason they had at last been visited with this calamity. And 
now, says the prophet, since you have made such a vow as you have just 
expressed, and declared your determination to keep it, go right on, and 
remember while you are doing it that God says this about you, "You 
shall be consumed by sword and famine in the land of Egypt, and only 
a few of you shall escape again to the land of Judah. By this means 
you shall know whose words shall stand, mine or the idols'. And you 
may know by this sign when this word is coming to pass, I will give the 
king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies." This bold prophecy would 
give these Jews much to think about in the near future when calamity 
overtook them in Egypt. From this conversation it can readily be 
understood why such dreadful calamity was necessary to turn the Jews 
from idolatry. When they first came into Canaan they had neglected 
God's injunction to uttely destroy the idolaters from the land, and now 



640 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

not only is their nation destroyed on account of the idolatry of the 
chosen family, but a remnant of their refugees in Egypt are boldly 
arguing for that accursed idolatry which had now twice given Canaan 
over to the wrath and punishment of a justly provoked God. 

Ch. 45:1-5.— Here is dropped in an incident illustrating the human 
side of God's work. Baruch had been faithful to his master, Jeremiah, 
and together they had shared much privation for the cause of the Lord. 
This faithful man is now discouraged. His sorrowful utterances called 
forth from the Lord this word through Jeremiah, "I have broken down 
an entire nation which I had carefully planted and nourished, and so 
it is untimely at this stage of things for you to expect anything short of 
severe hardships, but I assure you that your life shall be preserved 
wherever you go." 

Ch. 46 :l-28. — The warnings, the threatenings and the reproaches of 
God's chosen nation is for the present at an end. They have gone into 
captivity and have lost entirely their national identity. The promise 
land is once more a desert waste, and it seems to the nations about as if 
the enemies of God had triumphed and that there were other gods 
stronger than he. It now remains for the prophet to utter God's coming 
judgments against the other nations before he closes his prophetic work. 
His remaining chapters are devoted to that subject. The first one is 
concerning Egypt. This army spoken of in the first twelve verses had 
gone against the Assyrians twenty-two years before this, and on the way 
had slain Josiah, king of Judah. Four years later this same army had 
been terribly defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates Eiver by the king 
of Babylon. That defeat is described in verses 3-12. Now, eighteen 
years afterward, this prophet of fallen Judah stands in Egypt, where he 
has been carried by force, and declares that the king of Babylon should 
come and smite the land of Egypt, which he did sixteen years later. 
Verses 14-24 describe the conquest; the regions about were to be devas- 
tated, and meanwhile the principal cities of Egypt were to prepare for 
the inevitable. The God of Israel was against them, and therefore they 
should not be able to stand against their foes. They should say of 
Pharaoh, verse 17. The king of Babylon was to be irresistible to Egypt. 
Her hirelings should flee before the enemy and the conquerors should 
destroy the cities with their battle axes. Egypt with her king and her 
gods should go into captivity to Babylon. In verses 27 and 28 the 
Israelites are assured that God will protect them, and that though the 
nations about them shall be destroyed, they shall not be, but after being 



JEREMIAH. 641 

properly punished for their disobedience they shall be gathered again to 
their own land and enjoy peace and prosperity. 

Ch. 47 :l-7. — These last chapters of Jeremiah up to chapter 52 con- 
tinue the general class of subject matter in chapter 46 — a series of 
prophecies against the nations round about Judea. After the prophecy 
against Egypt (chapter 46) the prophet Jeremiah turns to the consider- 
ation of all the nations in touch with the chosen family who through the 
past centuries have been thorns in the flesh of the Hebrew nation, and by 
their wiles have tempted them into idolatry, and have been their enemies 
on many battlefields. After Egypt, one of the most conspicuous of these 
was the Philistine nation. It is generally thought that this prophecy 
was made in the reign of Zedekiah, before the captivity of Jerusalem. 
The latter part of verse 1 indicates that af some time later the king of 
Egypt smote Gaza, the city of the Philistines. The "rising of waters," 
verse 2, refers to the coming of a multitude of people. As verse 4 
indicates, the Philistines were helpers of Tyre and Zidon, just north of 
them. The prophet, in verse 6, overwhelmed by the sight of the disaster 
which he sees, addresses the sword, appealing for a cessation of vengeance 
taking, then as if coming to himself again, he adds, But however desirable 
peace may be, since it is God's will that the overflowing iniquity of this 
people should be visited upon them, the sword must do its work. This 
people was overwhelmed by the Babylonians about the time of the siege 
of Tyre. 

Ch 48:1-47. — Moab was another old enemy of the Hebrew nation. 
This prophecy is thought to have been made some time after the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. Nebo was the name of the mountain of that land 
from whose top Moses saw the promise land, also the name of a city in 
the territory of Reuben, afterwards possessed by the Moabites, and also 
the name of one of the principal idols of the Moabites. Hence the word 
would stand as a sort of synonym for the whole nation of Moab. It is 
said that Moab boasted that she had never been conquered, hence the first 
part of verse 2. The thought of verse 6 probably is that if they fled to 
the wilderness their enemies would regard them as already assured of 
destruction and would not think it worth while to follow them. Verse 
10 declares that since the order has gone forth of God to destroy this 
people, it must be done, and done thoroughly, and that no sloth or 
negligence will be tolerated in its execution. Verses 26 and 27 show 
something of the condition which brought about this order against Moab ; 
not only was the cup of their idolatry full, but they were most provoking 
enemies of the Hebrews and their God. Now the time had come for the 



642 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

order of things to change, and whereas at this time they were loud in 
their effrontery against the despoiled Hebrew nation, the prophet here 
assures them that the time is not far away when they shall be made to 
drink to its dregs a similar cup of national affliction, and (verse 30) shall 
similarly become a derision and reproach. Verse 42 states the reason. 
The language of verse 44 is very similar to that used regarding Judah. 
Verse 45 refers to a quotation from an old poet quoted by Moses, Num. 
21 :28. The last verse speaks of the restoration of the Moabites, though 
it is not recorded in history whether or not they were ever restored to 
national existence after their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in the time 
of his siege of Tyre. It is probable that some were spared and became 
the progenitors of a prosperous class of people. 

Ch. 49 :l-6. — The Ammonites were another company of old enemies of 
the Hebrews. They fought against them when the Israelites first came 
to the land of Canaan, and often did so after Israel was settled in the 
land. They were also destroyed by the Babylonians, and are supposed 
to have been restored to their nation when Cyrus granted the Jews leave 
to return from Babylon. The point to the latter part of verse 1 is that 
these people had taken the cities which had formerly belonged to the 
children of Gad. Eabbah was their chief city, and Malcom their chief 
idol. Verse 4 indicates that they gloried much in their fruitful valleys, 
but he here declares that all these resources should fail in the calamities 
which were to come upon the nation. These two nations, Moab and 
Amnion, were the descendants of Lot by his two daughters. 

7-22. — Edom was the nation descended from Esau. Teman was a part 
of Idumea, and Dedan was a city of that country. The prudent conduct 
of the forefathers of that people had given way to violent perversion of 
righteous ways, and God was about to visit upon them the result of their 
evil ways. Verses 9 and 10 indicate that they should be stripped cleaner 
than grapes were usually gathered, but that God would care for the 
fatherless and the widows. The nation was to be exterminated for its 
sins. Bozrah was also a city of Idumea. The pronoun of verse 22 refers 
to the king of Babylon. 

23-27. — "Damascus was one of the principal cities of Syria. It was 
taken by David (II Sam. 8 :6), and retaken in the reign of Solomon, and 
regained its independence. Its kings were often at war with the ten 
tribes, and once joined with them for the destruction of Judah. To 
defend himself against these powerful enemies Ahaz made a league with 
the king of Assyria, who besieged Damascus, toolv and demolished it. 
From that time we hear nothing of Damascus until we meet with it in 



JEREMIAH. 643 

this prophecy. It appears to have been rebuilt and restored to some 
consequence. It made an obstinate resistance to Nebuchadnezzar, but 
was at last taken and sacked by him. At present it is both a large and 
populous city with considerable commerce." (Clarke.) 

28-33. — Kedar was one of the sons of Ishmael who settled in Arabia, 
and gave name to a powerful tribe there. Hazor was also of Arabia, but 
the place cannot now be located. 

34-39. — Elam cannot be historically located. Verse 34 shows that 
this prophecy was given earlier than the others, and so is not here in its 
chronological order. It is thought that these people were Medes, a 
part of what afterward became the Medo-Persian empire, and were 
famous for their skill in archery. 

Ch. 50 : 1-5 1-64. — Jeremiah sent this prophecy concerning Bab} r lon 
to the Jewish captives there in the fourth year of Zedekiah. Bel and 
Merodach were idols of Babylon, and the prophet here uses the present 
tense to express judgments that are sure to come. The nation from the 
north was the Medes under Cyrus. After that conquest the captive 
Israelites were to be allowed to return to Jerusalem. The reason why 
Babylon was to be punished is stated in these verses. They had most 
mercilessly treated the Jews whom God had allowed them to punish, and 
felt no remorse because the Jews had offended God. And so God was 
about to bring upon them similar punishment. Assyria had already been 
punished for a similar offense, and Babylon would be punished in future. 
Because of its wide conquest Babylon was called the hammer of the whole 
earth, because God used it to break in pieces the nations. Its own ruin 
is compared to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, so complete and awful 
was it. This mighty nation, which extended its rule over the known 
earth, was so completely destroyed that its site at present is a desolate 
marsh on the river Euphrates. The person by whom Jeremiah sent this 
message to Babylon was to read it publicly and then bind it to a stone 
and cast it into the river, as a sign of the sudden fall of the city. The 
name Babylon became a synonym for wickedness, and is used by John 
in the book of Revelation to represent earth's iniquity. Just as the 
nation Babylon disappeared from among the nations of the earth, so is 
the iniquity of the earth to disappear from the world. There is a 
remarkable similarity between these chapters 50 and 51 and chapters 
17 and 18 of Revelation. 

Ch. 52 :l-34. — The last chapter of the book, which rehearses the down- 
fall of Judah, was added most likely by Ezra after the return from 
Babylon. It shows how the prophecies had been fulfilled. The three 



644 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

deportations mentioned in verses 28-30 are doubtless minor ones, different 
from the three mentioned in the first, eighth and nineteenth years of 
Nebuchadnezzar, and designated to point out what is not elsewhere rioted. 
(II Kings 24:12-16; Dan. 1:3-6, etc.) 



LAMENTATIONS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

This book is in reality a postscript to the book of Jeremiah. After the 
prophecies related in that book had been so ruthlessly disregarded and 
the Hebrew nation had gone into captivity for their sins, it was declared 
that " Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation on 
Jerusalem." (See preface to this book of the LXX.) Some claim that 
he wrote this lamentation in a cave near the city. That would of course 
be before the prophet was carried to Egypt. In the Hebrew each stanza 
of the book begins with a different letter of the alphabet. This is so 
arranged, no doubt, in order to assist the memory in fixing the book in 
the mind. The first chapter has 22 verses, one for each letter of the 
alphabet. The second chapter has 22 verses. The third chapter has three 
times as many, or 66 verses. The fourth chapter has 22 verses, and the 
fifth chapter has 22 verses. In the last chapter the letters beginning the 
verses are not in their alphabetical order. In the third chapter they are, 
but each letter begins three consecutive verses. Authorities call special 
attention to the fact that this book is not one poem of five chapters, but 
five distinct poems. All of these poems are on the same subject. The 
Hebrews usually call this book "How," the first word of the book. The 
LXX gave it the name of Lamentations. 

ANALYSIS. 

Poem 1. 

1 Sorrowful posture of Jerusalem. 

2 Her grief. 

3 -Its reason. 

4 Suspension of her religious rites. 
5-7 Her subjection to her enemies. 

8, 9 Its reason. 

10 Profanation of her sanctuary. 

11 Her abject want. 



LAMENTATIONS. 645 

12-17 Depth of her sorrow. Its source. 
18, 19 Her acknowledgment. 

20-22 Her appeal to God. 
Poem 2. 

1-9 Visitation of God's wrath upon Zion. 

10-12 Miseries of her famine. 

13 The prophet's perplexity. 

14 False prophecies in Judah. 
15-16 Result. Ridicule of her enemies. 

17 The true reason of her calamity. 
18, 19 Acknowledgment of her people. 
20-22 The appeal to God. 
Poem 3. 

1-18 Jeremiah's personal experience. 
19-39 Its lesson to him. 
40-63 His exhortation, and appeal to God. 
64-66 His confidence. 
Poem 4. 

1-20 Desolation of Jerusalem described. Its explanation. 
21, 22 Warning to Edom and comfort to Zion. 
Poem 5. 

1-22 The prophet's appeal to God. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Poem 1. — Verse 1. To sit solitary was usually an indication of great 
grief. The same thought was expressed in calling the city a widow. The 
Hebrew nation in the days of David had ruled all the nations between 
the Nile and the Euphrates. Now it was itself in captivity. Verse 2 
reminds us how fickle are the friendships upon which we so often lean. 
The enemies which the Hebrews should have slain when they- came to 
Canaan finally seduced the nation into sin, and then forsook her and 
gloried oyer her downfall. The prophets had long been warning them 
of what verse 3 declares, but they would not heed. The latter part of the 
verse uses the figure of a traveler caught by robbers in a mountain 
gorge. In verse 4 the city is represented as in mourning because her 
yearly feasts are not kept. The language of verse 5 does not mean that 
the enemies of God's people were prospered in their evil ways, but that 
they were allowed to have power over the Hebrews because of the sins 
of this chosen family, just as God foretold (Deut. 28:25). In verse 6 



646 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the natural protectors of the nation were represented as starved animals 
which did not have strength to run away from the hunter. 

It was very natural that her affliction should cause her to contrast that 
condition with the joys she had felt in the past. Verse 8 states the whole 
difficulty. The people sinned, therefore the punishment. Even the 
enemies of truth despise a sinner, and despise themselves for sinning. 
Verse 9 uses the figure of a woman whose very garments were saturated 
with her flow, making her an object of loathing. So it had come to pass 
that the heathen, who were never allowed in the holy place, were 
swarming over it, because they had become the conquerors of Israel. Not 
only was the sanctuary profaned, but God's chosen family was crying for 
bread and pawning their most precious possessions for something to eat. 
In verse 12 he calls the observers to notice whether or not they can find 
any sorrow equal to the sorrows of this chosen people. He compares it 
to a fire burning in the bones, and the grief of a panic-stricken animal 
snared and taken captive. He recognizes God's hand in the matter (verse 
14), and owns that he has delivered them to their enemies. This thought 
is in perfect keeping with the prophecies of Deuteronomy. He foretold 
in that book that if the people sinned he would do just what verse 15 
here declares he has done. Treading the wine press means punishment 
of the wicked, and the meaning is that Judah was being punished for her 
sins. This condition caused the lamentation of verses 16 and 17. Jere- 
miah, being about all the true representative of God's chosen family left, 
makes the acknowledgment of verses 18 and 19, and then appeals to God 
in verses 20-22, assuring himself that the enemies who are gloating over 
Israel's misfortune shall themselves have to endure like punishment for 
their own sins. 

Poem 2. — In poem 2 the prophet exclaims how Zion is under the 
manifest displeasure of the Lord, and from what a height to what a depth 
God's chosen people have fallen. The punishment seemed pitiless (verse* 
2), and the fierceness of God's anger was manifest in the fact that he 
withdrew all his protection from this chosen family. In verse 4 the 
prophet represents God as doing that which was done by the enemy. 
This was strictly true so far as the punishment of Israel was concerned. 
Every affliction which any child of God surfers for any wrong act is a 
visitation of God, though . it is equally true that he who visits such 
punishment in a wrong spirit must himself also pay the penalty for 
wrong doing. Here is the point where God's providence and man's free 
moral agency meet, and the explanation of the saying that the wrath of 
men shall praise God. These verses 4-9 draw a most vivid picture of 



LAMENTATIONS. 647 

God's destruction of his chosen nation. The word "tabernacle" in verse 
6 were better rendered "booth/' the thought being that God cast off the 
appointed place of worship as lightly as if it had been a play house. The 
last sentence of verse 7 may mean that after the enemy had taken Jeru- 
salem they held mock services in the temple to ridicule the religious 
services of the Jews. As the latter part of verse 9 indicates, when God had 
determined to destroy Jerusalem, he would not give to any prophet a 
sign of relenting, no matter how hard he pleaded. The picture in verses 
10-12 of the elders upon the ground in sackcloth and dust, the maidens 
hanging their heads, and the tears and aches of the prophet, the starving 
babies begging their mothers for bread and crying on their bosoms, is a 
most vivid and pitiful description of the miseries of Jerusalem's famine 
during and after her siege. In that day the liver was thought to be the 
seat of the passions, hence the expression of verse 11. The perplexity 
voiced in verse 13 showed that the prophet was at utter loss of words to 
express his sense of overwhelming grief at the greatness of the destruction 
of the Hebrew nation. The thought of verse 14 is that the false prophets 
prophesied smooth things to the people instead of rebuking their sins 
and so saving them from the evils which resulted from those sins. Thus 
the false prophets had led the people into sin and into its consequent 
punishment. The result is clearly shown in verses 15 and 16. Their 
enemies derided them and boasted that they had conquered and swallowed 
them up. The prophet in the next verse gives the true statement of the 
case. "The Lord has done it," i. e., it was only because the Lord had 
something against the people that it was allowed to be done. And God 
had foretold that he would do so if the people sinned. In verse 18 the 
pronoun "their" refers no doubt to the Jews. They called upon the 
remainder of the nation to repent and to make their acknowledgment to 
an offended God, and plead with him for relief from the frightful 
conditions. Such acknowledgment was the first step toward real repen- 
tance. In his appeal to God the prophet complains that in that awful 
day women were eating their own children to keep from starvation, that 
priests and prophets were slain in the sanctuary, and that youth and old 
age, male and female, lay dead in the streets. Terrors had been called 
together as the Israelites were usually called to the feasts; no escape from 
the slaughter. 

Poem 3. — In the first eighteen verses of this poem the prophet gives 
his own experience that it may encourage others amid the awful darkness 
now at hand. The fact that at the time of the siege Jeremiah had been 
beaten and imprisoned and starved and sunk in the mire of a slimy pit, 



648 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

as it is recorded in the book of Jeremiah, makes these words very forcible ; 
and they would have force with those who now hear him, for all were 
acquainted with these facts. If, under such pressure as that, the prophet 
retained his faith and hope, that itself ought to be an encouragement to 
those who hear him now. While the prophet believed that all the Lord 
allowed his enemies to cause him to suffer would be to Jeremiah's benefit 
because he trusted in the Lord, yet when the burdens were pressing most 
heavily upon him he cried for help in such agony that when his prayer 
was refused he had the feeling expressed in verses 17 and 18 — all his 
former prosperity was forgotten, and he was in utter despair of receiving 
anything of the Lord. But as is always the case, his dread had been 
worse than the reality when it came. Speaking of its lesson to him, he 
says, Though I still have the experience in vivid remembrance, so much 
so that it impresses me yet, still that very fact gives me hope ; for I am 
yet alive and the Lord is with me, and I believe he is good to one who 
waits and seeks and hopes. Yerse 27 suggests that to learn in youth 
(as he had done) the lesson of submission to God was the sure way to 
pass through such ordeals without losing faith, and so the sublime 
conclusion of verses 31-39. In view of the above he makes the exhortation 
of verses 40-41, then turning to God he acknowledges for his people the 
sin of the nation, and pleads for pity by stating in the strongest terms 
the frightful condition into which the whole nation has come. Verses 
49-63 call up the instance of Jeremiah's faith in the midst of his over- 
whelming griefs, and so become a silent plea to this people to do likewise 
in this national calamity. Then he closes the song with a burst of 
confidence which is not only expressive of the faith which brought him 
out of his personal despair, but which will likewise be the salvation of 
his people if they return to their confidence in God. Thus Israel shall be 
saved and their enemies finally punished. 

Poem 4. — In this poem the gold and precious stones mentioned refer 
to the sons of the people who fell in the siege. He declares that the 
people because of that siege had become more heartless toward their 
children than wild beasts were toward their young. The latter part of 
verse 6 means that Sodom did not have to stand any siege with its awful 
horrors, as did Jerusalem. The language of verse 7 refers to the beauty 
of the Hebrew sons before the siege, while that of verse 8 refers to their 
condition after it. Verse 10 stated an actual fact. Women cooked and 
ate their own children in that frightful time. As is indicated by verse 
12, so great was the reputation of Jerusalem for the strength of her 
defense that none of the wise men of the surrounding nations believed 



EZEKIEL. 649 

that she could be taken by an enemy. Verses 13-15 declare that so great 
was the violence within the nation that the priests became noted as 
shedders of blood until they cried as if they were lepers, even to the 
priests, "Depart, unclean/' Even strangers declared that such a nation 
could not exist long in her place. And so it came to pass that the enemy 
took and spoiled this nation who made its boast that it lived under the 
special protection of the Almighty. And so the writer closes this poem 
by telling Edom, that old enemy of Israel, to rejoice, if she would, 
because her enemy was taken, but to remember while she was doing it 
that God's wrath was sure to come also upon Edom. He brings this ray 
of comfort to Zion that her punishment has been visited, and that she 
may look for brighter days in future. But Edom's sorrow was yet to 
come. 

Poem 5. — This last of the five poems is a passionate appeal to God, in 
which the writer points out the completeness of the destruction of the 
chosen family, and how they have been degraded to the lowest possible 
condition, having to pay even for the water which they drink and the 
wood which they burn. At this time they are turning to Egypt and 
Assyria for a livelihood, being ruled by servants, and burning with fever 
of starvation. Women were ravished, princes hanged by the hands, and 
young people and children made to stagger under burdens too heavy for 
their backs. The mountains of the singer's native land were becoming 
the haunts of the wild beasts, but he appeals to God to turn away his 
wrath from them and renew them as in days of old. 



E ZEKIE L. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The king of Babylon, in the year 599 B. C, came against Jerusalem, 
and after besieging it for awhile King Jehoiachin and the leaders of the 
Jews surrendered to him, and were all carried into captivity and settled 
in a colony on the banks of the Chebar Biver, two hundred miles north 
of Babylon. Among these captives was Ezekiel, son of Buzi, a priest. 
Five years after that time he began to prophesy, and continued for 
twenty-two years. 

Thirty-four years before the call of Ezekiel, Jeremiah had begun to 
prophesy. In the fourth year of Ezekiel's captivity, seven years before the 
destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah sent his message to the captives in 
Babylon. (See Jeremiah 29.) The next year Ezekiel began to prophesy 



650 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

in the land of the captivity. It is very reasonable to suppose that both 
Jeremiah and Ezekiel were familiar with each other's writings. 

From the time when it became apparent that the Jewish nation must 
be overthrown Jeremiah had been exhorting the king and the people 
to surrender to the Babylonians, and thus save both the city and them- 
selves from destruction. On the occasion above referred to (599 B. C.) 
the king and the best of his subjects had taken that advice. "The ungodly 
were willing to do anything to remain in their native land; whereas the 
godly believed the prophets, and obeyed the first summons to surrender 
as the only path of safety." And so the ones to whom Ezekiel gave his 
messages in the land of captivity would be much more teachable than 
those to whom Jeremiah gave his messages. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-28 Ezekiel's vision. 
Chapter 2. 

1-3-11 God's message to him. 
12-15 Constraint of the spirit. 
16-21 God's commission to Ezekiel. 
22-5-17 His message to the Hebrews by Ezekiel. 

22-27 Their oppression of the prophet. 
Chapter 4. 

1-3 Portrayal of the siege of Jerusalem. 
4-8 Eeclining of the prophet. 
9-13 The unclean food. 
14-17 The protest. God's answer. 
Chapter 5. 

1-4 Destruction of the hair. 
5-17 Explanation of the .symbols. 
Chapter 6. 

1-7-27 Picture of the destruction of the land of promise. 
Chapter 8. 
1-11-25 Ezekiel's vision of Jerusalem. 

1-3 The translation to Jerusalem (in spirit). 
4, 5 The image of jealousy. 
6-18 Its explanation. 

6-11 Wickedness of the nation. 
12-14 Degradation of the women. 
15-18 Degradation of the priesthood (sun worship). 



EZEKIEL. 651 

Chapter 9. 

1-11 The punishment. 
Chapter 10. 

1-7 Scatterment of fire over the city. 
8-22 Eepetition of Ezekiel's first vision. 
Chapter 11. 

1-13 Ezekiel's prophecy against the princes. 
14-21 God's message to the faithful. 
22, 23 Departure of the Shechinah from Jerusalem. 
24, 25 " The prophet's return (in spirit) to Chaldea. 
Chapter 12. 

1-16 Ezekiel's sign of the exile of the Hebrews. 
17-20 His sign of their want. 
21-25 Rebuke of their false proverb. 
26-28 Assurance of speedy judgment. 
Chapter 13. 

1-16 A prophecy against false prophets. 
17-23 The woe against false prophetesses. 
Chapter 14. 

1-11 God's answer by Ezekiel to the inquiring elders. 
12-23 Positiveness of God's judgments. 
Chapter 15. 

1-8 The parable of the vine. 
Chapter 16. 
1-63 The reproach of Jerusalem. 
1-5 Her lowly birth. 
6-14 God's pity upon her. 
15-34 Her falsity. 
35-43 Her judgment. 

44-59 Her comparison to the other wicked nations. 
60*63 The joint restoration. 
Chapter 17. 

1-10 Parable of the eagles. 
11-21 Its explanation. 
22-24 The faithful remnant. 
Chapter 18. 

1-32 Eebuke of the false proverb. 
Chapter 19. 
1-14 The prophet's lamentation. 



652 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 20. 

1-32 Recital to the elders of God's long suffering toward their nation. 
33-44 His promised judgment. 
45-21-7 Destruction of the land prophesied. 

8-27 Method and agent of the destruction. 
28-32 Prophecy against Ammon. 

Chapter 22. 

1-16 The private character of Jerusalem. God's threat. 
17-22 Degeneracy of the chosen people. 
23-31 Specification of her evils. 

Chapter 23. 
1-49 Parable of the two daughters. 

Chapter 24. 

1-14 Parable of the caldron. 
15-27 The lesson from the death of Ezekiel's wife. 

Chapter 25. 

1-7 Prophecy against Ammon. 
8-11 Prophecy against Moab. 
12-14 Prophecy against Edom. 
15-17 Prophecy against Philistia. 

Chapter 26. 
1-21 Prophecy against Tyre. 

Chapter 27. 
1-36 The prophet's lamentation for the city. 

Chapter 28. 

1-10 God's message to the king of Tyre. 
11-19 The prophet's lamentation for him. 
20-24 Prophecy against Zidon. 
25, 26 The promised restoration of Israel. 

Chapter 29. 

1-30-26 Prophecy against Egypt. 

Chapter 31. 
1-18 Her comparison to Syria. 

Chapter 32. 

1-16 Lamentation for Pharaoh. 
17-32 Lamentation for the Egyptians. 



EZEKIEL. 60S 

Chapter 33. 

1-9 Duty and responsibility of a watchman. 
10-20 God's appeal to the land by the watchman. 
21-29 Message concerning the remnant in Judea. 
30-33 Hypocrisy of the people. 

Chapter 34. 

1-16 Prophecy against the shepherds of Israel. 
17-31 Message to the people. 

Chapter 35. 

1-15 Prophecy against Seir. 
Chapter 36. 

1-15 Apostrophe to the mountains of Israel. 
16-38 God's promise of Israel's restoration. 

Chapter 37. 

1-14 The prophet's vision of the valley of bones. 
15-28 Keuniting of the tribes of Israel. 

Chapter 38. 

1-39-24 Prophecy against Gog. 

25-29 Assurance of Israel's restoration. 

Chapter 40. 

1-48-35 A picture of restored Zion. 

1-42-20 Measurements of the temple. 

Chapter 43. 

1-5 Jehovah's manifestation in it. 
6-12 The warning to Israel. 
13-17 Measure of the altar. 
18-27 Ordinances of the altar. 
Chapter 44. 

1-31 The priestly regulations. 
Chapter 45. 

1-8 Allotment of the sacred territory. 
9-16 Exhortation to the princes. 
17-46-18 Duties of the ruling prince. 

19-24 Temple courts for cooking the priestly portions. 
Chapter 47. 

1-12 The prophet's vision of the flowing waters. 
13-20 Boundaries of the land. 
21-48-35 Disposal of the tribal divisions about the sacred territory. 



654 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

LESSON" NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-28. — It is a question among authorities whether the thirtieth 
year here referred to the fact that the year mentioned was the thirtieth 
year of the newly risen Babylonian power, or whether it meant the 
thirtieth year of Ezekiel's life (and so the year when he reached his 
priestly majority) . Chebar, or Habor, was the place where the ten tribes 
of Israel had been carried and colonized by the Assyrians (II Kings 
17 :6) . The river mentioned flows into the Euphrates about two hundred 
miles north of Babylon. So it becomes clear that in the land of captivity 
the best blood of the two nations, Judah and Israel, was joined again into 
one family, so that the people who returned from captivity at the end 
of the seventy years was in reality the faithful of both Judah and Israel, 
and it is to the Hebrews of both these nations that the prophet here 
speaks. The fury of the storm (verse 4) with its wind and lightning is 
just such an accompaniment as would be likely to attend a manifestation 
of the Almighty. The four living creatures mentioned I take to represent 
four phases of the character of Christ, who is the manifestation of God 
to men: 1, his humanity; 2, his conquering power; 3, his sacrificial 
import; 4, his divinity. All these phases are joined in each creature, 
though of very necessity some one of these phases must be the predomi- 
nant in each creature, so that four creatures would be required to 
give illustration of the strength of each of these four phases in the 
character of God. The fair inference is that the four heads of each 
creature looked in four different directions. Below the four heads of 
each living creature was one body, and to each body was two pairs of 
wings, one with which to fly and one to cover the body. Verse 12 indicates 
that each living creature followed directly after one of its heads, and in 
each case, I think, after a different head, and so each of the heads would 
be a leader of one of the four creatures. Their resplendent appearance- 
would be in keeping with the nature of the truth which they represented. 
The language of verses 15 and 16 1 take to mean simply that the rapidity 
of movement was indicated by the presence of wheels as tall as the 
creature and full of eyes (verse 18), suggesting that their movements 
were directed by observation ; and that these wheels went straight forward 
(verse 17). It is believed that each wheel was composed of two circles 
cutting one another at right angles, so that one wheel appeared trans- 
versely within another (verse 16). By this means any one of the four 
faces might be followed without the wheels being obliged to make any 
curve in their course. The firmament above their heads might easily 
represent the firmament of the heavens, under which all things are to be 



EZEKIEL. 655 

made subject to the truth. The goings of the truth are always accom- 
panied with great noise, for it overturns and overturns until he comes 
whose right it is to reign. And above all was the throne of God, around 
which was the rainbow, the emblem of the perfection of light (the 
rainbow being simply white light broken into its primary colors). 

Ch. 2:1-3-11. — The prophet had been overcome by terror, but the 
assuring voice of the Almighty encouraged him to stand upon his feet 
and hear God's message to him. He is reminded that these descendants 
of Jacob are rebellious and impudent, but that they must be warned and 
made to remember that a prophet has been among them. The language 
of verse 6 indicates that the people were most exceedingly ugly in their 
looks and actions toward the man of God. Also (verse 8) that the 
message would be one which would distress him to carry to them. The 
language of verse 3 in chapter 3 indicates that it was sweet to the prophet 
to take in this knowledge, but the sequel will show that it was a most 
bitter thing for him to give it out again with all its weight of woe. Verse 
6 declares that strangers would heed your admonitions quicker than 
your own people. This is a well known fact about which even Jesus had 
occasion to remark. 

Verses 12-15 show the stress under which the prophet was placed when 
he came into possession of God's message to this people. He sees the 
movements of God's providence in the furtherance of his plans, and 
realizes the weight of sorrow which it implies to this rebellious people. 
Hence his bitterness, and the strength of his desire to move them to 
repentance. His sitting in silence among them for a time would thor- 
oughly advertise him, and make them ready for the message he was 
about to deliver to them. 

16-21. — And now before he speaks, God gives to him his commission. 
He is a watchman, and as such is to be held responsible for the discharge 
of that duty. It is a possible thing, and given color by the strictness of 
the message delivered to him, that the prophet may have been somewhat 
unwilling to discharge his duty until he was reminded of the responsi- 
bility which would rest upon him if he did not. Hence verses 18-21. In 
these verses is clearly set forth the stupendous fact of humanity's free 
moral agency. Human beings are allowed to think and act for themselves 
and to change their course at their will, and God accepts their decision 
and marks them accordingly; and thus it is that each individual makes 
character for which he is responsible. In this power of choice consists 
his God-likeness. Akin to that thought is the other found in these same 
verses — that if God accepts and gives men credit for being co-operators 



656 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

with him in influencing the actions of free moral agents, he must hold 
them strictly responsible for the faithful delivery of his messages. Since 
the truth must be presented to the mind before the mind can be held 
responsible for its acceptance or rejection, a necessary antecedent of 
character making is the setting forth of the truth for the consideration 
of the character maker. 

22-27. — Having prepared the prophet for his work, the Lord now gives 
to him the message for the Hebrews. First of all he takes him aside and 
shows him glory similar to that which he had seen by the river, and 
assures him with the same encouraging voice, so that the prophet is 
satisfied that the course he is about to take is ordered of the Lord. Here 
God assures him at the start that the people will treat him with contempt 
and abuse. It is a matter of dispute among authorities as to whether 
the language of verse 25 means actual imprisonment or simply implies 
such active opposition to. the words of the prophet as to be the means of 
isolating him from the people as if he were shut up in prison. Be that 
as it may, the prophet was taught to expect bold opposition, and meet it 
with courageous declarations of "Thus saith the Lord/' thus putting the 
entire responsibility of the result upon the hearers. 

Ch. 4:1-3. — The tile mentioned was one of Babylonish sort, about two 
feet long and one foot broad. The prophet was to place upon it a picture 
as an object lesson. First he was to put upon it a picture of a city to 
represent Jerusalem. Around the city he was to plant the mounts and 
camps and battering rams of a besieging army. Between these and the 
city he was to put an iron pan or plate for a wall and then lay siege to 
the cit}'. This would be an effectual answer to those who were- constantly 
envying the Jews who had not left Jerusalem. God had counseled them 
through his prophets to surrender to the enemy and save themselves and 
the city from destruction, and many who were here had done so, but those 
in Jerusalem taunted them with following false prophets, and contrasted 
their own supposed security with the sorrowful captivity of these who 
had gone to Babylon. No doubt many of the captives believed that those 
in Jerusalem were right, and that Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others were 
wrong; and so the prophet is here about to show them that captivity in 
the empire of Babylon is better than siege in Jerusalem. It is altogether 
probable that these prophecies of Ezekiel were read also to the Jews at 
Jerusalem. 

4-8. — Expositors think that the reclining of the prophet was also a 
performance only in vision. However, it is neither impossible nor 
unlikely that the prophet did actually assume some such attitude each 



EZEKIEL. 657 

day for a time through the period mentioned. The sum of three hundred 
and ninety and forty is four hundred and thirty, the length of time which 
elapsed between the call of Abraham and the entrance of his posterity 
into the promise land. It was about three hundred and ninety years from 
the time Jeroboam set up the idolatrous calves in the kingdom of Israel 
to the destruction of Jerusalem. And by reference to II Kings 21 it will 
be seen that for the evil which Manasseh did in about forty years of his 
fifty-five-year reign, God determined and foretold that he would remove 
the kingdom of Judah. Josiah made a reformation after this, but God 
adhered to his purpose to destroy the kingdom. II Kings 23:26, 27. 
The prophet is here pouring upon them the anathemas of an offended 
God, and declaring that they must suffer his promised judgments. Thus 
the prophet gives a second token of the evil that is about to come upon 
the cherished sacred place, Jerusalem. 

9-13. — A third and most striking token to the Jews was that of the 
unclean food. The prophet was to eat the most scant amount of food, 
and use water as if it were most expensive, and above all, there was to be 
mixed with the food the most nauseating and abominable refuse. This, 
as verse 13 declares, was to be a picture of the unclean food of these 
children of promise, scattered among the nations because of their sins. 
Being slaves of Gentile nations, they would be obliged to do as their 
Gentile masters did. 

14-17. — The prophet's protest was a most natural one, and probably 
the Lord expected that he would protest, may be desired that he should, 
as in the case to be demonstrated a substitute would answer as well, if 
it were generally known for what it had been substituted. God's order, 
and the prophet's protest, would of course be known to all the people. 
The language used indicates that the refuse named was to be used as fuel 
over which to cook the food. Verse 17 indicates that their want should 
be so grievous as to be pitiful. 

Ch. 5 :l-4. — The fourth token was a most notable and striking one. 
Ordinarily it was unlawful for a priest to cut his hair. In this case, 
however, Ezekiel was to cut off both his hair and beard. After the days 
were fulfilled through which the siege was represented as lasting, of this 
Hebrew family (numerous as the hairs of the head) one- third should be 
burned, i. e., perish by famine and pestilence ; another third should perish 
by the sword, and those who remained were to be scattered among the 
nations. Even of the few which he bound to his skirt a portion was to 
be burned, indicating most likely that even of the priestly class a large 
per cent would perish because of their iniquity, and that because of their 



658 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

office their example would prove a serious stumbling block to all the 
people. 

5-17. — The explanations of these symbols in verses 5-17 is self-explan- 
atory. Jerusalem stood for the whole Hebrew nation. Its physical 
situation was strategic. Jamieson says, "No center in the ancient heathen 
world could have been selected more fitted than Canaan to be a vantage 
ground whence the people of God might have acted with success on the 
heathenism of the world. It lay midway between the oldest and most 
civilized states, Egypt and Ethiopia on one side, and Babylon, Nineveh 
and India on the other, and afterwards Persia, Greece and Eome. The 
Phoenician mariners were close by, through whom they might have 
transmitted the true religion to the remotest lands; and all around, the 
Ishmaelites, the great inland traders in south Asia and north Africa. 
Israel was thus placed, not for its own selfish good, but to be the spiritual 
benefactor of the whole world. Failing in this, and falling into idolatry, 
its guilt was far worse than that of the heathen ; not that Israel literally 
went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries, but that the perversion 
of that which is in itself the best, is worse than the perversion of that 
which is less perfect. Therefore their punishment was the severest. So 
the position of the Christian church now, if it be not a light to the 
heathen world, its condemnation will be sorer than theirs." The prophecy 
of verse 10 was actually fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem. It has been 
said of this nation that the Jewish people had "a germinating evil in 
their destiny," and even if verse 12 was not true under Zedekiah, it has 
come to be true in their latter history. The very name of Jew has long 
since been a term of reproach among the nations of the earth. 

Gh. 6:1-7-27. — This theme follows in point of time immediately in 
connection with the last one. God had sent a message to the captive 
Hebrews in which he showed how Jerusalem was to be taken, and then 
folloAvs it by showing how the land should be made desolate by the sword 
of the enemy. The addressing of the mountains was simply a way of 
making the language impressive to the captives by painting before them 
a word picture of the land they loved so well in desolate ruins. The 
"high places and altars and sun images" mentioned were the places of 
the people's idolatry. The slaying of Hebrews before these idolatrous 
altars and the destruction of their cities was only a just punishment for 
their evil. When their conquering enemies came into the land many of 
the people would fly to their false gods for protection, and of course be 
slain before them. All who should escape should be such as would obey 
God's orders to surrender and be carried captive among the nations* 



EZEKIEL. 659 

Verse 9 indicates that these scattered captives should be made by the 
national calamity to remember and deplore the sins against God which 
had destroyed the nation. Such feelings and expressions as are here 
indicated would start the whole remaining company of the Hebrews into 
the channel of true repentance, and make them own that God had treated 
them according to their deserts. The gestures mentioned in verse 11 
were probably meant to give force to the prophet's declaration of the 
coming evils. The word "from" in verse 14 were better read "more 
than," the thought being that this land of promise shall become more 
desolate than the wilderness by the city mentioned, which was a Moabite 
town on the borders of the Arabian desert. This language of chapter 7 
is in perfect accord with what Jeremiah was saying to the people who 
had not yet gone into captivity. Ezekiel was speaking to those who had 
gone into captivity, showing how much better was that captivity than 
residence in that land accursed of God. Verses 12 and 13 refer to the 
custom of buying and selling estates. The seller need not mourn at the 
sale, for he would soon be driven from it anyhow, and the buyer need not 
rejoice, for he shall not be allowed to possess what he has bought. The 
seller shall not be allowed to possess it at the year of jubilee, so both 
he and the buyer are in similar conditions. The fact that their appetites 
and passions had led them to ruin was a reason why God determined that 
these should suffer painful want. Verse 20 refers, I think, to the temple 
at Jerusalem, which God had so honored that it became the pride of the 
nation, but they had so dishonored it that God determined to forsake 
and destroy it. The chain was a symbol of captivity, the captives being 
chained together for leading away. 

Ch. 8 :l-3. — The time of this vision of the prophet concerning Jeru- 
salem was about four hundred and twenty-five days after the first vision 
mentioned in this book ; that is, after the completion of the four hundred 
and twenty days mentioned in chapter 4. Ezekiel was no doubt recog- 
nized as a spiritual teacher among the captives, and so the elders who 
were in captivity sat at his feet as a teacher. The messenger mentioned 
in verse 2 was God's manifestation to him to make him ready to 
comprehend and make clear to others this vision of God concerning 
Jerusalem. The conveyance of the prophet to Jerusalem was of course 
only in spirit, and it is likely that all this vision was given in a very brief 
space of time as Ezekiel sat before the elders, and that he immediately 
after related it to them, as the last verse of chapter 11 declares. The 
inner court was the court which the priests occupy in the daily service 
of the temple. The outer court was occupied by the people. 



660 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

4, 5. — The image of jealousy mentioned doubtless refers to some of 
the images which certain kings of Judah had set up in the temple 
enclosure. Verse 4 indicates that there appeared to the prophet the 
same vision of glory which chapter 1 tells he had seen in the plain of 
Chaldea, so that he was assured that God was continuing to deal with 
him in the same line that he began when that vision was sent him. God 
was justly angry that such a heathen abomination should be set up 
anywhere by his people, especially in their most sacred place, and just 
where it would attract the attention of every worshiper when he first 
entered the sacred enclosure. The force of the word "jealous" will be 
understood by referring to the second commandment. 

.6-11. — Verses 6-18 give an expanded illustration of why it should be 
called an image of jealous}^. First of all, as verses 6-11 show, the nation 
had fallen into grievous wickedness. The people had become like their 
heathen neighbors whom God had at first commanded them to destroy, 
and that in spite of all the warnings of Moses and Joshua, and the 
protests of their prophets. What was still worse, they did these things 
in secret, and the seventy elders, the legally constituted head of the civil 
power, were the leaders. The meaning of verse 10 is that in order to please 
the heathen with whom the Hebrews had come to closely associate, every 
manner of vile practice which the heathen were guilty of was incorporated 
into the religious ceremonies of Israel, and a place given them about the 
temple services. It will be remembered that Athaliah, who was at one 
time queen of Judah, was a daughter of the old heathen Jezebel, wife 
of the king of Israel, and she introduced into the worship of the Jews 
all the abominable doings of the heathen nation from which she came. 
Shaphan was the pious scribe who read the book of the law to Josiah. 
His son here mentioned was probably chief of the seventy at this time, 
and a leader in idolatry. The cloud of incense showed that they were 
zealously prosecuting their infamous idolatry. Such leadership as that 
makes it easy to understand why the whole nation was given to idolatry. 

Verses 12-14 show another phase of the evil. What men actually were 
quickly manifested itself in their wives. The women were allowed to 
come only to the gate of the outer court, and here they are represented as 
worshiping a personage whom mythology tells us was a paramour of 
Venus, the goddess of love, and because he was compelled to spend half 
of the year in the regions of darkness the women tore their hair and wept, 
and yielding their bodies to prostitution, devoted the proceeds to Venus. 

15-18. — The next picture which he sees is the worst of all. In the 
inner court where the priests performed their duties, between the altar 



EZEKIEL. 661 

of burnt offerings and the temple where the most sacred ceremonies were 
performed to God, were twenty-five men (the leader of each of the twenty- 
four courses of the priesthood and the high priest). These of course 
stand for the priesthood, and they are here worshiping the sun. The last 
clause of verse 18 is variously interpreted. The LXX says it means to 
turn up the nose in scorn, expressing insolent security. Strabo says they 
held a bunch of tamarisk to their noses at daybreak while singing hymns 
to the rising sun. Brown says that sacred trees were frequent symbols in 
idol worship. Thus it becomes clear why God was provoked to jealousy. 
The people who should have been God's warriors, the women to whom the 
responsibility of child training was given, and even the priests who should 
have been the spiritual leaders of the people, were all hopeless idolaters. 
They had been heedless of all God's warnings and now they would not 
receive his reproof by the prophets. 

Ch. 9 :1-11. — Because of these conditions, but one thing remained to be 
done, viz., punishment must be visited. Seven men (the number of 
completeness) came upon the city, six of whom are destroyers. The duty 
of the other one was to first care for the remaining faithful. After he 
had marked them for their salvation the others were to destroy until none 
should be left. Three points are made very plain: 1, God cares for his 
own; and 2, judgment begins at the house of God upon those who sin 
against the greatest light ; 3, even the innocence of youth does not escape 
such calamity when their surroundings and rearings are such that they 
are sure to be led in the wrong way. Verse 7 indicates that God's holy 
place had been so outraged by the sins of his people that he now proposed 
to fill it with the bones of these violators of his law. The latter part of 
verse 9 was not true, but it was true that he had forsaken those who 
forsook him. 

Ch. 10:1-7. — In the first theme of chapter 10, God's throne appears — 
that from which all authority proceeds. The messenger who has put the 
mark on the deserving ones is now ordered to scatter coals over the city, 
the consuming wrath of God. The fire is taken from the midst of the 
moving figure beneath the cherub, which manifestation stood for the 
superintending, overruling and consuming providence of God. The coals 
did not come from an altar (which stood for mercy and reconciliation), 
but from God's consuming wrath. That wrath was at work, and unless 
the Hebrews should repent it would finally consume them all. It was 
like the glory of God's presence which shone from Sinai at the giving of 
the law, concerning which the people were warned lest they break through 
to gaze and perish. 



662 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

8-22. — In the repetition of the first vision verse 8 is suggestive of a 
tremendous truth. There appeared the form of a man's hand. This 
repetition of a sight which the prophet had already seen in Chaldea, in 
the vision of Jerusalem, was to the prophet's mind a confirmation of the 
fact that it was of God, and its reappearance in this vision marks progress 
in the order of God's doings. The carrying out of God's providential 
plans is accomplished through human agency. God's great providences 
in the history of the human family have upon them the print of men's 
hands. It will be noticed from verse 19 that the glory of God, which 
dwelt between the cherubim over the mercy seat of the ark, rises and 
travels toward the gate. (Keep this point in mind for a moment.) 

Ch. 11 :1-13. — Ezekiel now is carried by the spirit to this same east 
gate. Here he saw the twenty-five men mentioned in chapter 8 with the 
two princes in the midst, and they are definitely pointed out by the spirit 
as the leaders of wickedness in the nation. Jamieson thinks that the two 
specially mentioned were chief priests, but were called "princes of the 
people" in irony, meaning that they used their priestly office to become 
ringleaders of the people in sin. He also thinks that verse 3 is the 
mocking answer of these men to the advice of Jeremiah to the captives 
in Babylon (Jer. 29:5). They are saying in substance, "According to 
Jeremiah we are being boiled in this chaldron, but it don't seem to hurt 
us much, and we propose to stay." But Ezekiel here answers them, 
"Those whom you have slain are the ones who are being boiled, and you 
are doing the boiling, but the Lord says that you shall be brought out of 
this place and put to the sword. They were to be, according to verse 11, 
taken captive first, in order to show them that the words of the Lord by 
his prophets were true, and afterwards slain in the borders of the land 
outside of Jerusalem. Pelatiah died in the vision. The prophet was 
so overcome by the severity of God's judgment that he cried out in 
supplication that God would restrain his wrath. 

14-21. — And now in conclusion comes this message to the faithful. 
Ezekiel was to say to them that though the inhabitants of Jerusalem did 
taunt them for surrendering to the enemy and said to them, "Get you far 
from the Lord (i. e., from Jerusalem, where he is supposed to dwell), 
but we will stay and possess the land," nevertheless God would protect 
them in the place where he had scattered them and finally bring them 
again to possess that land, but that those who were guilty of evil and 
disobedience to God should receive the reward of their doings. Verses 18 
and 19 indicate that the captivity of the Hebrews would cure them of 
idolatry, which proved true. They were never again guilty after the exile 



EZEKIEL. 663 

to Babylon. All the element in the Hebrew nation which countenanced 
snch doings was destined in that period. 

22, 23. — At the close of this vision the Shechinah forsakes the temple 
and Jerusalem and takes its place upon the heights east of the city, where 
the hosts of the enemies of Jerusalem were soon to gather in their siege 
against it. That meant that the glory of the Lord had departed from the 
place he had called his own on account of the wickedness of the people he 
had chosen and led as his own. It is certain from the story of Kings and 
Chronicles and the prophecy of Jeremiah that God did forsake this nation 
about that time, so that it was a real vision of truth which Ezekiel saw. 

24, 25. — Now the spirit carries the prophet back again in thought and 
vision to his place by the river Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans, and 
he tells the elders of Judah who were before him all this vision which he 
saw concerning the fate of Jerusalem. No doubt it made them glad that 
they were safe in the land of Chaldea, even though they were in captivity. 

Ch. 12:1-16. — The language of the first part of chapter 12 leaves 
little room for doubt that these prophecies were meant for the Hebrews 
who yet remained at Jerusalem, as well as the unbelieving who had been 
brought with the captives now in exile. It is very likely that delegations 
from Jerusalem visited these captives, heard the prophecies of Ezekiel, 
and tried to persuade the captives to disregard them. And so the object 
lesson here given would be for the benefit of both parties — to reconcile 
to their fate those in exile, and to answer the taunting of those yet in 
Jerusalem, who boasted of their security and their privileges over the 
exiles. This picture of taking Jerusalem captive was in accord with what 
Jeremiah had all along been telling the Hebrews at Jerusalem. The 
language of verse 12 refers to Zedekiah, who was king (rather prince) 
when Jerusalem was taken, and whose eyes were put out before he was 
taken away. After that siege the people were scattered like leaves by 
the wind, but curses and destruction followed them wherever they went. 

17-20. — The eating and drinking of the prophet was for a similar 
purpose. He was to use before them bread and water as if every crumb 
and every drop was more valuable than all riches. This, he was to 
declare, was the way in which Jerusalem would soon use food and drink, 
and all her land become an uninhabited waste because of her disobedience 
to God. 

21-25. — The proverb mentioned is an example of some of the things 
against which the prophets had to contend. It is customary even to this 
day for evil men to take advantage of God's long suffering and even 
publicly proclaim that all the visions of God's servants have failed and 



664 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that things will continue as they now are. God here assures them that 
so speedily shall these things come to pass that men shall say, "The days 
are at hand and everything foretold has come to pass/' The thought is 
that God would cause such punishment to fall that men would say it 
exceeded all that had been prophesied, and that afterward none would 
dare to speak lying prophecies for the sake of pleasing the people. 

26-28. — Another similar difficulty was the tendency to lull the people 
into false security by declaring that the disaster foretold was a long 
ways off. God assures them that no longer shall these judgments be 
deferred. 

Ch. 13 :1-16. — At this point the prophet is commanded to give a timely 
warning against the false prophets. Here was the source of most of the 
woes of Israel. There were those calling themselves prophets who for 
selfish reasons wanted to please the hearers, and so devised a cunning 
story to suit their desires and lyingly said, "Thus saith the Lord." Yerse 
5 declares that the people had not taken the right method to protect their 
city against its enemies. Because these prophets had uttered falsehoods, 
therefore God declared that he was against them, and that their very 
names should be blotted out from the records of his people, and they 
should be permanently shut out from the land of Israel. The following 
language indicates that they have lulled the people into false security, and 
that their promises shall fall like a wall of dirt, thus proving them liars, 
and that they shall be destroyed along with the destruction of their 
promises. 

17-23. — It is said concerning the prophetesses that they made cushions 
on which to recline and on which to place their hearers, to indicate the 
pleasant security which they promised. The last clause of verse 18 refers 
to their promising life to the impenitent without any authority to do so. 
Verse 19 shows that then, just as now, such were in the habit of heaping 
their reproach on those who were just, and promising all good to those 
who were evil. The twenty-third verse indicates their destruction along 
with the other false prophets. 

Ch. 14:1-11. — The elders here mentioned may mean elders of the 
captives, oV, as some think, a delegation of visiting elders from Jerusalem. 
Most likely the first, because at the first deportation to Babylon all the 
men of influence in the nation were designedly carried away. It is very 
likely that verse 3 means that these captives were chafing under their 
exile and taking occasion to dispute with the prophet who declared it was 
proper to surrender to the enemy. Hence God says, Since these men 
desire to return to their old haunts and their old ways, should I not 



EZEKIEL. 665 

refuse to give them any message? Thus the advice of verse 6 and the 
warning of verses 7 and 8. Both prophet (verse 9) and people (verse 10) 
shall be held responsible for going wrong. 

12-23. — The argument of verses 12-23 is simply this: If a land 
becomes so wicked as to call down such judgment from God, then God 
will not be turned from the execution by a few righteous dwelling there. 
They shall go out of the land and so preserve their lives, but the rest 
shall be destroyed. At the time this was written the first two chapters 
at least of Daniel had become a part of history, and no doubt the Jews 
were greatly impressed by the record made by one of their number in 
the capital of the nation of their captivity. The thought of their 
delivering neither son nor daughter means that each individual must 
bear his own accountability. The children will be neither saved nor 
condemned for their father's sake. He here declares that a remnant shall 
escape from Jerusalem and come to these captives, and that this very 
fact of their coming and the horrors they would be able to relate would 
not only prove the truth of these prophecies, but should comfort those 
who are already captives by showing them what they had escaped. 

Ch. 15 :l-8. — This parable of the vine reminds the Jews that the vine 
is of no account as wood, not even as firewood. If it does not bear fruit 
it is useless. Israel was the Lord's vine. It had not borne fruit, but had 
been burned at both ends. (The whole kingdom of Israel had been 
carried captives, and the choice of Judah had gone also.) Hence it was 
now good for nothing but to be destroyed. There were many nations 
better in every way than the Hebrews, save that God had chosen them 
to be his people. 

Ch. lG:l-5. — And now he reproaches Jerusalem, and this city stands 
for the entire nation. The language of verse 3 may mean only that born 
and brought up in Canaan, the heads of the twelve tribes partook of the 
nature of their surroundings. This was certainly true, and compared 
with the other peoples named the Hebrews at first were only a band of 
wandering shepherds, without a local habitation or a name. Hence 
the language of verses 4 and 5. Besides many of the surrounding peoples 
were incorporated into the chosen family, e. g., the wives of the twelve 
sons of Jacob, and Eahab and Ruth, etc. 

Verses 6-14 are self-explanatory. The secret of the growth and pros- 
perity of this chosen family was explainable only in the fact of God's 
special protection and guidance. As verse 7 indicates, he caused the 
people to grow until it attained the dignity of a great nation, and then 



666 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

(verse 8) clothed it with national honors and married it to himself as 
its head. 

15-34. — In spite of all this the chosen nation became proud and wanton 
and proved unfaithful to God. She cast off her first love, God, and fell 
a prey to the seducing flatteries of the abominable clans about her whom 
she should have destroyed. She fell into those most depraved habits of 
the nations of heathen around her, and began to destroy her children as 
they did theirs, and built the high places for idol worship in the nation, 
and put their idols in the very temple of God. Verse 31 declares that 
they were not urged to this course by want, but (verse 32) did it from 
pure love of the doing, and paid for the privilege (verses 33 and 34). 

35-43. — For this reason God declares the judgment of verses 35-43. 
It is asserted that these very ones whom she strove to please should turn 
against her and destroy her. This proved to be literally true. The 
Jewish nation in its destruction bore every indignity and distress at the 
hands of the nations about them. 

44-59. — The comparison of this nation to the nations about her puts 
her on a level with them, and shows that she is like they were. This is 
very similar to the course of argument which Paul pursued in Eom. 3. 
The mixed people with whom Samaria had been peopled after the 
captivity of the nation were as good as these Jews about whom Ezekiel 
was now talking. He here declares that their sins are greater than those 
of Samaria or Sodom. Verse 52 speaks of an added accountability which 
the Hebrews must bear because they have passed judgment on those 
evil-doers mentioned, hence such judgment must be the measure of their 
accountability. Though in the day of her pride the Hebrew nation 
would not mention the name of Sodom, yet God here declares that he will 
in future return them to their estate on an equal footing with this 
chosen people. 

60-63. — It is here said that in the restoration God would do what Paul 
says in Pom. 11 : 2 5-3 2, viz., shut up all on an equal footing and have 
mercy on both Jew and Gentile alike. They (these nations) are to be 
Zion's daughters; not by her covenant, but by the new covenant of the 
scheme of redemption, which embraces alike all nations, and the history 
of the Hebrews would forever prohibit their objecting to the association. 

Ch. 17:1-10. — Having reproached Jerusalem for her unsavory repu- 
tation from of old, the prophet here introduces a new figure to remind the 
people forcibly of their present condition. The eagle was a favorite 
symbol with the Babylonians, hence an eagle here would stand for the 
king of Babylon. Lebanon and its cedars stood for the land of the 



EZEKIEL. 667 

Hebrews. The temple was built of those cedars. The king of Babylon 
had already taken the choice of the Hebrews into captivity, and so 
cropped the best limbs from the top of the tree, and transplanted them 
into his own land. Those who were left in the land were here called a 
vine under his protection, and though not the stately Hebrew nation of 
old, yet those whom he left were prospering and doing well. The other 
eagle (verse 7) represents the king of Egypt, to whom Zedekiah, after 
having taken an oath of allegiance to the king of Babylon, was at this 
time about to turn in his rebellion against the king of Babylon. And so 
God here foretells the calamity which it shall bring upon the land. The 
expression "east wind" here has a double significance. East wind in 
that country was proverbially disastrous to vegetation, coming from the 
hot desert, and here it probably refers to the enemies of the Hebrews, 
who should come upon them from the east for their destruction. 

Verses 11-21 give an explanation of the preceding theme. It is 
probable that the act of Zedekiah in making an alliance with Egypt 
(verse 15) occurred about this time, calling out this word of the Lord 
to them by Ezekiel. Verse 16 was afterward literally fulfilled, for 
Zedekiah was carried to Babylon and died there. Verse 19 leaves no 
doubt that it was God's will that Zedekiah should remain faithful to the 
king of Babylon. The horses mentioned in verse 15 were forbidden the 
children of Israel by the law of Moses because God knew that their 
cultivation would prove a constant temptation to the people to make 
entangling alliance with Egypt, where they were so plentifully raised. 

The language of verses 22-24 refers no doubt to the fact that God 
intended to preserve amid the calamities a faithful seed of Israel, which 
after the calamities had destroyed the unfaithful ones should return to 
the land and perpetuate the nation until the coming of Christ, who by 
grafting all believers into himself should make of all nations one people. 
The expressions "high, and low, green and dry," in verse 24 refer to the 
fact that God destroyed the stately nation (green tree) for its sins, and 
put in its place the lowly among the people, such as would ordinarily 
be called a dry tree in contradistinction from the dignitaries of the then 
nourishing scions of royalty. 

Cli. 18 :l-32. — This direction of the prophet to rebuke a false proverb 
was prompted most likely by the fact that the people were excusing their 
meanness by asserting that sin was born in them. He here shows that a 
man may live so as to be justified by his manner of life, and that his son 
may be condemned for his misdoings, regardless of the just character of 
his father. He in turn may have a son who appreciates and recoils from 



668 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

his father's sins, and he is justified, regardless of the evil character of his 
father. The argument is all summed up in verse 20. Every man must 
bear his own accountability. Then he proceeds to show that a just man 
may become evil or an evil man may become just. The whole chapter is 
an exaltation of the free moral agency of man, the only basis on which 
he could be considered a responsible being and be held accountable for 
his character. The statement that when he turns, his former righteous- 
ness or iniquity, as the case may be, shall not be remembered, means that 
his former character shall not affect the judgment of his present char- 
acter. It is clear that one who has all his life been evil and at last 
repents cannot receive the reward of one who has been always right ; nor 
one who has all along been right and at last drops into sin, yet the 
condemnation of a life long doer of evil. There must be degrees both 
of rewards and punishments. 

Ch. 19 :1-14. — The prophet's lamentation in chapter 19 shows his view 
of the case as opposed to their theory which he has combated in chapter 
18. The idea is that the trainers of the youth of Israel were evil and 
taught it to the children as a lioness teaches her young to catch prey. 
The first cub mentioned was Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, who was taken 
captive to Egypt. (II Kings 23:33.) The other would be Zedekiah, 
who was soon to go blinded and in chains to Babylon. Then he changes 
the metaphor, and likens Israel to a vine, thrifty and well established, 
but which was pulled up by a strong hand and destroyed because she was 
bearing evil fruit. In her transplanted state on foreign soil she was a 
weak, sickly growth. 

Ch. 20:1-32. — In the recital to the elders the prophet recalls the diso- 
bedience of the people in Egypt, at Sinai, on the borders of the land when 
the spies were sent, in the wilderness during the forty years' wandering, 
and in the land of Moab when they came again to the borders of the land, 
and finally after they came into Canaan. Again and again he threatened 
to destroy them, and then relented and spared them. Verses 25 and 26 
suggest how God visited upon them their evil in the land of Moab, where 
thousands died. (See Num. 25.) After they came into Canaan their 
disobedience was so outrageous that they actually adopted as a permanent 
name for their place of idolatry a term by which God's prophet had 
rebuked them. Hence God says to the elders, You need not come to me 
for advice, seeing that you propose to do as the nations about you. 

33-44. — His promised judgment declares that he will now take another 
course in pleading with them. He will be their King, but a King of 
wonderful severity. The rod under which he will pass them will purge 



EZEKIEL. 669 

out the sinners. He calls on those who will, to go serve their idols, but 
declares that he will bring out of captivity only those who serve him. 
These words later became literally true. 

45-21-7. — The prophet now turns his face toward the south (Judea), 
and represents it as about to be burned with fire, meaning destruction 
by enemies, but verse 49 shows that his hearers did not believe him. 
Then he turns toward the temple and foretells that the sword shall go 
throughout the land. As a sign to them the prophet was to sigh so 
bitterly as to call forth their wonder, when he was to answer their 
questions by telling the frightful calamities which were almost upon 
them. 

8-27. — Now the prophet dwells especially on the instrument of destruc- 
tion. . The sword he sees is sharpened and brightened. Hence he declares, 
verse 10, that it is high time to become sober; not only that, but to 
become actively penitent. The margin of verse 13 is clearer. The 
thought is that the general destruction would overtake even royalty. 
Verses 8-17 lay special stress upon God's determination to use the sword. 
Then verses 18-27 tell who shall use that sword. The king of Babylon, 
to whom they had sworn allegiance and broken their oath, was coming 
upon them. The prophet represents him as coming to where the roads 
part, and using his heathen tests to decide by which way he will enter 
the land. The last clause of verse 23 refers to his reminding the Jews 
of their broken oath. Verses 26 and 27 make a flash light picture of the 
destruction of Judea. 

28-32. — Then the prophet is given a word for the Ammonites. They, 
too, are to be destroyed. This was done five years after the fall of 
Jerusalem. II Kings 25 :25 and Jer. 41 :15 show that they had helped 
Ishmael destroy the ruler which Babylon had left in the land of Judea. 
For this they were destroyed by Babylon. Verse 29 shows that they also 
had lying prophets, and the rest of the language means that their heads 
were to be cut from their necks as were those of the Jews. They were not 
to be carried captive, but slain in their own land (verse 30). 

Ch. 22:1-16. — In dealing with free moral agents the method of pro- 
cedure is to persuade them. After all the warnings which have been 
given against the wickedness of Judea and the coming punishment which 
God was about bringing upon them, the Lord here specifies the secret 
practices which have made her capital a very synonym for wickedness. 
Her violent abuse of power, her standing insult to God by idolatry, the 
lewdness and avarice;rof her people had made the city infamous, and 
because of this God had forsaken her and here proceeds to give the 



670 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

reasons for her consideration. Had Jerusalem been wise she would while 
yet her probation lasted have taken warning from these kindly rebukes 
of God and by her repentance and reformation re-established herself in 
the divine favor. The punishment which God brought upon her was 
reformatory, and so deeply rooted was the injustice of her nature that 
in rooting it out God was obliged to destroy the whole nation except rare 
individuals here and there who were righteous. Through days and 
years God had warned them until at last he came to the point where 
they must be destroyed. The threat of verse 15 was most appallingly 
executed, for after seventy years of captivity in Babylon, in which time 
the people were thoroughly cured of idolatry, the people were still so 
given to prejudice and violence, as shown in their dealing with Jesus, 
that again they have been scattered and subject to the violence of the 
nations for eighteen hundred years. 

17-22. — The figure of verses 17-22 is self-explanatory. The chosen 
people had become so unprofitable for the purpose for which God had 
called them that the only rational means of dealing with them was to 
destroy their national existence. This was to be done at the destruction 
of Jerusalem, when the entire body of the people was to be either 
destroyed by famine or sword or carried into captivity. 

23-31. — The specification of her evils is a startling comment on human 
beings. God's promise to Abram was that his seed should be brought into 
a goodly land, and this promise was repeated and enlarged upon by Moses, 
and the best and purest government in the world was instituted among 
the twelve tribes of Israel when they came out of Egypt. But here after 
nine hundred years the land is represented as under the curse of God, 
and the highly honored priestly tribe, which should have been the guide 
of the people into all truth, leaders not only in idolatry, but in lawless 
wickedness of all kind. The princes had sold all their honor for gain, and 
the prophets habitually lied for personal aggrandizement. The people 
had caught the spirit of robbery and oppression, and so universal had it 
become that God had no representatives among them willing to champion 
his just cause at the expense of personal loss and ridicule, and probably 
physical violence^ Hence verse 31. 

Ch. 23 :l-49. — In chapter 23 the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, are 
represented by two daughters. Israel is called the elder, probably 
because she first went off into idolatry and drew Judah after her. 
Samaria was the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem the 
capital of Judah. About the time the Hebrew kingdom was divided 
Assyria rose to be a great power. Before her was Syria, and verse 8 



EZEKIEL. 671 

indicates that from the time of the settlement of the tribes in Canaan 
they had been on terms of too great familiarity with their evil neighbors. 
Verses 9 and 10 state a historical fact which was the legitimate result of 
their disregard of God's warnings. Judah was regarded as worse than 
Israel because she saw and denounced Israel's course of conduct and 
afterward herself drifted into the same condemnation in even a more 
intense degree. After the conquest of Assyria Judah associated famil- 
iarly with the Babylonians and partook of their evils. The unfaithfulness 
which the people had shown in Egypt when they rebelled against the offer 
of Moses to champion their cause was increasingly manifested by their 
conduct in the land of Canaan (verse 19). And as verse 20 indicates, 
they were not choice as to the refinement or attractiveness of their 
company. At first these barbarians came to the Hebrews with smooth 
words of flattery, but after they had beguiled them they came with the 
relentless hostility described in verses 22-30. The specific charges which 
entered into the judgment of the Hebrews are stated in verses 36-42. 
Lewdness, idolatry, outrages on humanity in the name of religion, 
profanation of sacred things and want of energy were among the accusa- 
tions. Hence God declares that these nations shall be treated with the 
violence which their character deserves, and that the result of their own 
conduct shall recoil upon them until they be made to penitently acknowl- 
edge the supremacy of God and also their own wretched faithlessness. 
Ch. 24:1-14. — The ninth } r ear, tenth month, tenth day was the very 
day on which Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. The princes 
(chapter 11 :3) had said, perhaps in mockery of the prophets, "This city 
is the caldron and we are the flesh." Now Ezekiel sends word to them 
on the very day the siege begins, "Thus saith the Lord," verses 3, 4 and 5. 
That was a way of reminding them that the prophecies were true and 
were now about to be fulfilled, and that they were about to be boiled as 
they deserved. The princes and other leaders who had been priding 
themselves on their superiority to those in captivity and to the prophets 
who advised them to go, are the choice pieces of the sacrifice which are 
now to go -into the boiling pot. In verse 6 "rust" should be translated 
"scum," which rises excessively on a pot in which the boiling piece is 
bloody. The last part of the verse refers to the fact that usually it was 
decided by lot which of the captives taken were to go and which to stay. 
In this case no lot was to be taken, for no mercy was to be shown and all 
were to go. The expression "piece by piece" is suggestive of the two-years' 
siege which was required to reduce and take the city. The language of 
verses 7 and 8 is another way of saying that God would not allow the 



672 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

crimes of the city to be concealed. He determined that the results 
should be as public as their brazen commission of the crimes. The rest 
of the verses of the theme simply declare that God will not desist from 
his purpose until the measure of their promised punishment be meted 
out to the full. 

15-27. — The prophet at the death of his wife was told not to make any 
outward display of grief. The head-dress and shoes, usually put off at 
such times, were to be left on, the lip was not to be covered, and he was 
not to eat the bread of consolation sent by his friends. The people 
understood (verse 19) that some lesson was meant for them, and they 
asked him of it. He showed them that the Lord was about to deliver the 
beautiful temple of Solomon into the hands of men to destroy it, and 
their children whom they had left at Jerusalem to be slain by the sword. 
Then they were to do as Ezekiel had done, refrain from outward expres- 
sion of grief. Stubborn Jerusalem, which had defied God and ridiculed 
those who obeyed his prophets, was to suffer the penalty, and God's loyal 
people should approve that penalty. All who escape, says the Lord, shall 
come here in captivity to thee. After the destruction of Jerusalem all 
who survived were carried into captivity except the very poorest of the 
land, who were left to be herders and vine dressers. 

Ch. 25 :l-7. — The prophecy against Ammon grew out of their noisy 
expressions of gratification at the misfortune of the Hebrews. They were 
old enemies of the chosen people, having fought against them when they 
first came to Canaan. They were descendants of Ammon, child of the 
second daughter of Lot by her father, and lived in the regions of the 
Dead Sea northeast. The children of the east mentioned were the 
wandering tribes of the desert who camped there after the destruction of 
the Ammonite nation by Nebuchadnezzar shortly after the fall of Jeru- 
salem. Kabbah was the chief city. 

8-11. — Moab was descended from the son of Lot by his oldest daughter. 
They lived east of the Dead Sea and Jordan Eiver, just south of Ammon. 
They, too, were old enemies of the Hebrews, and now they said, "You 
see that the God of the Hebrews cannot protect his people any better than 
the other gods," and so they rejoiced and aided in Jerusalem's overthrow 
as proof of the falsity of the Hebrews' claim that theirs was the only 
true God. 

12-14. — Edom was the nation of Esau's descendants. They hated the 
Hebrews because of the birthright dispute between Esau and Jacob, and 
also because David had conquered them in his lifetime. Those three 
nations, Ammon, Moab and Edom, were in a row east of the Hebrews, 



EZEKIEL. 673 

stretching from Mount Gilead to the Red Sea, and joined with the 
enemies of the Hebrews in their destruction, and intercepted and put to 
death the fugitive Jews who sought safety in flight. Smith says that 
"During the warlike rule of the Maccabees four centuries later these 
Edomites or Idumeans were completely subdued and forced to conform 
to Jewish laws and rites," thus fulfilling verse 14, after which time the 
Edomites disappeared from history as a separate people. 

15-17. — The Philistines had settled in Canaan before the days of 
Abraham, occupying the southwestern coast, toward Egypt. They also 
had been life-long enemies of the Hebrew nation. They had been com- 
pletely subdued by David, but afterward renewed hostilities, and were 
especially bitter now at the time of the Babylonish captivity. They 
seemed to have disappeared from history shortly after the return of the 
Jews from Babylon. 

Ch. 26:1-21. — Tyre is first mentioned in Josh. 19:29, and must have 
existed before the tribes of Israel settled in Canaan. Hiram, king of 
Tyre, was a friend and ally of David, and also of Solomon. One hundred 
years after the separation of Israel from Judah, Ahab, king of Israel, 
married the daughter of the king of Sidon, whom some contend was 
also king of Tyre. The city became a great center of trade and remarkable 
for wealth. J. F. B. says that "Tyre did not regard Jerusalem as an 
open enemy, for she depended upon the country of the Hebrews for grain, 
but Jerusalem had intercepted some of the inland traffic which she wished 
to monopolize to herself; so in her intensely selfish worldly mindedness 
she exulted heartlessly over the fall of Jerusalem as her own gain, so 
incurring the wrath of God as representing worldly ambition, selfishness 
and pride in defiance of his will." Hence her language in verse 2, which 
was at the time Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem. Ezekiel then hurls 
back at Tyre the reply of verses 3-21. Smith calls attention to the 
further fact that Josiah in his reformation had heaped insults on the 
gods of Tyre introduced and championed by the tigress Jezebel, wife of 
Ahab, so that the death of Josiah at Megiddo and the subsequent fall of 
Jerusalem. and overthrow of the temple was hailed by them with trium- 
phant joy as instances of divine retribution in human affairs. Soon after 
the fall of Jerusalem, Xebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years; 
later Cyrus of Persia ruled it, then Alexander of Greece took it, put to 
death its defenders, and sold thirty thousand of its inhabitants as slaves, 
and afterward it was made tributary to Pome. It is probable that the 
prophecy of this chapter reaches far beyond the siege of Xebuchadnezzar, 
which was the beginning of Tyre's reverses, to those later reverses in 



674 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

which this language is more completely fulfilled than it seems to have 
been in the siege of Nebuchadnezzar. It has been noticed by some 
commentators that in verses 11 and 12 the number of the pronoun 
changes from the singular (referring to the king of Babylon) to plural 
(embracing his successors in conquest). Verses 15-18 give a picture of 
the terror of the surrounding governments at the calamity which shall 
overtake great Tyre. The last clause of verse 20 were better read, "I will 
not set thy glory in the land of the living/' the entire three verses 
expressing God's determination to bring her glory into the dust and 
cause her to disappear from the pages of history. Such has long since 
come to he her fate. 

Ch. 27:1-36. — The lamentation which the prophet here takes up for 
the city in chapter 27 is designed to make the prophecy more real to the 
Tyreans. Ezekiel gives a list of the commercial transactions which 
combine to make Tyre great, representing her as a huge ship (so large 
that her hull reaches far down into the sea, verse 4), built of the choicest 
material, verses 5 and 6; equipped with the finest of woven material, 
verse 7 ; the most noted seamen for rowers and the wisest men for pilots, 
verse 8; wise men for ship repairers, and the vessels of every sea about 
her to exchange merchandise, verse 9. Speaking of her hired men of war, 
Persia * and Phut were said to represent the extreme east and west. 
Gammadin means men of valor. The men in the towers were the 
watchmen, verses 10 and 11. Then follows, up to verse 25, a list of the 
various articles of commerce and the places from which they come. 
Verses 26-36 describe her coming fall, and also the lamentation which 
shall be poured over her by her admirers. 

Ch. 28:1-10. — The message of God to the king of Tyre gives still 
further insight into the inner conditions of this surprising fall. By 
reason of his great prosperity the king had become exceedingly vain and 
very irreverent. He declared that by his own wisdom he had gotten all 
his possessions, and made the sacrilegious claim of verse 2. Hence God 
says, I will bring him down to the pit by strangers, who shall draw the 
sword against the beauty of his kingdom and show him the profanity of 
his claim to be a god. 

11-19. — As in the former case, so here the lamentation is given to 
make more vivid the prophecy. The language of verse 12 means, " Judged 
from a human standpoint, you represent the highest type of perfection 
belonging to your age. You are as if you were in Eden, and had every- 
thing which the heart could wish." The language of verse 14 is explained 
by the fact that this king was Ithbael II, representing the supreme god 



EZEKIEL. 675 

of the Phoenicians, and so imagined himself able to control at will all 
conflicting elements." As verse 14 indicates, God had highly favored 
him. In his power he had known no difficulties, and, verse 15, was a just 
man until he became filled with pride. The stones of fire mentioned 
mean no doubt the beautiful gems by which the king and his dominion 
were decorated. This picture shows what a failure man is even in the 
possession of all his heart desires, if he be not steadied and directed by 
the wisdom and spirit of God. In the very midst of his supposedly 
irrevocable success he was engaged in evils which brought upon him the 
wrath of God and his destruction. 

20-24. — The prophecy against Zidon was the same in kind as that 
against Tyre. Zidon was the mother city from which Tyre sprang. It 
was founded by the first born of Canaan (Gen. 10:15), and its idolatry 
had more effect upon Israel than that of Tyre. The infamous Jezebel 
was a daughter of its king, and in many respects Tyre and Zidon were 
one government. The fulfillment of the prophecies of God's servants 
against these heathen nations would have much to do with the subsequent 
turning of these sin-stricken and God-smitten people to Israel's God. 

25, 26. — God foretold that after he had punished his people, Israel, he 
would bring them again in peace to their own land, and that the nations 
round about them, who should also suffer for their own sins, should no 
longer be tempters of Israel to sin, but from past bitter experience shall 
appreciate the promises and warnings of Israel's God. 

Ch. 29:1-30-26.— After Tyre (and her ally, Zidon) comes Egypt. 
Hophra was on the throne of Egypt at this time, and that kingdom was 
at the height of its power. Wilkenson says that "He had taken Gaza 
and Sidon, and made himself master of Phenicia and Palestine, recov- 
ering much that was lost to Egypt in the victory of Nebuchadnezzar at 
Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiakim." II Kings 24:1-7. 
Herodotus says that he felt so proudly- secure because of his successes for 
twenty-five years that he said not even a god could deprive him of his 
kingdom. Hence the language of the latter part of verse 3. It is said 
that when- the immense crocodile was caught in the Nile that fish clung 
to his horny scales. As that creature was called lord of the Nile, and the 
Nile by its yearly overflow stood for the fertile resources of Egypt, so 
when this king called himself maker of that river the language of verse 4 
was used concerning him, the fish in this case meaning his adherents. 
Some time after this Egypt suffered from a civil war, in the course of 
which Nebuchadnezzar interfered and dethroned and strangled this king, 
and substituted Amasis, his rival, as king. It was about forty years 



676 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

after that Egypt was delivered by Cyrus. But after that it was only a 
shadow of its former self. "Under Amasis it was made dependent on 
Babylon, humbled still more under Cambyses, and though somewhat 
raised under the Ptolemies, never has it regained its ancient pre-eminence. 
When restored it was to be so circumscribed in power as to be no longer 
an object of confidence to Israel, as formerly; e. g., as when relying upon 
it Israel broke faith with Nebuchadnezzar." (J. F. B.) Verses 17-30-19 
contain a prophecy made in the twenty-seventh year, much later than 
the other two, but placed here amid the other references to Egypt. This 
prophecy was made doubtless about the time that Nebuchadnezzar was 
leaving the siege of Tyre and marching against Egypt. The expressions 
"bald" and "peel" are thought to refer to the fact that they had worn 
themselves out carrying earth and stones for the siege works. Tyre was 
taken, but its resources had been exhausted in the siege. Now Nebuchad- 
nezzar was to go against Egypt, which he conquered, as above stated. 
The confidence which the fulfillment of these prophecies would give In 
the prophets would make the people glad to hear his words, and so by 
turning the minds and aspirations of the people back to God would 
begin to assure to them the revival of the ancient glory of Israel. The 
explanation of verse 5 is that the army of Egypt was at that time largely 
made up of hired foreigners. The prophecy beginning at verse 20 was- 
given only a few days later than the prophecy which begins chapter 29. 
These two prophecies were uttered long before the events came to pass, 
but the one beginning at verse 17 only shortly before Nebuchadnezzar 
moved upon Egypt. Egypt had been a source of constant trouble to the 
Hebrews for years, in that it had encouraged them in sinful practises 
and by making alliances with its kings had won them away from trust 
in God to trust in human powers. God determined that the power of 
Egypt should be broken so that when the Hebrews were returned to their 
former estate there would no longer be a temptation to trust in entangling 
alliances and forget God. Hence the language of verses 20-26. 

Ch. 31:1-18. — A short time after the last prophecy mentioned (and 
years before the giving of the one beginning chapter 29:17) the prophet 
held up before Pharaoh this picture of the king's future. Great Assyria, 
who had been such a power in the earth as to be among nations what the 
cedar was among trees, because it was too proud to acknowledge any 
authority beyond itself, was brought to desolation. Babylon conquered 
Assyria and put it in its grave (Hebrew, sheol, here rendered hell.) 
Verses 15-17 convey the impression of the great sensation that was 
produced among the nations at the fall of that power. Thus Egypt, who 



EZEKIEL. 677 

was great among earth's powers (called Eden Tree, referring to their 
superior quality), shall be brought to the same deplorable ruin as was 
Assyria; not that Egypt was entirely. destroyed, as was Assyria, but lost 
her influential place among the powers. 

Ch. 32:1-16. — This lamentation for Pharaoh was made shortly after 
Jerusalem was overthrown and about the time Amasis was beginning his 
revolt against Pharaoh-Hophra. Its object was to make more real the 
sayings of the prophet against Egypt, which at this time seemed so 
secure that prophecy against it seemed a mockery. Xothing seemed more 
unlikely to Egypt than that these sayings could come true, so powerful 
was it among the nations. Verse 2 shows the estimation in which the 
king was held among the nations, and verses 3-10 show the event of 
the devastation and the source, while verse 11 shows the agent by which 
God would perform this work. The use of such a figure as a dragon in 
the seas refers to the great power of the king of Egypt. The troubling 
and fouling of the rivers refers to the abuse of power by which the king 
made himself ripe for destruction. 

Verses 17-32 of this chapter are a lamentation for the multitudes of 
Egypt. A list of peoples is here given who had been slain from the 
earth, all of whom perhaps were as fair as the Egyptians, the lesson to 
Egypt being that she was about to share the fate of many others who 
were as good as she. Verse 31 does not necessarily teach that Pharaoh 
should see these after his death and be comforted by the fact that they 
were slain as well as his hosts, but that when he was brought down to 
despair and his power gone, he should be made to remember that multi- 
tudes of others had gone that way before him because of behavior like his 
own. Such language as that of these lamentations would by its very 
detail call strong and fixed attention to the prophecy and also to the 
reason assigned for the calamity foretold. 

Ch. 33 :l-9. — This lesson regarding the duty of a watchman was given 
to Israel. It is possible that this message was given after Jerusalem 
was taken, but before the message had reached Ezekiel. Verses 7-9 are 
applicable' to the condition of things in Jerusalem before its downfall, 
against which Ezekiel as a watchman was hurling his warnings. It also 
applies to those gone into captivity who were still defiant toward God's 
messages through his prophet. 

The appeal of verses 10-20 was to both classes, the penitent and 
impenitent. The language of verse 10 was no doubt the question of 
those who feared God. The answer, verse 11, was to them, and was 
equivalent to saying that God was visiting the least punishment upon 



678 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

them that their character would allow, and that if they desired to escape 
national punishment they must turn from their national sins. Verses 
12-19 are a most concise and unequivocal statement of God's policy in 
human government, declaring here what the entire Bible in every part 
assumes, viz., that God regulates his dealing and changes his purposes 
towards men according to their doings, the outgrowth of their free moral 
agency, thus making character and destiny to depend wholly on the 
individual involved. This same law here laid down is recognized and 
adopted as governing all human methods of dealing with offenses and 
offenders. 

21-29. — Tidings now come to the prophet that the city is smitten. 
The language of verse 24 was used b}> r the remnant which remained in 
the land. They persisted in saying that God would make them the 
inheritors of the land and promise to Abram, but they refused to turn 
from their evil ways. Hence verses 25-29. For some time before the 
events of this chapter the prophecies had been directed against foreign 
nations. Now the message is directed again to this disciplined family 
of God. 

Verses 30-33 show the condition of a large per cent of those who had 
been carried into captivity. They professed to be followers of God, and 
prided themselves on their relation to God as his chosen people. They 
had disregarded all the warnings of the prohets, until national calamity 
had overtaken them. Xow even in captivity they kept up their hypo- 
critical pretense. They were God's people in name. In their actions 
they were his enemies. They even boasted of their eloquent prophet, 
but gave no heed to his words. But when all the remnant of the people 
were scattered and the land was made an utter desolation, then they 
were forced to realize that the words they had heard were of God, and 
that they had themselves acted most abominably. 

C7i. 34 :1-16. — It is thought by authorities that by "shepherds" is meant 
rulers here rather than priests or prophets. They are reproached for not 
filling justly the office to which they are set among the people. Instead 
of exercising authority for the benefit of the nation, they debase it to 
their own personal ends, and make their office a means of extortion. 
Such attentions as named in verse 3, all of which a shepherd is supposed 
to give to his flocks, are benefits which a just ruler is expected to give 
those under his charge. Xo doubt (verses 5 and 6) the apostasy of this 
chosen family was due in a large measure to the character and leadership 
of its rulers. That very thing was prophesied by Samuel when the 
people were demanding a king. Hence the captivity, and with the 



EZEKIEL. 679 

captivity came an end of the kings. Instead of their reign was to be 
the personal supervision of God (a theocracy), as was intended when the 
tribes were£rst settled in the land. In verses 11-16 God promises to do 
that which the rulers had so signally failed to do. In these verses God 
states his unchangeable purpose toward the whole human family, a rule 
which he always observes when those concerned will allow him to do so. 

17-31. — The latter part of verse 16 leads up to the following topic. 
There is made a line between good and bad. All the good which God 
purposes to do to men is necessarily conditioned upon their concurrence. 
If they will do so, they may act so that God will be obliged to destroy 
them in order to destroy evil. In verse 17 the message turns from the 
leaders to the people, and divides them into two classes. It is well 
suggested that there were many of the richer class who were following 
the example of the rulers in oppressing the poor. That was particularly 
noticed and reformed by leaders even after the return from captivity. 
Verses 18 and 19 state exactly the nature of this class. Verses 21 and 22 
indicate how they were accustomed to oppress the workers. The language 
of verses 23-31 was not fulfilled after the return from Babylon except 
partially. There can be no doubt that here, as in some similar prophecies 
in former books, the prophet looks through the years and sees things as 
they will be under the conditions brought about by the promised Messiah. 
Some of the points mentioned came to be true after the return from 
Babylon, but the Son of David, who is the Prince of Peace, is the only 
personage whose reign can make all these words an accomplished fact. 
The whole tendency of Christianity is to produce just such a condition 
as is here mentioned. The language of verse 31 is true of all people, but 
doubly true of this particular people, who enjoyed not only the blessings 
which the common Father gives to all his children, but the special 
privileges incident to the carrying out of the great purpose for which 
God called Abraham. 

Ch. 35 :1-15. — The prophecy against Seir in chapter 35 shows clearly 
this difference. The Edomites have entirely disappeared from history. 
Xot so with Israel. Edom deserved chastisement for its sin as well as 
did Israel, but in its case there was no promise of national preservation 
and ultimate restoration. This people had greatly exulted over Israel's 
downfall, and took advantage of the calamity to harrass and destroy the 
fugitive remnant. They were most bitter foes of the Jews, and held 
against them a perpetual and deep-seated hatred. They threw out to 
Israel the taunt of verse 10. Hence the Lord visits them as stated in 



680 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

verse 11. Their visitation from God was to be as severe as their wrath 
had been violent. 

Ch. 36:1-15. — The contrast already mentioned is yet more distinctly 
brought out in this apostrophe chapter 36. The land of Edom had just 
been doomed to everlasting waste. On the other hand, the land of Israel, 
which was doomed to temporary devastation and idleness on account of 
sin, should be corrected by the visitation, and then should come to ever- 
lasting rejoicing, while the lands of their enemies should perpetually 
mourn. This was to be the more true because of the derision heaped by 
the surrounding nations upon Israel when her misfortune came. This 
land of Canaan should be a place of joy, said the Lord, after its enemies 
had been made desolate and forgotten. The Lord is here seeking to 
impress the lesson that all the troubles which came upon Israel were the 
result of the sin of these people, and that when, by means of the lessons 
which God gave them, they turned from that sin, their prosperity would 
be unbounded, and that they would be the envy of all their enemies ; 
which, as a matter of fact, were still more sinful and so deserving of 
punishment than the Hebrews. This address to the mountains was a 
beautiful and effective way of prophesying the prosperity of the chosen 
people after they had forsaken their sin. 

16-38. — The promise to Israel of restoration follows closely the same 
thought. Yerse 17 expresses how loathesome to God had been their 
conduct. Hence the punishment of verses 18 and 19. As shown by verse 
20, that very punishment had the effect of causing strangers to blaspheme 
the name of God. The masses of men note results and judge by them 
rather than study causes and conditions. Here the prophet gives the 
people to understand that the restoration was not because of any inherent 
worth in the Hebrews, but because God would vindicate, before all men, 
the justice of his ways. The language of verses 21-36 show what the 
nation might have become immediately after the captivity had they 
profited in all respects by its lessons. Then they would have been what 
Christ should have found when he came rather than what he did find, 
and they never would have been guilty of crucifying their Savior. Seeing, 
however, that by their course of conduct they have long delayed the 
realization of this beautiful picture, the language is no doubt expressive 
of what they will yet be under the banner of the cross. 

Ch. 37 :1-14. — This vision of the valley of dry bones is a simple illus- 
tration of how God is able to accomplish the above result. He who first 
forms the human body and gives it life can give it life again. The 
individual and national religious spirit which God had originally given 



EZEKIEL. 681 

to his chosen family they had lost through sin. The family was like this 
valley — dry bones; but they, as he had just before stated, should live 
again. The actual accomplishment of what was figured in verses 5 and 6 
was to be done by the teaching and assimilation of God's truth among 
them. The order of the vision was (verses 8 and 9), first the bringing 
of the bodies into proper condition, and after that the breath. This is 
suggestive of the idea that God will perform the above restoration by the 
natural process of first shaping an outward condition by means of the 
providences acting from without, and after that carry on his work 
within them. The experiences of the Jews among the nations through 
these centuries and the influence of Gentile Christianity upon them will 
make the condition by which God will put Christianity within the Jewish 
nation and carry out the actual work here pictured. 

Verses 15-28 foretell that the two kingdoms should be reunited and no 
more be separated. That was an accomplished fact after the captivity 
in Babylon. There is no probability that under any conditions they will 
ever again be separated into two nations. Joseph is here mentioned 
because the birthright was transferred from Eeuben to him because of 
Reuben's sinful action, and Ephraim, as Joseph's descendant, had long 
exercised the rule among the tribes, Shiloh being the religious capital 
and Shechem the civil one during the period of the judges. It continued 
its leadership over the northern kingdom after the revolt of the ten tribes. 
"While a measure of this prophecy was fulfilled in the union of the two 
political divisions of the Hebrews after the captivity, yet the greater end 
will never be attained until the reconstruction process brings the Hebrew 
nation to accept the Messiah and so receive life by the inspiration of the 
Gospel, that thenceforth they may prosper in God's sight forever. 

Ch. 38 :l-39-24. — The word Gog has been the subject of much com- 
ment. It is probable that the name Gog was a title of all the kings of a 
certain section, that it is here used to represent the leader of the hordes 
who should pour in upon the land of the Hebrews. This picture was 
largely realized in the era after the return from Babylon and before the 
birth of Christ. Palestine through the years was a bloody battlefield in 
which many enemies tried in vain to despoil the Hebrews. Probably 
the chief fulfillment is that which John saw (Rev. 19 : 17-21 ; also chapter 
20), still future. The word Magog is derived from Gog, and so the 
expression "Gog and Magog" is like saying "Pharaoh and the Egyptians," 
meaning a king and his people. The words Gog and Magog then might 
represent any leader and his followers who sought to oppress the people 
of God, whether before or after the coming of Christ. Such language as 



682 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that of verses 11-24 in chapter 39 sounds much like it refers to the 
picture of Rev. 19 :1 7-21. In speaking of the future of God's people the 
prophet would naturally look forward to the great end for which all 
this preparation was made. And so surety as he did he would see not 
only the near future, hut also this to which John alluded in Revelation. 

Therefore, verses 25-29, God assures of his purpose to gather back his 
people to their land after having corrected them for their sins, and 
protect them to the end of time. The express teaching of the New 
Testament writers is that all believers in Christ are a part of this chosen 
family, and that he will never leave them nor forsake them. There can 
be no doubt, as expressed by the closing verses of chapter 39, that God 
will gather back the literal Israel to their own land of promise as an 
object lesson to the nations who because of their punishment scoffed 
at the religion of the Jews. It is equally clear, as expressed in Paul's 
letter to the Romans, that they will come into unity with the whole 
Christian family, so that taught by the lesson of God's dealing with the 
literal Israel, the world may learn the lesson of the spiritual dealings of 
him who has incorporated all nations into the family of God. 

Ch. 40:1-12-20. — The remaining chapters of Ezekiel are all devoted 
to a description of Zion restored. By way of introduction to this theme 
we produce the following from Jamieson, Faussett and Brown, much of 
which will be seen to have been collected by them from other authorities. 
It will be valuable for reference. "The arrangements as to land and 
the temple are in many particulars different from those subsisting before 
the captivity. There are things in it so improbable physically as to 
preclude a purely literal interpretation. The general truth seems to 
hold good that, as Israel served the nations for his rejection of Messiah, 
so shall they serve him in the person of Messiah, when he shall acknowl- 
edge Messiah (Isaiah 60:12; Zechariah 14:17-19; Cf. Psalms 72:11). 
The ideal temple exhibits, under Old Testament forms, used as being 
those then familiar to the men whom Ezekiel, a priest himself and one 
who delighted in sacrificial images, addresses, not the precise literal, 
but the essential character of the worship of Messiah as it shall be when 
he shall exercise sway in Jerusalem among his own people, the Jews, and 
thence to the ends of the earth. The very fact that the whole is a vision 
(verse 2), not an oral face to face communication such as that granted 
to Moses (Num. 12:6-8), implies that the directions are not to be 
understood so precisely literal as those given to the Jewish lawgiver. 
The description involves things which, taken literally, almost involve 
natural impossibilities. The square of the temple, in chapter 42 :20, is 



EZEKIEL. 683 

six times as large as the circuit of the wall enclosing the old temple, and 
larger than all earthly Jerusalem. Ezekiel gives three and a half miles 
and one hundred and forty yards to his temple square. The boundaries 
of the ancient city were about two and a half miles. Again, the city in 
Ezekiel has an area of between three and four thousand square miles, 
including the holy ground set apart for the prince, priests and Levites. 
This is nearly as large as the whole of Judea west of the .Jordan. As 
Zion lay in the center of the ideal city, the one-half of the sacred portion 
extended to nearly thirty miles south of Jerusalem, i. e., covered nearly 
the whole southern territor}^, which reached only to the Dead Sea (chapter 
47:19), and yet five tribes were to have their inheritance on that side 
of Jerusalem, beyond the sacred portion (chapter 48:23-28). Where 
was land to be found for them there ? A breadth of but four or five miles 
apiece would be left. As the boundaries of the land are given the same 
as under Moses, these incongruities cannot be explained away by suppos- 
ing physical changes about to be effected in the land such as will meet 
the difficulties of the purely literal interpretation. The distribution of 
the land is in equal portions among the twelve tribes, without respect to 
their relative numbers, and the parallel sections running from east to 
west. There is a difficulty also in the supposed separated existence of the 
twelve tribes, such separate tribeships no longer existing, and it being 
hard to imagine how they could be restored as distinct tribes, mingled 
as they now are. So the stream issuing from the east threshold of the 
temple and flowing into the Dead Sea in the rapidity of its increase and 
the quality of its waters, is unlike anything ever known in Judea or 
elsewhere in the world. Lastly the catholicity of the Christian dispen- 
sation, and the spirituality of its worship, seem incompatible with a 
return to the local narrowness and beggarly elements of the Jewish 
ritual and carnal ordinances (disannulled because of the unprofitable- 
ness thereof). (Fairbairn.) (Gal. 4:3-9; 5:1; Heb. 9:10; 10:18.) 
A temple with sacrifice now would be a denial of the all-sufficiency of 
the sacrifice of Christ. 'He who sacrificed before confessed the Messiah; 
he who should sacrifice now would solemnly deny him.' (Douglas.) 
These difficulties, however, may be all seeming, not real. Faith accepts 
God's word as it is, waits for the event, sure that it will clear up all such 
difficulties. Perhaps, as some think, the beau-ideal of a sacred common- 
wealth is given according to the then existing pattern of temple service, 
which would be the imagery most familiar to the prophet and his hearers 
at the time. The minute particularizing of details is in accordance with 
Ezekiel's style, even in describing purely ideal scenes. The old temple 



684 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

embodied in visible forms and rites spiritual truths affecting the people 
even when absent from it. So this ideal temple is made in the absence of 
the outward temple to serve by description the same purpose of symbolical 
instruction as the old literal temple did by forms and acts. As in the 
beginning God promised to be a 'sanctuary' (chapter 11:16) to the 
captives at the Chebar, so now at the close is promised a complete 
restoration and realization of the theocratic worship and policy under 
Messiah in its noblest ideal (Cf. Jeremiah 31:38-10). In Rev. 21:22 
c no temple' is seen, as in the perfection of the new dispensation the 
accidents of place and form are no longer needed to realize to Christians 
what Ezekiel imparts to Jewish minds by the imagery familiar to them. 
In Ezekiel's temple holiness stretches over the entire temple, so that in 
this there is no longer a distinction between the different parts, as in the 
old temple; parts left undeterminate in the latter obtain now a divine 
sanction, so that all arbitrariness is excluded. So that it is to be a perfect 
manifestation of the love of God to his covenant people (chapters 
40-43:12); and from it, as from a new center of religious life, there 
gushes forth the fullness of blessings to them, and so to all people 
(chapter 47). (Fairbairn and Havernick.) The temple built at the 
return from Babylon can only very partially have realized the model 
here given. The law is seemingly opposed to the Gospel (Matt. 5 :21-34). 
lit is not really so. (Cf. Matt. 5 :17, 18 ; Rom. 3 :13 ; Gal. 3 :21, 22.) It 
is true Christ's sacrifice superseded the law of sacrifices (Heb. 10 :12-18). 
Israel's province may hereafter be to show the essential identity, even in 
the minute details of the temple sacrifices, between the law and the 
Gospel (Rom. 10:8). The idea of the theocratic temple will then first 
be realized." 

The prophet had been in exile for twenty-five years, and Jerusalem 
had been destroyed fourteen years. This cubit of verse 5 was thought 
to be about eighteen inches, the measure being the distance from the 
elbow to the end of the middle finger. This was the longer cubit. The 
shorter one was the distance from the elbow to the wrist, so this longer one 
exceeded the shorter one by the length of the hand. The reed then would 
be nearly nine feet in length. Zadok (verse 46) was descended from 
Eleazar, son of Aaron. Abiathar, who served in David's time, was a 
descendant of Ithamar, a younger son of Aaron. The twenty cubits of 
chapter 41 :4 — the same as the dimensions given in chapter 42 :20 — are 
more than one mile square, which was more than all ancient Jerusalem. 

Ch. 43 :l-5. — The declarations here about the manifestation of Jehovah 
in the new temple are evidence that the picture here does not refer to the 



EZEKIEL. 685 

temple which was built after the return from captivity. No such 
manifestation as here described has been made in any Jewish temple 
since that day, so that the fulfillment must be yet future. 

6-12. — The warning suggests that under this condition here pictured 
righteousness shall be the prevailing characteristic. Just such a condition 
is to be brought about only by the religion of Jesus Christ. Verse 12 
declares that all the region about the house was to be holy; that is, evil 
should not approach it even from afar. 

13-17. — It is not unlikely that, as in some former prophecies already 
noticed, these directions were intended to be observed for a time after 
the return from captivity as a means of leading up to the condition in 
which the picture here drawn could be fully realized. Had the Hebrew 
people faithfully followed God's directions as to their sacrifices up to 
the time of the coming of Christ and then faithfully, followed Christ's 
directions as to their line of conduct, the full picture of the restored 
Zion would long ago have been realized and all the typical sacrifices of 
Judaism would have been swallowed up in the exceeding glory of the 
kingdom of the anti-type. 

18-27. — The ordinances here mentioned were those instituted of God 
at Sinai, and were intended solely to put the human family in readiness 
to accept the sacrifice which Christ made of himself for the world. It is 
inconceivable that the sacrifices should be practised after his coming, 
seeing that he became the end of the law to every believer. It is not 
improbable that the larger area here mentioned would have been actually 
occupied by the chosen family after the return from captivity and before 
the coming of Christ had they learned well the lesson of their captivity 
and profited by it to the extent of keeping faithfully God's commands. 

Ch. 45 :l-8. — The first eight verses of chapter 45 tell how much ground 
was to be set off for sacred purposes. In verse 1 the Septuagint is twenty 
thousand instead of ten thousand, which, as we shall see in the last 
chapter, seems more correct. Within this sacred portion the temple was 
to be located, and part of the ground was for priests and the other part 
was for the Levites. Besides this there was a strip for the city which 
was to be the common property of all Israel. On the other side of the 
ground already described was to be the portion of the ruling prince. The 
relative dimensions of this ground would thus be about forty-eight east 
and west and sixty north and south. We shall speak more particularly 
of the arrangement in the note of the last chapter. 

9-16. — The exhortation of the princes is the statement of what God 



686 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

will expect under those conditions and what should have been through all 
the past history of Israel. It can be summed up by saying, Deal justly 
with one another and keep your covenant with God. Some standards of 
value are here given, no doubt particularly because the standard weights 
were lost when Jerusalem was destroyed. 

17-46-18. — The last of this chapter and the most of chapter 46 is 
devoted to the statement of the duties of the prince, which no doubt 
means the ruling prince, the one who has general charge of the nation. 
He is here represented as directing the sacrifices and offering to the Lord, 
and conducting the national worship. The details of this picture show 
that there was something literal about it, and as far as it is literal the 
people were no doubt to conform to it after the return from captivity in 
Babylon ; and from such literal conditions were to rise by easy transition 
to that acceptable year of the Lord in which the promised Messiah should 
introduce the spiritual, which was the antitype of all types here figured. 
It is suggested (verses 16-18) that the prince under this regime should 
not have the temptation to despoil the subjects, as some the kings had 
clone before the captivity, because the gifts that he gave to his servants 
should return to him at the year of jubilee. 

19-24. — The temple courts here mentioned as places for cooking the 
priestly portions show that strict regard was to be had for the sacredness 
of the offerings, thus cultivating the spirit of reverence in all the people. 
These offerings were to be eaten by priests and to be eaten in the sacred 
places. For this reason special places were set apart which were not open 
to public access or to public gaze. 

Ch. 47:1-12. — This vision of the waters is evidently a figure made to 
impress a great lesson. The waters represent a great and beneficent 
influence which shall go out from the nation here to bless the whole earth. 
This is as literally true as if it were real water. For from Judea has 
come the Christ whose influence, seemingly so slight at Pentecost, has 
gathered intensity, broadened and deepened until it has become a mighty 
river whose current is irresistible, and which shall finally embrace the 
whole current of time. Verse 12 suggests how closely John's vision of 
the river in the new Jerusalem is connected with this figure. This whole 
picture of the restored Zion would naturally lead to that condition which 
John sees and describes in the book of Revelation. 

Verses 13-20 give a general outline of the land. Those are substantially 
the same as those given in Num. 34. They indicate that this chosen 
land, occupied by a chosen people, is to hold an important place in the 
history of God's dealing with the human family in the plan of redemp- 



DANIEL. 687 

tion. Probably because of its peculiar position it is to become in future 
both the spiritual and the literal capital of the world. In the division 
of the land among the tribes this sacred territory was in the center. The 
portion of each tribe extended the whole width of the land from east 
to west. Seven of these tribes are on the north, five on the south, between 
them was the sacred portion, bounded on the north by the territory of 
Judah and on the south by that of Benjamin, two tribes who remained 
faithful to the house of David when the others deserted it. It will appear 
then that the sacred territory extended the entire width of the country. 
According to verse 10, the breadth of the sacred ground was twenty 
rather than ten, and it is probable that beside this came the portion of 
the prince, and possibly that territory belonging to the city which was to 
be the common property of all the people of all the tribes. This would 
make a sacred territory almost square. In verse 13 the same ten thousand 
occurs, which doubtless ought to be twenty. Verse 20 confirms the idea 
of a square. It must be remembered that Ezekiel was a prophet in 
captivity, and this picture which he here draws was in anticipation of the 
return from captivity and the setting up of a godly government which 
would prove preparatory to the coming of the Messiah and the assump- 
tion by him of those powers which should usher in the ideal picture here 
described (verse 12, chapter 47), this being substantially the same which 
John sees in Eev. 22. This suggests that had the Jews treated the 
Messiah properly they would not have killed him, and after the accom- 
plishment of the redemptive scheme in his own way his reign would have 
merged into the ultimate condition here described. Their selfish rejection 
and criminal crucifixion of Christ changed the whole current of their 
later history, and set back the shadow on the dial of human progress for 
thousands of years. Long ago the beautiful picture here described might 
have been real had not the Hebrews rejected the Messiah. That it will 
yet be realized is certain, though at a later period and in a different way 
from that in which God originally intended. 



DANIEL. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Daniel and his companions were taken captive about 606 B. C. in the 
fourth year of Jehoiakim. This was seven years before the great siege 
which closed the short career of Jehoiachin, at which time the leading 
Jews, acting on the advice of Jeremiah, surrendered and were carried 
in a body to Babylon, at which time Ezekiel was carried cantive. 



688 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

It is supposed that Daniel was born at Jerusalem, and that at the time 
of this siege of the city he was a lad in his 'teens. He became at once 
famous in the land of the captivity, and had such influence in the 
greatest empire of the world that it is entirely probable that the release 
of the people after seventy years was due largely to his influence. He 
lived until some time after the proclamation of Cyrus, but does not seem 
to have returned to Jerusalem. 

The kingdom of Babylon was the first one of four great world powers 
which extended over all nations then known. Cyrus overthrew this and 
founded the Medo-Persian empire. After this Alexander the Great 
established the empire of Macedonia, using Greek soldiers and carrying 
the Greek language wherever he went. After his empire fell into decay 
there arose the Roman empire, which was holding sway at the time of 
Christ's birth. These are the four powers which the king sees in his 
dream of the image represented by gold, silver, brass, and mixed clay 
and iron. 

The prophecies of the book embrace the coming and conquests of 
Christ's kingdom, and so in addition to dealing with the present and the 
immediate future his imagery stretches on through the entire reach of 
time. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 First Hebrew exiles to Babylon. 

3, 4 The king's selection from among the captives. 

5, 6 His appointment of their food. 

7 His change of their names. 

8 Daniel's purpose. 

9-16 His plea with the prince of the eunuchs. 
17-21 Its result. 
Chapter 2. 

1 The king's dream. 
2-9 His demand of the magicians. 
10, 11 Their answer. 
12, 13 The king's anger. The decree. 
14-16 Daniel's appeal to the king. 

17, 18 Prayer of Daniel and his companions for the secret. 
19-23 The secret revealed to Daniel. His praise. 

24 His message to Arioch. 
25-45 Daniel explains the king's dream. 
46-49 Daniel's promotion. 



DANIEL. 

Chapter 3. 

1-3 The king's image of gold. 
4-7 The order to worship it. 
8-18 Eefusal of the Hebrews. 
19-27 Trial of the fiery furnace. 
28-30 Result The king's decree. 

Chapter 4. 
1-26 Daniel explains the dream of the great tree. 
27 His exhortation to the king. 
28-33 Fulfillment of Daniel's words. 
34-37 The king's restoration. His praise to God. 
Chapter 5. 

1-4 Belshazzar's feast. 

5 The handwriting on the wall. 
6-9 Consternation of the king. 
10-12 Suggestion of the queen. 
13-28 Daniel's explanation of the writing. 

29 Daniel's promotion. 
30, 31 Belshazzar's death. 
Chapter 6. 

1-3 Daniel's preferment by Darius. 
4-9 Jealousy and conspiracy of the rulers against Daniel. 
10, 1 1 Daniel's faith and courage. 
12, 13 Their accusation of him before the king. 
14, 15 The king's efforts to save Daniel. 
16-24 The lion's den. Concern of the king. 
25-28 The royal decree. 
Chapter 7. 

1-14 Daniel's vision of the four beasts. 
15-28 Its interpretation. 
Chapter 8. 

1-14 Vision of the ram and he-goat 
15-27 Its interpretation. 
Chapter 9. 

1-19 Daniel's prayer for national restoration. 
20-27 God's answer by Gabriel. 
Chapter 10. 

1-12-4 Daniel's vision by the river. 
5-13 The angel's answer regarding the time of fulfillment 



690 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1, 2. — The events of this book took place before those of the 
book of Ezekiel. These first exiles were taken after a short siege of 
Jerusalem, in which King Jehoiakim probably gave up some of his 
subjects and part of the temple vessels in order to save the rest from 
destruction. Just at this time the father of Nebuchadnezzar, who was 
old and infirm, was passing over the reins of power to his son, and this 
was probably among the first acts of his life as a public officer. 

3, 4. — The young King Nebuchadnezzar, just entering on his reign of 
the greatest splendor of perhaps any earthly king, orders the noblest of 
his captives to be educated especially for his purposes. The Chaldee 
language, the language of the land of Shinar, where Babylon stood, was 
probably the very oldest in the world, and the Hebrew, which sprang 
from it, was undoubtedly almost identical with it. The very place at 
which these Hebrew youth were now in captivity was the old haunts from 
which their father Abraham sprung. 

5, 6. — The word "meat" in verse 5 should be rendered "food." The 
Hebrew says "dainties." In such cases the king would not only furnish 
food as he did for all his dependency, but he would feed these on what 
he considered his richest food in order to make in them the best possible 
condition for his purpose. After three years of such nourishment he 
would expect them to be prepared for his service. The four mentioned 
in verse 6 were of the tribe of Judah, and as what follows will show, were 
of the purest faith of their fathers. 

7. — The change of their names was according to the custom of the 
times. It was desired that they should forget their ancient place and 
associations, and then the new names expressed something of the new 
idols to which the king devoted them. The four names which were given 
to these four Hebrew children meant chief god, sun god, earth god and 
fire god. 

8. — The character of Daniel is clearly indicated in verse 8. He knew 
the enervating effects of gluttony, and despite the orders of the king and 
the natural temptation to ease and self-indulgence, he at once declared 
his purpose to regard the will of God rather than the will even of the 
powerful king. So he dared to refuse the food assigned him, and would 
not drink the wine intended for him. He was not afraid to call it defiling 
stuff, even if it was the food of a great king. So he declared his deter- 
mination to the prince of the eunuchs who was set over him. 

9-16. — The eunuch liked the young Hebrew, and evidently as far as he 



DANIEL. 691 

was able allowed him to have his way. But in this case he was afraid the 
act would cost him his life. Daniel was prudent in his request, so as not 
to endanger his kind master, so he asked for only a few days trial, at the 
end of which time the enunuch was thoroughly satisfied that Daniel was 
right, and let him have what he wanted, which was grain and water rather 
than the king^s delicacies and wine. 

17-21. — The result was precisely what Daniel expected, and what all 
men should always expect. Wine-bibbers are never the men of knowledge 
and character. The declaration that God gave them knowledge is another 
way of saying that their obedience to God's will brought them the 
prosperity which' God promised to all such. The wisest men of Babylon 
bore no comparison with them. Verse 21 shows that Daniel lived through 
the entire seventy years of the Babylonish captivity, and saw the return 
of his people to-their beloved Zion. 

Ch. 2 :1, 2. — The style of food above described to which the king was 
accustomed would be most likely to give rise to numberless dreams, 
which are usually the result of bad digestion. Nevertheless, these being 
the channel in which the king's mind was principally occupied, God used 
them as the means to teach the king great lessons. 

2-9. — The demand of the king to the magicians and their reply demon- 
strates the utter falsity of those who claim by their skill to foretell future 
events. They admit here that they cannot do it. It is common experience 
for a dreamer to forget his dream, and these deceptive mongers could 
neither reproduce nor explain the dreams. The threat which the king 
made against them would lead them to do the best of which they were 
capable, which in this case was absolutely nothing. 

Their answer in verses 10 and 11 was a final and formal giving up of 
the case on the part of these pretenders. The king had caught them at 
their weak point, and although they contended that it was an extra- 
ordinary thing which was being asked of them, yet it required such a 
case to demonstrate the deceit of their every-day claims. 

Verses 12 and 13 show the impatience of the king with the fraudulent 
claims of these self-styled wise men. In view of their general uselessness 
and the loftiness of their claims their destruction was deserved. It is 
evident that neither Daniel nor his companions had been called concern- 
ing this matter, and probably knew nothing of it, but the enemies of the 
Hebrews would be sure to hunt them out and include them in the order 
for destruction. 

14-16. — When Daniel hears of the matter and inquires into the case he 
immediately gives out the word that he will make known the dream and 



692 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

its meaning. His appeal to the king was probably made through a royal 
messenger, for I think Daniel did not see the king until he was afterwards 
taken in by the captain (verse 25). He does not claim to give this 
promised information from his own wisdom, but he has the utmost 
confidence that God will give him the needed light. 

17, 18. — After his promise to the king, Daniel takes the proper course 
to make good his word. He calls his faithful companions and they 
unitedly pray for the revelation of the secret. 

19-23. — The prayer of faith, was answered. Daniel is made aware of 
the truths from the only source from which truth can come, and his 
song of praise is a model of excellence. Such language could apply only 
to the God whom Daniel worshiped. 

24. — Daniel now goes confidently to the captain and orders a stay of 
the execution of the king's wise men, and asks to be raken before the 
king. 

25-45. — -Daniel began by disclaiming any personal ability to reproduce 
or explain this dream, but gives all the credit to the God of heaven whom 
he served. The four kingdoms here described were Babylon, Medo- 
Persian, Macedonian and Eoman. In the days of the Eoman power 
Christ was born, and set up among men the kingdom of heaven, which 
kingdom shall never be destroyed. 

46-49. — The language of verse 47 indicates that Daniel declined the 
honors offered him by the king in verse 46. The king here owns the God 
of Daniel to be the true God, and promotes Daniel to the rulership of 
the greatest province in his empire, and at his request appoints the three 
companions to assist him in his duties. 

Ch. 3:1-3. — The events of chapter 3 occurred about nineteen years 
later, which would be shortly after the captivity of Zedekiah and the fall 
of Jerusalem. It is suggested that the king got much of the gold for his 
image from the conquest of Judah. This conception of the king probably 
had its origin in the dream of chapter 2, and he was now so elated over 
his victories that no show of splendor was too great for him. It is thought 
with good reason that the image was made to represent the king as the 
political head of the national church. All the chief men of his domains 
were gathered on this occasion to make the greater show of splendor. 

4-7. — The worship of such an object meant little to the mass of the 
Babylonians. They worshiped whatever appealed to their changeable 
feelings, having no just conception of the truth. It was as easy for them 
to worship this image as to worship any being whatever, for they cared 



DANIEL. 693 

only for display, and worshiped most the things which appealed to their 
vanity and served their lusts. 

8-18. — But it was not so with the Hebrew children. They knew the 
true God, and for them to have worshiped any such an abominable idol 
would have been unpardonable. The enemies of these Hebrews quickly 
took notice of their refusal and reported to the king. These three captives 
were not moved by the king's fury. Their calm, decisive answer only 
increased his rage, and caused him to determine upon their immediate 
execution. 

19-27. — The heat of the king's wrath only worked the greater disaster 
to his cause. His own executioners were slain and his victims were 
unharmed. The sight which the king saw made his brain reel, and he 
called others to confirm what seemed to him could not be true. The 
fourth person, says the king, is like a son of the gods. All those who 
had gathered to see the king's cause honored now see it most scathingly 
rebuked, and the Hebrew honored beyond description. 

28-30. — After such a scene the king could not do otherwise than show 
honor to the Hebrews. Perhaps he feared to do otherwise. All his people 
had seen a display of might in their behalf which would make all the 
people afraid to do them wrong. Instead of being degraded from their 
positions, as their enemies hoped, they were promoted to higher places. 

Ch. 4:1-26. — How long after the events of chapter 3 this dream was 
had by the king we cannot tell. It was evidently a long while after the 
king's dream of an image, for Daniel, who had explained the former, was 
not called in until the Chaldean pretenders had all failed. Daniel at 
once showed how that the king, whose heart had become exceedingly 
proud, was to be humbled by the Almighty. The malady was a kind of 
madness in which the victim imagined himself a beast. This great king 
was driven from his throne and lived as a beast until his reason returned 
after many years. 

27. — The time when Daniel interpreted this dream was a year before 
this calamity came to pass. Daniel here boldly and nobly exhorts the 
king to save himself from that sorry experience by repenting of his 
misdoings and turning to the right, so that God would not send the 
humiliation upon him. 

But the king did not repent, and the evil did overtake him. Yerses 
28-33 show that the thing came to pass as the prophet foretold. 

The language of verses 34-37 is the lesson learned by this king from 
Daniel and Daniel's God. It rings like the testimony of King David of 
Israel. Yet this king was only partially converted to the God of Israel, 



694 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

and used this language only because of his remarkable experience, and 
afterward continued largely in his idolatry, and his kingdom finally 
perished because of its wickedness. 

Ch. 5 :l-4. — Belshazzar was grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. His father, 
Nabonidus (Evil-merodach, or Minus), was the principal king; Bel- 
shazzar was king of the city of Babylon. The kingdom had been about 
this time invaded by Darius, king of the Medes (his nephew, Cyrus, being 
the leader of the army). Nabonidus had surrendered voluntarily in 
Borsippa, and had an honorable residence assigned to him in Carmania, 
but Belshazzar shut himself up in the well fortified and well provisioned 
city of Babylon and showed his contempt for the besiegers by making a 
tremendous feast, sensual and debauching, and taking special pains to 
show contempt for the Hebrews' God by using the captured vessels of the 
sanctuary to hold the wine over which they praised their idols. It was 
not customary to have women at the public banquets, but they are 
brought in here, thus demonstrating the lascivious character of the feast. 
The Hebrew word for "father" in verse 2 is the same as for grandfather 
or forefather. 

5. — Such contemptuous and daring challenge of God's authority did 
not go unanswered. Doubtless many jests were passed about the God 
and the religion of the Hebrews on that night of gluttony and debauchery, 
but when the hand appeared the scene suddenly and forever changed. 

6-9. — The language of verse 6 shows how great was the consternation. 
No doubt a few minutes before, the king had made a great show of bravery, 
and boasted great things. ISTow he is like a helpless, panic-stricken child 
in spite of the great resources at his command, and cries beseechingly 
to his wise men for light, even promising the third place in his kingdom 
to the successful one. The first place was held by the king, the second 
by the king's son, and the third was the chief of all the sub-rulers. The 
fact that none of his wise men could read the writing only increased 
the king's feverish anxiety. His lords shared his trouble, and there 
seemed to be no light behind the dark cloud. At that very time, though 
they did not know it, Cyrus had turned the river from its bed under the 
walls of the city, and in a few hours this vaunting king would be a corpse. 

10-12. — The queen mentioned in verse 10 was the queen mother, either 
the mother of the king or his grandmother. She was apparently not 
present at the feast until the consternation arose, and her age and 
position made her familiar with the former deeds and the reputation of 
Daniel. 

13-28. — The rapidity with which her suggestion was executed shows 



DANIEL. 695 

how desperate was the ease in the king's mind. But the language of Loth 
the queen and the king shows that Daniel's former record had made 
small impression on the idolatry of the kingdom. They still believed in 
"lords many and gods many/' and simply thought Daniel was a favorite 
of some of those gods. The king made his tempting offer to Daniel, and 
the language of verse 17 shows in what estimate Daniel held the gift. 
First of all Daniel recites the story of Xebuchadnezzar's humiliation, and 
then charges this king with knowing all this and yet fighting against 
God and profaning the vessels of his temple. Xow he scathes the king 
for his idolatry. Then in a few words the words on the wall are explained. 
They read, "Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided." The last word, 
"peres" is an explanation of the word "upharsin," and means "divisions," 
being explained by verse 28. 

29. — Thus again Daniel comes into public prominence and public 
favor. He knew, no doubt, how short would be the career of this king, 
but the tide of favor was irresistible and swept over and engulfed him. 
He is now again practically at the head of the nation, for ordinarily, 
because of excessive habits of life, the king was little more than a figure- 
head. 

But a new order is at hand. The army of Darius the Mede, under 
Cyrus, has entered the city under the walls by the river bed, from which 
the water had been turned. Belshazzar was slain, and from that time 
the empire of Babylon was no more. 

Ch. 6 :l-3. — There is little doubt that Darius had already heard much 
of the fame of Daniel in the kingdom of Babylon, and he would now 
learn of his foretelling the fall of Babylon. He would see at once the 
value to his cause of having such a man as Daniel for his prime minister. 
And so, while Darius did not recognize the divine hand in the matter, 
yet the divine hand was there, and Daniel, God's faithful servant, was 
kept at the head of the nation by the new king. 

4-9. — But the other rulers of the provinces were jealous of this Jew. 
But they saw from the manner of his life that their only chance to do 
him harm was by bringing their false religion against the true worship 
of the God of Daniel, and so using the power of the empire to crush him. 
Hence their conspiracy of verses 6-8, and by their flattery of the king 
they induced him to sign the unalterable decree before he realized the 
trouble into which it would bring him. 

10, 11. — Daniel's faith and courage were both tested, and were not 
found wanting. It was no light matter for him to do publicly and boldly 
what he knew the law was framed to crush, and what was meant by his 



696 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

enemies to cost him his position and his life. Most men would have said, 
"Compromise, pray in secret, and worship the king in public with mental 
reserve/' Daniel had been better trained. He did what his enemies 
thought he would — remained calmly faithful to God; so by prearrange- 
ment they came in a body to surprise him in the act. Little did they 
think what would be the real outcome of their attempt against Daniel's 
liberty and life. 

12, 13. — They were very adroit in their accusations of Daniel. They 
knew the king's estimate of Daniel, and did not dare to mention his 
name in that connection until they had gotten the king to say that 
whoever had disobeyed the law should surely suffer the penalty. Then 
they spoke of him contemptuously as "That Daniel, a Jew captive, and 
says he regards not you, king." That accusation was false. Daniel 
did regard the king more than the}', but in matters of his duty to God, 
over which the king had no authority, he of course regarded God more. 

14, 15. — The king no doubt was truly sorry, and made an honest effort 
to save Daniel. But Daniel's enemies pressed the matter furiously, and 
laid stress on the majesty of the law and the necessity of executing it. 
They sheltered themselves behind enough of the truth to cover their 
deceit. The king's mistake was in not setting aside the edict when he 
discovered it to be bad and learned the purpose of those who formed it. 

16-24. — Darius had yielded to the popular clamor, and must pay the 
penalty. He knows he has done wrong, but he tries to comfort Daniel in 
the language of verse 16, latter clause. Little did he know what a truth 
he uttered, but that truth was not to his credit, for the Lord must deliver 
Daniel from the danger to which the king's weakness exposed him. But 
the silver lining behind the dark cloud appears in verse 18. The king 
did not eat nor sleep, and when the next day dawned he went in haste 
and mourning to the lions' den. It seemed rather more than he expected 
to find Daniel alive, but when he did, and the spirit of justice in the case 
possessed him, he brought terrible retribution on the conspirators against 
Daniel. They found to their cost that the guns which they aimed at 
Daniel kicked harder than they shot. How many of Daniel's tormentors 
were destroyed is not here stated, though there must have been many. 

25-28. — The decree of King Darius shows that after all there was a 
strict sense of honor about him when it was aroused. Yerse 26 is language 
worthy of a Hebrew prophet or a New Testament writer. The statement 
of verse 28, simple as it is, speaks volumes for Daniel. Not only did his 
enemies fail to destroy him, but they destroyed themselves while Daniel 
continued to prosper. 



DANIEL. 697 

Ch. 7:1-14. — The vision of Daniel in chapter 7 goes back to the first 
year of BelshazzarV reign, some time before the events related in chapters 
5 and 6. Nebuchadnezzar saw the four kingdoms of the world in the 
image. Daniel sees them represented by four beasts. The winds blowing 
on the sea picture the influences of life moving upon the masses of 
humanity and producing the results pictured by the beasts. The lion 
represented the kingdom of Babylon, its wings suggesting the rapidity 
of its conquests. They were plucked when the king was taken from his 
throne and made to wander with the beasts, and in the transaction the 
king was lifted to his feet and made to acknowledge God, and become a 
true man. The bear was characteristic of the Medes and Persians, noted 
for cruelty. Newton thinks the three ribs represent Babylon, Lydia and 
Egypt, brought under Medo-Persian sway. The devouring of much flesh 
then would represent the subjugation of many nations. The leopard, a 
smaller and swifter beast, represented Alexander the Great, "the small 
king of a small kingdom, Macedon, attacking a vast empire reaching from 
the Aegan Sea to the Indies." It has four wings, denoting the rapidity 
of his conquests. Bochart says, The spots denote the various nations 
incorporated into his empire. The four heads meant the four great 
kingdoms into which Alexander's empire was divided at his death. The 
fourth beast was the Eoman empire. The iron teeth were suggestive of 
the devouring capabilities of this beast. Twelve was a number signifying 
completeness. Ten lacked but a little of twelve, indicating the nearness 
to the entire world conquest by Rome. The Eoman power grew until its 
adherents lauded it as the climax of all that had been or would ever be 
of power and enlightenment, hence the latter part of verse 8, and in its 
day (verse 9) the God of heaven set up that kingdom which was never to 
be destroyed. The multitudes of earth are ministering to the civilization 
which is born of Christianity, and by it judgment begins with those who 
penitently own their sinfulness and seek the clemency of the divine 
judge. Earth powers and sin yield before his oncoming kingdom, and as 
the clouds are visible from afar, so his light is breaking over the whole 
earth. 

15-28. — The interpretation shows that Daniel was most concerned 
about the meaning of the fourth beast. It was far in advance of his day, 
and embraced the establishment and working of the kingdom of the 
Messiah upon earth. He sees paganism go down before the kingdom of 
the Christ, and Christianity become the dominant earth power. The 
prophet could not comprehend all the details which he saw pictured here, 
but he kept revolving the matter in mind. 



698 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 8:1-14. — Two years later Daniel sees the vision of chapter 8. 
Nebuchadnezzar had seen the earth powers represented as a great image, 
to be adored. Daniel sees them as living, active beings, whose activities 
hasten the kingdom of God among men. This illustrates the difference 
between the two men. One looked at the outward display. The other 
looked for results and studied their drift. This chapter 8 begins the 
Hebrew portion of the book of Daniel (the first part being in Chaldee), 
and this second part relates especially to the future of the Hebrew people. 
The ram's head worn by the king of Persia no doubt was the explanation 
of the vision of the ram representing the Medo-Persian empire. Darius, 
the Mede, reigned first for two years, then came Cyrus, the Persian, who 
was much greater than he. Alexander the Great came next, from the 
west, with incredible speed, and broke the power of the Medo-Persian 
empire. But in the very height of his power Alexander's dominion was 
broken, and four kingdoms took the place of his empire, one of which 
made great conquests, and among other acts put special prohibitions upon 
the exercises of Jewish rites for a time. Hence verses 11-14, referring to 
Antiochus Epiphanes. Glorious land mentioned in verse 9 refers to the 
land of Judea. 

15-27. — Antiochus is the king referred to in the interpretation, verse 
23. Holy people refers to the Hebrew people, believers in the true God. 
J. F. B. says, "Antiochus died a horrible death by worms and ulcers while 
on his way to Judea to take vengeance for the defeat of his armies by the 
Maccabees." Vision of troubles to come on his people makes the prophet 
sick at heart. 

Ch. 9 :1-19.— The time of this prayer was 537 B. C., the year before 
Cyrus came to the throne. So as to order of time this chapter follows 
chapter 5. The next year after this Cyrus makes his famous proclamation 
allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, 536 B. C, seventy years after 
Daniel was carried captive. Daniel had been studying the letters of 
Jeremiah, and saw that the seventy years were now fulfilled, and that 
this captive people, by humbling themselves, might now return to their 
own land. Hence this prayer, not only because of his own great interest 
in the matter, but as a most wholesome example to others. He refers back 
to the words of Moses to establish the fact that this people deserved the 
punishment which had come upon them, and that they had been fairly 
warned of it by Moses and the prophets, and therefore were without 
excuse. So he prays (verse 16) that God will turn away his anger from 
the Hebrews and make them again as a nation to enjoy the divine favor. 
^ 20-27. — Daniel was greatly in earnest, and he receives answer to his 



DANIEL. 699 

prayer. Daniel was not conscious of how high he stood in God's favor. 
He had held steadily to his duty through adversity as well as prosperity, 
and so had made a beautiful character, and God loved him though Daniel 
did not know how much. But when the time came God showed that favor 
by the honor he gave to Daniel as his confidant and spokesman. Volumes 
of speculation have been written about verses 24-27, and apparently to 
no purpose. The angel Gabriel meant no doubt exactly what he said. 
At the time he was speaking to Daniel about seventy weeks remained 
before the time when Cyrus made his proclamation allowing the Jews 
to return to Jerusalem. This captivity entirely cured the Hebrews of 
idolatry, and made them a nation of changeless believers in the God of 
Abraham. Hence the language of verse 24. The anointed one, or prince, 
mentioned in verse 25 does not refer to the Messiah, but to some prince 
who arose in Babylon to lead the people back to Zion and rebuild it. 
This work of rebuilding probably took sixty-two weeks, after which time 
the prince, Zerubbabel, was retired from his leadership, which he gave 
without pay. Later on enemies of the Hebrews came and plunged them 
into war and destro} r ed the temple again. The language of verse 27 
refers doubtless to the history of that period between the return from 
Babylon and the coming of Christ. If we knew all the details of this 
period all the statements of this verse would be plain. 

Ch. 10:1-12-4. — The vision of chapters 10 and 11 occurred about three 
years later than that of chapter 9. The difficulties and oppositions which 
the Jews met when they returned to rebuild Jerusalem no doubt weighed 
heavily on Daniel's mind. Hence verses 2 and 3, and hence the vision 
which follows. Two suggestions here ought to be treasured: 1. Daniel 
was greatly loved of God because of his attitude and character, and his 
petition was heard at once and the decree went forth for its answer long 
before any evidence of it appeared outwardly. 2. God's adversary does 
oppose and delay the work of God's people through human agency. 
Many a prayer is recorded in heaven and the decree gone forth for its 
answer, but the adversary is withstanding it and must first be conquered 3 
and meanwhile the child of God is toiling on in sorrow with no ray of 
light to cheer him but his faith in God, the cavil of fools, the sneer of 
egotists and the recipient of endless instruction from self-constituted 
advisers. Even Daniel, courageous man that he was, needed encourage- 
ment. So shall we all in the fierce fight against sin, and the greater our 
usefulness the more the enemy will use his minions to destroy us. The 
vision is an enlargement of that of chapter 8. The strengthening of 
Michael's cause mentioned in verse 1 refers, I think, to the fact that 



700 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Cyrus, who was the real power behind the throne of Darius, was the one 
who was joined to the cause of God's people by making the edict for 
Jewish national restoration, the very thing for which Daniel was praying. 
The king mentioned in verse 2 was Xerxes, who was the greatest king 
of Persia, and invaded Greece, in revenge for which came Alexander the 
Great, referred to in verses 3 and 4. As already mentioned, his empire 
on his death was divided in four parts, among which there was much 
contention. Two of these, Egypt and Syria, are specially designated in 
chapter 11, because they were one on the north and the other on the south 
of Canaan, and so made it their battleground. Verse 6 refers to an 
agreement which they once made by the marriage of a daughter of 
Ptolemy to Antiochus, who divorced his own wife. History will show 
what trouble came of it, as mentioned in the following verses. The 
whole chapter is explained fully by the history of the doings of Antiochus 
and his sons, Seleucus and Antiochus Epiphanes, in their war against 
Egypt and Palestine. Seleucus is referred to in verse 20 and Antiochus 
Epiphanes in the remainder of the chapter. The student is referred to 
history as a suitable corroboration of these remarkable details. The 
first verse of chapter 12 tells us that about that time the tide of conflict 
between truth and error will turn in favor of the truth. Erom that 
time on shall begin the flourishing of the truth, which shall continue 
more and more until the resurrection and the beautiful finale of verse 3. 
5-13. — Daniel was curious to know exact dates. By the conversation 
which he heard between the two by the river he learned that the time was 
indefinite. That is, the fulfillment depends on human agency, and may 
be hastened or retarded by activity or sloth. When Daniel inquired after 
particular dates he was told that such dates were hidden. Verses 11 
and 12 doubtless refer to certain transactions in their relation to the 
coming of Christ. The last verse is an assurance to Daniel of his resur- 
rection and share in, the atonement. 



HOSEA. 



INTRODUCTION". 

Hosea was a prophet of the kingdom of Israel, and began to prophesy 
at the close of the reign of Jeroboam II, about 784 B. C, and continued 
to the captivity of Israel, about 722 B. C, nearly sixty years. Uzziah 
was king of Judah when he began, and Hezekiah was king when he closed. 
He was prophesying then at the same time as Joel, Micah and Isaiah. 



HOSEA. 701 

Hosea was the son of Beeri, of the tribe of Issachar, and a native of 
Beth-shemesh. He mentions Judah's kings as well as Israel's, for, as 
J. F. B. well says, "The prophets in Israel regarded its separation from 
Judah, civil as well as religious, as an apostasy from God, who promised 
the dominion of the theocracy to the line of David. Hence Elijah in 
Israel took twelve stones to represent Judah as well as Israel." These 
chapters relate chiefly to the sins of Israel and the judgment which God 
sends upon them in consequence. This is the first book of the minor 
prophets, called so because the books are shorter than the major prophets 
(the books which have just gone before). 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 
1-3-5 A symbolical narrative. 

1-3 Command of the prophet to take a wife. 
4-9 Xames of her children. Their significance. 
10, 11 The enlargement of Israel. 
Chapter 2. 

1-13 God's threat by the prophet against the nation. 
14-23 The design of her promised punishment. 
Chapter 3. 

1-5 Charge to the prophet concerning his wife. 
Chapter 4. 

1-5-15 Foretelling of God's judgment upon Israel for sins. 
Chapter 6. 

1-3 Exhortation to the people. 
4-11 God's appeal to the two nations. 
Chapter 7. 

1-16 Wickedness of Israel. 
Chapter 8. 

1-14 God's punishment. 
Chapter 9.. 

1-17 Israel's shame and rejection. 
Chapter 10. 

1-15 A specification of her misdoings. The result. 
Chapter 11. 

1-4 God's former love of Israel. 
5-11 Israel's backsliding and the result. 
12-12-14 A comment on Jacob and his descendants. 



702 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 13. 

1-16 Exaltation of Ephraim. His fall and punishment. 
Chapter 14. 

1-9 Exhortation to Israel to return to God. The result. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-3. — This book carries us back again to the days of the kings of 
Israel before even the northern kingdom was carried captive. When 
this prophecy began the reign of Jeroboam II was nearing its close. He 
had been a powerful king, and had won back from Syria what that 
nation had taken captive from Israel. This prophecy of Hosea, about the 
coming downfall, was made at a time when the people would be most 
unlikely to give credence to it, because of the very success of Jeroboam's 
arms. The prophet saw the elements at work which would produce 
national destruction. But the people would be dead to that sort of an 
appeal because of their sins; hence the prophet gives them this striking 
symbolical narrative to rouse them to a sense of the condition. It is 
thought that at the time when the prophet took Gomer she was a good 
woman, but afterward fell into sin, just as Israel had fallen, and broken 
her marriage relation with God. 

4-9. — The first child was called Jezreel, which means "God will 
scatter." This had been the name of the royal city where Ahab had 
committed his crimes, which had resulted in destruction of his entire 
posterity by Jehu. Here Jezebel had been slain and eaten by the dogs, 
and now that Jehu's posterity had also become corrupt they also were to 
be destroyed. After Jeroboam II (Jehu's great grandson) died, his son, 
Zachariah, was conspired against and slain by Shallum, thus ending the 
house of Jehu. This was about 775 B. C. Fifty years later the whole 
kingdom of Israel was carried captive by Assyria and colonized in what 
afterward became a province of Babylon, by the river Chebar, where 
Ezekiel saw his visions. It was in the valley of Jezreel (Esdraelon) that 
Assyria conquered Israel. Kitto thinks the children were not the 
prophet's own, but born of adultery and presented to him as his. The 
name of the daughter (verse 6) means "not an object of mercy." This 
verse and the next are explained by the fact that Israel would not be 
restored as a nation after the captivity, as Judah would be. Judah was 
restored, not by their military might, but by the proclamation of Cyrus. 
The name of the third child means "not my people." The teaching is 
that God had repudiated this people on account of their sins. 



HOSEA. 703 

10, 11. — These words about the enlargement of Israel are fittingly 
introduced here to give a silver lining to the dark cloud. What has just 
been said about the repudiation of this northern kingdom does not mean 
that God has repudiated his project of raising up a peculiar people, for 
that plan shall be made to succeed, and the nations shall be called into 
that family. The language of verse 11 refers to the fact which occurred 
two hundred and seventy years later when the captives of both nations 
in Babylon selected Zerubbabel to lead the return to Jerusalem on the 
proclamation of Cyrus. Out from the Hebrew nation has come the 
great Christian family whose numbers are countless, and whose conquests 
are embracing all nations of the earth. 

The first thirteen verses of chapter 2 continue the symbol. The prophet 
was to speak to the people who, like him, were children of their country, 
the nation of Israel, and remind them of their original covenant relation 
with G od. He was to attempt to turn the nation back to God by showing 
that God would shortly visit upon her the result of her evil ways. In 
these verses, under the figure of lovers, it is described how the nation left 
her attitude of faith in God and went following after the false gods of 
the nations around them. She used God's gifts to serve the enemies of 
God. Therefore, verses 9 and 10, God proposed to withhold the gifts 
which he had been bestowing upon her and leave the land to become a 
desolation. 

Verses 14-23 state the design of the foregoing threat. God will by 
these means bring her to herself, and after she comes to realize her 
condition he will bind up her wounds and join her again to himself. She 
shall forsake her idols and be joined in a new covenant with God, who 
will make all the lower order "of creation to be her servants and break by 
divine strength the power of their enemies. This shall be the beginning 
of an everlasting covenant which shall result in bringing the nations of 
the earth into God's chosen family. The language of verse 23 especially 
shows that the condition here described meant the incorporation of Israel 
and Judah into a nation after the return from Babylon, out of which 
should grow the Christian church, which was to conquer the world. 

Ch. 3:1-5. — Authorities believe that the woman referred to in chapter 
3 was the prophet's wife, estranged from him by her falsity, but to be 
taken back and after being for a time left alone, to be received again into 
the rights of a wife. This is a true picture of the Israelites, forsaken of 
God and carried away into captivity, and their religious rites suspended, 
yet still loved of God and finally returned to their country and to his 



704 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

favor, and by all these experiences made fit to give to the world the 
covenant of God as revealed in Christ the Son of David. 

Ch. 4:1-5-15. — Chapters 4 and 5 foretell God's judgments which are to 
come on Israel's priests and people for their sin. Chapter 4 is a dark 
picture. The first clause in verse 6 sums up the entire situation. This 
chosen people had neglected to write God's law upon their hearts. Their 
priests did not instruct them in the ways of the Lord, but encouraged 
transgression against God in order that they might personally profit by 
these things. Hence verses 7-10. Yerse 19 shows how the people, under 
the leadership of these false shepherds, had fallen into the ways of the 
heathen. Under such training it was not to be wondered at that the 
children went wrong, and God proposed to hold the leaders responsible. 
A clause in verse 18 sums up the situation. The rulers have been unjust 
until they glory in that conduct which ought to bring them to shame. 
This sorry picture is continued in chapter 5 until verse 8, where God 
declares that the land shall be desolated, hence, he says, Sound the alarm. 
See verses 10-12. Verse 13 declares that they shall seek help from 
Assyria, but Assyria shall not be able to save them. Verses 14 and 15 
were never fully wrought out until these people had for seventy years or 
more wept by the rivers of Babylon. This nation, however, was carried 
captive long before Judah, and its people were in captivity for nearly 
one hundred and seventy years. 

Ch. 6 :l-3. — Because of the judgment foretold in the last two chapters, 
the prophet properly makes this strong exhortation to turn the people if 
possible to the right way and so avert the threatened calamity. All the 
terrors which have been foretold are from God, and he can avert them or 
turn the troubles into blessings. The expressions of verse 2 are another 
way of saying that if the people turn to God, almost immediately their 
condition will begin to improve, and very soon they will be exalted and 
remarked upon as a people specially favored of heaven. The return 'of 
day (verse 3) is no surer than that he will move in behalf of his own, and 
his manifestation to us in due time is as certain as the coming of rain in 
its season. The thought is reasonable. If material help is necessary and 
God unfailingly provides that, how much more certainly will he provide 
the help necessary to vindicate and keep in the way of life all who desire 
it and trust and obey him. 

In verses 4-11 the language changes to a direct discourse of God to the 
people. He appeals to them to state what kind of treatment they think 
is due them for their base actions. The goodness the nation once 
displayed had vanished like a morning cloud or the dew. In this 



HOSEA. 705 

denunciation both the northern and southern kingdoms are included. 
Verse 5 uses the figure of trees cut down because of their worthlessness. 
And it will be noticed that God had used his prophets as his agents for 
the reproach and announcement of the overthrow of those who did 
violence to God's commands. The punishments which God brings as the 
result of sin, though long delayed, will come finally, and be as open to 
the world as is the light of day. God desired the characteristics of mercy 
in the lives of his people more than he desired the outward ceremony of 
sacrifice. This people had never learned that lesson, and so as a nation 
they had done just as Adam did — transgressed God's covenant, although 
they were all the while laying stress on their outward ceremonies by 
virtue of which they called themselves by the name of the Lord. Shechem 
was a city of refuge, and it is said that so corrupt had become the priests 
that they waylaid and murdered those fleeing thither (whom they should 
have protected), probably because this was an easy way to gain spoil, and 
then circulated the report that the avengers of blood had overtaken and 
slain the fleeing man. The explanation of verse 11 is, most likely, that 
after the captivity of Israel, the northern kingdom, God will come again 
with a like visitation upon Judah for her sins. Some think it is a promise 
of restoration of national life to Judah after her captivity. 

Ch. 7:1-16. — The language of chapter 7 is descriptive of the wicked 
condition of the northern kingdom. Verse 1 is a declaration that 
whenever God moved in the direction of bringing Israel back to 
repentance, her iniquities would break out afresh and in an aggravated 
form. Ephraim, being the leading tribe of the northern kingdom, was 
named often instead of Israel and as representing Israel. The extent of 
the nation's sins are best' understood in the statement that king and 
princes are gladdened with their lies and wickedness. Verses 4-7 declare 
them so bad that they need no further stirring up to evil by the adversary, 
but burn on in their iniquity like an oven sufficiently heated, encouraged 
to evil by the very leaders who should have been mighty to repress evil. 
Among them all there was none to call upon the Lord for help, so 
universal was the apostasy. The people had intermarried with idolatrous 
strangers until they were losing their identity as a Hebrew people. Cakes 
were baked in a depression in the ground in which a fire had been built, 
and unless turned frequently burned upon one side and were raw on the 
other, and so unfit for use. This was the condition of Israel. The nation 
was going into premature decay, and was not conscious of it. Whether 
the pride (or excellency) of Israel mentioned in verse 10 refers to God 
warning them, or whether it refers to the sinful pride, so apparent in the 



706 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

people, turning them to their destruction, the reader must determine 
for himself. The dove was said to be the silliest of all birds, easily snared. 
This kingdom of Israel, between Assyria on the one hand and Egypt on 
the other, was seeking her own interest 'by making alliances first with one 
and then with the other. Their return of evil to God for his goodness, 
mentioned in verses 13-16, shows how hopeless was the effort to reach and 
rescue them by kind and helpful treatment; hence no course was left 
open but their utter destruction in the interest of humanity, however 
much such a course may have been distasteful to a loving heavenly father. 

Ch. 8 :1-14. — It is evident that there are some in this life who refuse to 
profit by the kindness shown them. Such were the people of this nation. 
Hence the proclamation was to be made instantly and loudly that this 
once highly favored people was to be utterly destroyed of God. Notwith- 
standing they should when their trouble came appeal to God in the 
language of verse 2, yet the reply should be verses 4-7. God can listen 
to no appeals made to him by sinners, unless there be repentance. Verse 
4 refers to their aggressive idolatry and pretended independence of God. 
They had set up golden calves in the very beginning of their national 
existence, and used them to draw away the people from the worship of 
Jehovah at his temple at Jerusalem. Hence the reference to God's 
judgment against the calf in verses 5 and 6. See the story of the revolt 
of the ten tribes, I Kings 12. The explanation of verses 8 and 9 is that 
Israel had so intermarried with heathen and so adopted their customs that 
they had already practically lost their identity among the nations. God 
declares that the nations to whom the people are looking for protection 
shall prove to be destroyers of this people, and that God will no longer 
be a protection to them, but will send them away into captivity. 

Ch. 9 :1-17.— In view of such conditions the prophet lays stress on the 
fact that rejoicing is out of place, and that the people shall be 
shamed by bodily want and shall go into captivity and be forced to eat 
what will be repulsively unclean to them in order to appease their hunger. 
Both those nations to whom they turned for help should become their 
oppressors, and they should be denied the privileges of their own sanctu- 
ary. The probable meaning of verse 7 is that the sins of the people 
were so outrageous and bold that the prophets who rebuked them were 
so wrought upon as to seem to be insane. Verse 8 declares that plots are 
constantly laid against the prophets, even originating among the fellow 
priests. It were better to render the first clause of verse 8 "Ephraim 
watcheth against God." Verse 10 carries back the thought to the time 
when God called this people and led and directed them, and then how 



HOSEA. 707 

they committed sin when they came to the borders of the land of Oanaan. 
To be made childless was thought to be one of the greatest reproaches 
of that age. After being exalted to the high place of God's specially 
chosen people and having his special protection and care, they are now, 
on account of their sins, to be degraded below the level of the heathen, 
and become outcast among all nations. 

Ch. 10:1-15. — Israel had been a goodly vine planted of God, but had 
now become luxuriant in producing evil. They had forsaken God and 
built altars to the gods of the heathen about them. Verse 3 is probably a 
declaration that they should later have to own that they were suffering 
their just deserts, being kingless and unprotected because of their folly 
in forsaking God. Assyria (verse 5-8) was soon to carry the nation into 
captivity and take their riches as spoil. It is thought by some that this 
prophecy was uttered between the first and second invasions of Israel by 
Shalmaneser. The desolation of the land pictured in verse 8 when it 
came would be startling. The two transgressions mentioned in verse 10 
probably refer to the two calves which were set up by Jeroboam when 
Israel separated from Judah. Hence the fitness of the figure which 
follows in verse 11. Judah was to be the leading tribe by whose name the 
Hebrews should be known in exile. The other Israelites were to be 
unknown followers, doing the most menial work. The law required that 
the ox treading out corn (wheat) should be unmuzzled, so giving it a 
chance to eat its fill. So the leaders of Israel liked to lord it over the 
gathering of the increase of the land, because that gave them a chance 
to fatten upon the spoil. And so as a nation they were to learn what spoil 
meant. Shalmaneser had vented his first rage against Beth-arbel, 
committing frightful atrocities, and so, God declares, It shall next be 
done to you at Bethel. What a startling contrast between this picture 
and that which Jacob long before had seen here in a vision. (Gen. 
28:10-22.) 

Chi 11 :l-4. — Verse 1 recalls to the people the whole story of God's 
dealing with the sons of Jacob from the time they first went into Egypt. 
The "they" is thought to refer to the prophets bringing God's messages 
to the people, and the second "they" to the people rejecting God and the 
voice of his prophets. In spite of all the warnings the people had 
forsaken the God who led them out of bondage and made them a great 
nation, and taken up with the miserable idols of the heathen into whose 
midst they had come. The great lesson of God's gentleness and care for 
them seems to have been wholly lost upon them, though it had been more 
than one thousand years since Jacob and his family went to Egypt, all 



708 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

of which time this people had been God's special care. And the warnings 
and reminders of Hosea now seemed to produce no visible effect on the 
nation, whose kings and priests were leading it rapidly to destruction by 
the Assyrians. J. F. B. says of the latter part of verse 4, "As the human 
husbandman occasionally loosens the straps under the jaws by which 
the yoke is bound on the neck of the oxen, and lays food before them, so 
God delivered Israel from the Egyptian yoke and fed them in the 
wilderness." 

5-11. — The language of verse 5 is a declaration that this nation of 
Israel should not find in Egypt a succor from the power of Assyria as 
they expected, but because they had forsaken God should be obliged to 
submit to Assyria. When the punishment came upon them and they 
called to God for help, he would not hear them, because they were 
unrepentant, an indication that God cannot forgive unless the sinner be 
repentant. Yet the giving up of this people to their just punishment 
was contrary to the feelings of the Almighty. Admah and Zeboim were 
cities overthrown with Sodom and Gomorrah (Deut. 29:23). The 
meaning of verses 9-11 is, no doubt, that instead of destroying the land 
and the people as he had done in the case of the above named cities, God 
would visit his punishment upon the land and teach Israel the lesson 
of their unfaithfulness, and afterward gather back to Canaan such of 
them as were willing to profit by his providential dealings and turn to 
him in repentance. 

12-12-14. — From verse 12 of this chapter to the end of chapter 12 is 
an observation of the prophet about the Hebrews. The marginal reading 
of the latter half of verse 12 says, "And Judah is yet unsteadfast with 
God, and with the Holy One who is faithful." This makes the sense 
much clearer. The thought is that all the descendants of Jacob have 
played false with God. Now the prophet specifies some of their misdoings. 
Ephraim, representing Israel, is an incorrigible liar, and a covenant 
maker with the enemies of God. Judah also is fighting against the pure 
worship of the true God. In verse 4 the prophet refers to Jacob as 
apparently manifesting a prenatal disposition to be the father of the 
covenant people by becoming the first born of Isaac, and then in his 
manhood of holding on until he prevailed over the wrestling angel. Thus 
the contrast between Jacob and his degenerate descendants was made 
very pronounced. Then he exhorts them to turn to the Lord and imitate 
their father in intercession and faithfulness. Hosea reminds them of 
the fact that the deceit for which the heathen merchants of that land had 
•been noted had become characteristic of the merchants of Israel. And 



HOSEA. 709 

they regarded, their prosperity as an indication that their doings were 
not sufficiently wrong to warrant God's punishment. But God declares 
(verse 9) that this people shall be obliged to dwell again in tents as they 
did in the wilderness. After stating further the iniquity of the nation, 
the prophet reminds them that their father, Jacob, who once was a 
fugitive and kept sheep to pay for his wife, was led from bondage and 
preserved in the wilderness and in Canaan by God through his prophet. 
Xow that his descendants were showing contempt for the prophets, God 
would surely visit upon them the results of their evil doings. 

Oh. 13:1-16. — It is probable that chapters 12 and 13 were given at a 
later date than the ones gone before — it is thought about the time that 
King Pekah was murdered by his successor, who was the last king of 
Israel. Here the prophet refers to the former high standing of Ephraim 
in Israel, and how he degenerated when he sank to the worship of Baal. 
This had been the leading tribe in Israel whose authority was recognized 
by the other tribes, but now a miserable, groveling, idol worshiper. 
Hence its prestige was to vanish, as in verse 3. God, whom they had so 
grossly insulted, would now be to them as wild beasts, compassing their 
destruction. Long before Israel had asked a king, and God unwillingly 
granted their request ; now the king and his people, whom he had led to 
ruin, were to be cast out of God's sight in anger for their iniquity. The 
silver lining to this dark cloud is given in verse 14. Israel shall be 
ransomed again, and in the transformation which shall succeed, death 
should be turned over to the plagues, and the grave destroyed (see 
margin). This is plainly a reference to work of the coming Messiah, the 
supreme hope and objective of this chosen people. The east wind referred 
to in verse 15 was no doubt Assyria, both of which were plagues to Israel. 

Ch. 14:1-9. — In the final exhortation the prophet puts in their mouths 
(verses 2 and 3) what they should say to the Lord. Instead of depending 
on military powers (soldiers and horses) they were to turn to the living 
God. Verses 4-7 give the answer of the Lord to such as thus seek him. 
Forgiveness, nourishment, beauty, strength and stability were to be the 
reward of. coming to him. Hence he concludes that a wise man will 
understand these things and a prudent man will learn and profit by 
these facts. 



JOEL. 



INTRODUCTION". 

Joel began to prophesy perhaps about 800 B. C, fifteen years before 
Hosea, although the time of his prophecy is uncertain, and some claim 
that he belongs to the early reign of Joash (about 870 B. C.) He was 
a prophet of Judah, and his bold words were an effort to call back the 
people to repentance of their idolatry and the worship of the true God 
from whom they had wandered, and so save them from the national 
calamity which God's wrath would bring upon them, of which calamity 
this scourge of locusts, terrible as it was, was only a faint picture. Isaiah 
began to prophesy about twenty years after the beginning of Joel's 
prophecies, and Amos began fifteen years after Joel, so that Joel, Amos 
and Isaiah were prophesying in Judah at the same time that Hosea was 
prophesying in Israel. The northern kingdom was fast going into decay, 
and while Judah had not yet grown so wicked as Israel, yet far-sighted 
men could see at work the elements which would sooner or later produce 
similar decay in Judea. Hence the warnings of the prophets of the 
Lord in order to avert, if possible, from the chosen family, the curses 
which had been foretold from the days of Moses. In this book Joel uses 
a scourge of locusts as a text to picture greater evils to come. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-2-11 The prophet's alarm at the scourge of Canaan. Its description. 

12-17 Call to repentance. 

18-27 God's assurance to his people of deliverance and sustenance. 

28-32 The spiritual outgrowth. 

Chapter 3. ' 

1-8 Judgment on the enemies of God's people. 
9-16 The prophet's strong desire for its accomplishment. 
17-21 Blessings on God's chosen people. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1-2-11. — The prophet calls all the people to witness that the 
scourge to which he calls attention is unprecedented in the history of the 
Hebrews, and that they have now been a nation for near seven hundred 



JOEL. 711 

years. Jamieson says on verse 4, "Four species or stages of locusts, 
rather than four different insects, are meant (cf. Lev. 11:22). Lit. 
(1) the gnawing locust; (2) the swarming locust; (3) the licking locust; 
(4) the consuming locust, forming a climax to the most destructive kind. 
The last is often three inches long, and the two antennae each an inch 
long. The two hinder of its six feet are larger than the rest, adapting 
it for leaping. The first 'kind' is that of the locust, having just emerged 
from the egg in spring, and without wings. The second is when at the 
end of spring, still in their first skin, the}' put forth little ones without 
legs or wings. The third, when after their third casting of the old skin, 
they get small wings, which enable them to leap the better, but not to 
fly; being not able to go away till their wings are matured, they devour 
all before them, grass, shrubs and barks of trees ; translated 'rough cater- 
pillars/ (Jer. 51:27.) The fourth kind, the matured winged locust. 
The Hebrews make the first species refer to Assyria and Babylon; the 
second species to Medo-Persia; the third to Greco-Macedonia and Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes; the fourth to the Romans. Though the primary 
reference be to the literal locusts, the Holy Spirit doubtless had in view 
the successive empires which assailed Judea, each worse than its prede- 
cessor, Rome being the climax." His call to the drunkards suggests that 
the calamity shall be so heavy that even they who are habitually unmoved 
by any serious matter shall be forced to howl in their want. The numbers 
and destructiveness of these insects cause him to speak of them as a 
strong nation, able to destroy the land. It is said that there is no 
vegetation which can resist their bite. The priests were mourning 
because of the cessation of religious offerings, and the tillers of the soil 
were lamenting the barren land. The priests were called upon (verse 13) 
to set the example of humbling themselves before God in that day of 
great need, and so leading the people to prayer. The first eleven verses 
of chapter 2 are a vivid description of the scourge and the details of their 
movements and their effects. 

12-17. — The call to repentance was the prophet's remedy for the evil. 
He knew that it was God's visitation because of the evils of the people. 
The law taught that just such conditions would arise if the people forgot 
God. Joel knew the law, and knew that what the people needed to do 
was to become truly penitent rather than to make a show of being horrified 
at certain forbidden things and then live in open and constant disloyalty 
to God. That was precisely the condition of things which Jesus found 
among the scribes and pharisees when he came, and it was evidently 
getting a fast hold on the people in Joel's day. The thought of verse 14 



712 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

is that on their repentance God would not only feed the people, but would 
prosper their crops that the}' might be supplied with material to continue 
their religious offerings. They were to repent as publicly as they had 
sinned, and thus all the nations would be taught that the Hebrews' 
calamity was not because of the weakness of their God, but because they 
had forsaken him. The great lesson taught is that the way to avert 
national calamity is by national repentance. 

18-27. — Verses 18-27 refer to what happens on the adoption of the 
prophet's advice. At the time this prophecy was uttered the temple 
services seem to have been nourishing, but what has already been said 
indicates that there was much form without spirit. Xo doubt this 
prophecy and the locust plague, reminding the people of the plague of 
their enemies the Egyptians, did bring the people to their senses, and 
after repentance God brought back prosperity to the nation, and sent to 
the people this message by Joel after the plague was over. Whether 
"northern" in verse 20 refers to the locusts or to human enemies of whom 
the locusts were forerunners matters nothing, for both were to be turned 
away from this chosen nation when they repented. The promise in the 
latter part of verse 19 would have been verified forever had the Jews 
continued to serve the Lord. The promise in verse 26 that the people 
should never be ashamed was of course conditioned upon their continuous 
service of the Lord. 

Verses 28-32 then refer to conditions to which the prosperity just 
mentioned should lead. These days referred to here are prophetic of the 
days when the Messiah's kingdom should be preached, and Peter used 
this very language on the day of Pentecost as a text for that remarkable 
sermon after which three thousand people were converted and added to 
the kingdom of the Messiah. The language of verses 30 and 31 refer to 
the changes and convulsions that should occur in political governments 
of the world in God's providential movements to prepare the way for that* 
day. Sun, moon and stars are set to represent earth powers, just as we 
speak of a high civilization as a great light. Verse 32 was literally 
fulfilled in that in the days of Jesus' ministry there were those who 
had survived all the horrors of the history through which they had passed 
and were in readiness to receive the Savior and his message. In this 
theme the prophet looks straight through the difficulties and sees the 
ultimate result which God means to accomplish by the call of a chosen 
people, and announces beforehand the fact that the faithful among the 
Jewish people would be the first missionaries of the world-wide kingdom 
of the Messiah. 



AMOS. 713 

In chapter 3, verses 1-8 are an enlargement of the prophecy of verses 
30 and 31 in chapter 2. In the valley between Jerusalem and the mount 
of Olives, Jehoshaphat had long before overthrown the confederate foes 
of Judah. After the carrying away of the Jews to Babylon, God over- 
threw the Tyrians, Lidonians, Philistines, Edomites and Egyptians by 
the Babylonians, Persians and Grecians, so that these enemies of Israel 
were also visited for their sins and judged for their evil treatment of 
God's chosen people. Thousands of these nations were sold as slaves, 
just as they had caused the Hebrews to be sold. 

Verses 9-16 show how when the prophet foresees this picture he was 
impatient to see it carried out. Like all those who sigh for the coming 
of the kingdom of righteousness, he desired the work to be done speedily. 
With the complete picture once in his mind he was anxious to see it 
worked into actuality. He declares that the cup of their iniquity is full 
and the work of destruction ought to be begun. 

17-21. — His final picture of God's blessings on his chosen people refers 
to the quiet and prosperity of Judea after the return from Babylon. 
Such a condition would have continued indefinitely, as suggested in 
verse 20, if this people had held steadily on to their proper behavior before 
God. The prophet does not take up the later misbehavior of the people 
and its consequences (merely hinting at it in chapter 2 :32), because this 
much prophecy is sufficient for his present purpose. But had the Jews 
behaved after the return from Bab}don as they should have done the 
picture of verses 17-21 would have been characteristic of this people for 
ages to come. 



AMOS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Amos was a native of Tekoa, a small town in Judea six miles southeast 
of Bethlehem. He was a shepherd, owning and tending flocks and 
collecting sycamore figs. Smith says, "The sycamore or fig-mulberry is 
in Egypt and Palestine a tree of very great importance and extensive use. 
It attains the size of a walnut tree, has wide spreading branches, and 
affords a delightful shade. On this account it is frequently planted by 
the waysides. Its leaves are heart-shaped, downy on the under side and 
fragrant. The fruit grows directly from the trunk itself on little sprigs 
and in clusters like the grape. To make it eatable, each fruit, three or 



714 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

four days before gathering, must, it is said, be punctured with a sharp 
instrument or the finger nail. This was the original employment of the 
prophet Amos. So great was the value of these trees that David appointed 
for them a special overseer in his kingdom, as he did for olives, and it 
is mentioned as one of Egypt's heaviest calamities that her sycamores 
were destroyed by hailstones.'' 

Though Amos was of the southern kingdom, he prophesied in Israel. 
Jamieson says, "Though belonging to Judah, he was commissioned by 
God to exercise his prophetic function in Israel; as the latter kingdom 
abounded in impostors and the prophets of God generally fled to Judah 
through fear of the kings of Israel, a true prophet from Judah was the 
more needed in it." 

He prophesied at the same time as Hosea, though for a much shorter 
time, from about 785 to 775 B. C. 

The place was Bethel, where the idol calves of Israel had been set up. 
J. F. B. says, "There his prophecies roused Amaziah, the idol priest, to 
accuse him of conspiracy, and to try to drive him back to Judah." 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1 Superscription. 

2 Text. 

3-2-16 Divine judgment on the nations. 
3-5 Woe against Damascus. 
6-8 Woe against Gaza. 
9, 10 Woe against Tyre. 
11, 12 Woe against Edom. 
13-15 Woe against Ammon. 

Chapter 2. 

1-3 Woe against Moab. 
4, 5 Woe against Judah. 
6-16 Woe against Israel. 

Chapter 3. 

1-6-14 A detail of Israel's sins. God's punishment. 
1-8 His use of the prophet. 
9-15 Violence and robbery. The punishment. 

Chapter 4. 

1-3 Oppression of the poor. The punishment. 
4-13 Idolatry and incorrigibility. The punishment. 



AMOS. 715 

Chapter 5. 

1-27 The prophet's lamentation for Israel's sins and their 
punishment. 
Chapter 6. 

1-14 Reproof of their sloth and unconcern. 

Chapter 7. 

1-6 God's judgment against Israel. 

7-9 Vision of a plumb-line. 
10-17 Contest of Amaziah with Amos. 

Chapter 8. 

1, 2 Vision of a basket of fruit. 
3-9-10 Meaning of the vision. 
11-15 Final restoration of the chosen people. 



LESSOX NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :1. — Verse 1 of this book is an introduction to the prophecy of 
Amos in which the writer is named and the time of the book's production 
given, as well as the people to whom this language was directed. The 
occupation of the writer is also given, and elsewhere it is shown that he 
was a fruit gatherer as well. The earthquake mentioned occurred in 
the reign of Uzziah at the time he was stricken with leprosy for entering 
the holy of holies (II Chron. 26). 

Verse 2 is the text on which the whole book is set. God has given to 
Amos open expression of disapproval of the course of the nation, especially 
the chosen family, and he now proposes to thunder it against them and 
execute his denunciations and threats until the land shall be desolate, 
as it had been foretold to the people that it would be if they disregarded 
the divine warnings and turned to idolatry. 

3-5. — The prophet opens his discourse with denunciations against the 
surrounding peoples. The cup of iniquity in Damascus was full. That 
people had been an inveterate oppressor of Israel, and, further, had been ■ 
largely responsible for leading Israelites into idolatry. The Lord had 
used the nation to punish Israel, but Damascus herself needed punishment 
as well. By reference to II Kings 8 it will be seen that Ben-hadad was 
slain by Hazael. This Ben-hadad mentioned here is doubtless the son of 
the murderer and usurper Hazael (II Kings 13:3). The curse here 
pronounced was soon after fulfilled when the king of Assyria took 
Damascus, slew its king, and carried its people captive to Kir, now a 



716 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

part of Armenia. Avert, or according to the revised, "Eden," was "a 
delightful valley four hours' journey from Damascus toward the desert, 
and proverbial in the East as a place of delight." 

6-8. — The expression with which all these woes are introduced means 
that the people had so conducted themselves again and again as to 
deserve the punishment which God would now shortly bring upon them. 
The Philistines had been most hateful enemies of God's people, and had 
fought against them with relentless hostility ever since the tribes settled 
in Canaan. At times it seemed as if they would conquer Judah. This 
people were conquered by "TTzziah, then by Hezekiah, by Egypt, by 
Babylon, by Persia, by Alexander, and the Asmoneans." 

9, 10. — T}Te is charged with the same offense as the Philistines. The 
meaning is that the enemies of the Hebrews came upon them and many 
of them fled for refuge to these neighboring nations; they were sold as 
slaves to the enemy by those who should have given them hospitable 
shelter and protection. The "brotherly covenant" refers to the league 
made between Hiram of Tyre and David and Solomon. II Sam. 5:11; 
I Kings 5 :2-12. T}<re was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, and afterward 
overthrown by Alexander. 

11, 12. — The Edomites were descendants of Esau, who was the brother 
of Jacob. Esau had a standing grudge against Jacob for having gotten 
the birthright and also Isaac's blessing. His posterity seem to have 
always kept that grudge against the descendants of Jacob, and when 
Israel's enemies came against them the Edomites most always seized the 
opportunity to vent their hatred. They never lost an opportunity to do 
evil to Israel. 

13-15. — The Ammonites were descendants of Amnion, a son of Lot 
by his second daughter. They stoutly resisted Israel when they came 
to the borders of Canaan, but were conquered by Moses. They many 
times afterward attacked Israel and took every advantage of them when 
they were in any distress. They joined with the enemies which con- 
quered Israel and committed the atrocities of verse 13 in order to get 
Israel's possessions. The result of it all, however, was their own ultimate 
utter destruction. 

Ch. 2 :l-3. — Moab was a son of Lot by his eldest daughter. Their land 
was east of the Dead Sea, being the land in which Mount Nebo was 
situated. They also were old enemies of the Hebrew people. It was 
their king who tried to bribe Balaam to curse Israel. The Jews believe 
that after the campaign of Judah, Israel and Edom against Moab that 
the king of Moab in revenge dug up the bones of the buried king of 



AMOS. 717 

Edom and burned them. Some think it probable that he burned the 
king alive. 

4, 5. — The prophet includes in this catalogue also his own nation. 
Judah had been given greater light and opportunity than any of the 
aforementioned peoples, but this people had wilfully closed their eyes to 
the light and gone after their own follies. They had taught falsehoods 
in order to win the people away from the truth, instead of keeping God's 
command to teach diligently the law to their children and so establish 
them in the truth. Verse 5 was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem 
by Xebuchadnezzar. 

6-16. — Lastly he turns to Israel and denounces against that nation a 
most grievous woe. Verse 6 shows how low they have fallen. The first 
clause of verse 7 seems to mean that it was the supreme desire of the 
stronger to humiliate the weaker and cause them to mourn with their 
heads in the dust. By comparing verse 8 with Ex. 22:26 it will be seen 
how they had come to utterly disregard the law. The wine on which they 
feed their drunkenness was extorted by them from their fellow Hebrews, 
and unjustly. They had forgotten all that God had done for them, and 
gone like the nations about them into the most grievous error. They 
were breaking every law and regulation which God gave them. Hence 
the coming woe mentioned in verses 13-16. 

In verses 1-8 of chapter 3 the prophet cites several instances to show 
that all things operate on the principles of reason. Hence it is most 
reasonable to suppose that God is using human agency to express to them 
his disapproval of the conditions which Amos is here denouncing. The 
argument is that two would not walk together unless agreed, as a lion 
would not roar, nor a bird fall, nor an alarm be blown without reason, 
so he would not prophesy to Israel unless impelled by the Lord of hosts, 
and that the danger is immediate and great. 

Verses 9-15 begin the specifications. Ashdod and Egypt are old 
enemies of Israel, but they may be called to witness her mighty fall. She 
is filled with robbery and violence, hence God's protection shall depart 
from her, and her enemies shall be allowed to spoil her. Her destruction 
shall be as complete as that of a lamb in the mouth of a lion, and the 
place where idolatry v/as practised shall become an utter desolation. 

Ch. 4 :l-3. — Bashan was a part of Israel, and was rich in pasture. The 
nobles are here likened to kine (cattle), fat and lazy, fed on the spoil 
of the poor and needy. The picture of putting hooks in their noses and 
leading them away into captivity was a startling one to say the least, and 
should have roused the people to active repentance. 



718 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

4-13. — And now he continues in irony, "Go right on with your abom- 
inable idolatry. I have brought you to want, but you did not repent. I 
sent famine, and you did not repent. I destroyed by blight and insect 
your vegetation, you did not repent. I sent pestilence and sword, but 
you did not repent. I sent utter destruction on a part of your land, but 
you did not repent. Therefore, prepare to meet your God." The beau- 
tiful language of verse 13 is descriptive of God's character. 

Ch. 5:1-27. — The lamentation which Amos here takes up for fallen 
Israel should have been echoed in the heart of the entire nation until 
the people returned from that apostasy which was driving God to be their 
enemy. Such a picture as that of verse 3 was a sickening contrast to the 
glories promised to this nation through Moses and Joshua. Such an 
exhortation as that of verse 6 should not have been necessary for this 
people. The fact of its having been made would have roused them to a 
sense of great danger had they not become calloused by their sins. Such 
an impeachment as that of verse 7 showed this people to be as bad in 
many respects as the heathen around them. Notwithstanding the 
influence of such a God as that of verses 8 and 9, the character of this 
people was described by verses 10-12. Therefore the light that God had 
been shedding on his chosen people he was to turn into darkness, and all 
the promises that were blessed should now turn to curses. Even their 
pretended worship of God and empty forms were displeasing to him. 
These are some of the evidences that forms of worship and habits of life 
are valueless unless they have in them that spirit which produces growth 
in God-likeness. A study of Leviticus will show that all the forms and 
ceremonies which God gave to Israel had wise reasons behind them. 

Ch. 6 :1-14. — Chapter 6 shows something of the condition into which 
the people had come and for which they were being reproved. The chief 
men of the nation had fallen into laziness and unconcern and cared 
nothing for the improvement of their people nor the good of the nation! 
The prophet says to them, "Look at the nations around you and see how 
they have gone to decay by following the same plan which you follow." 
But they would not believe that evil was near them ; they took their ease, 
ate, drank and were merry. . They sang songs, wrapped in their sense of 
security, and would take no warning from the prophet. Your people are 
doing likewise, and for that reason you shall go into captivity among the 
first. Your worship is abhorrent, and for that reason the protection which 
had been extended to you shall be entirely withdrawn, and however many 
there shall be in a family, all shall be taken. The thought of verse 10 is, 
that when one asks the question, "Are any left?" that the one who 



AMOS. 719 

answers instead of praising God shall declare that he had lost his faith, 
for the destruction shall be utter, and everything shall be desolate. 

Ch. 7:1-6.— The judgments that were to come are pictured by these 
calamities mentioned in the first part of chapter 7. The locusts came and 
devoured all before them, but at the entreaty of the prophet they were 
removed. After that came fire, which no doubt meant drouth, so that all 
vegetation was parched as it was in the days of Ahab and Elijah ; but at 
the entreaty of Amos it was broken. 

7-9. — At this point came the vision. The prophet sees a plumb-line. 
The meaning is that the rule of correctness shall be applied to Israel, and 
what is wrong shall be marked for destruction. Into the peace of the 
nation shall come the sword. Desolation shall mark the place where 
before was national prosperity. 

10-17. — At this point one of the idol priests of Israel opposes Amos. 
He sends to the king and falsely declares that Amos is making a con- 
spiracy against the nation, and is filling the land with treason and 
declaring that the king shall die by the sword and Israel go into captivity. 
This false prophet attempted to make Amos flee to his own land, but 
Amos answered, "I was not a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was called 
from my daily business to declare the facts to your nation. Xow because 
you have opposed this truth, your family shall be utterly destroyed, your 
land divided, and yourself shall die in captivity." 

Ch. 8:1, 2. — The incident above mentioned separated two of the 
prophet's visions. He next sees a basket of summer fruit. The meaning 
is clear. The doings of the people were now to be visited upon them. As 
the gathering of the fruit meant the end of the season, so now the end of 
their season of probation had come. 

3-9-10. — The meaning of all these visions is stated in the remaining 
part of chapter 8 and first part of chapter 9. What has been pictured in 
these visions shall come to pass in reality. The reason is stated. You 
oppress the poor, you use false weights, you depreciate values, you 
estimate the value of a human being as the value of a pair of shoes. For 
this reason I will send your land into mourning, and better men shall 
take your place and your accustomed joy. Famine shall come on the land, 
and your people shall hunger and thirst ; and those who take part in the 
evils which have brought this calamity shall fall and never rise. This 
picture is strengthened by the command to the prophet to break the altar. 
The Lord declares, though the people climb to any height or sink to any 
depth, I will take them from thence. Though they hide in the bottom 
of the sea there will I command the serpent to bite them. And though 



720 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

they go into captivity, the sword shall slay them there. The remaining 
verses (5-10) declare the fact which every Jew owned, namely, that he 
who declared these things was the one who spread the heavens and 
created the earth, and brought the chosen family from captivity, and 
moved the nations at his will. So, he declares, I will sift Israel like wheat. 
All those who have broken the commandments shall surfer the penalty. 
11-15. — Now appears the silver lining to the cloud. Having denounced 
evils which were about to come, he declares that the result will be to set 
right the nation, and that Israel shall be gathered again and built into 
a strong and enduring people. The land shall be productive, the people 
shall be honored and happy, and the condition of things shall be ushered 
in which will prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah of whose 
glorious government these verses (11-15) are but a faint picture. 



OBADIAH 



INTRODUCTION". 

This is the shortest book in the Old Testament. The name means 
"servant of Jehovah." Some think this prophet is the same person who 
superintended the restoration of the temple under Josiah, B. C. 627, but 
verses 11-16 imply that Jerusalem was by this time overthrown by the 
Chaldeans, and that he refers to the cruelty of Edom toward the Jews, 
which is referred to also in Lamentations. From comparing verse 5 with 
Jeremiah it appears that Jeremiah embodied in his prophecies also a part 
of Obadiah, as he had done with other prophets. The reason of the 
position of Obadiah before other of the minor prophets who lived before 
him is that Amos foretold the subjugation of Edom, and Obadiah stands 
next therefore as a commentary on the book of Amos. The date of 
Obadiah was probably immediately after the taking of Jerusalem by 
Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 588. Five years afterward Edom was conquered 
by Nebuchadnezzar. Jerome makes him contemporary with Hosea, Joel 
and Amos. It is an argument in favor of this view that Jeremiah would 
be more likely to insert in his prophecies a portion from a preceding 
prophet than from a contemporary. If so, the allusion in verses 11-14 
would be to some of the former captures of Jerusalem — by the Egyptians 
under Rehoboam, or the Philistines and Arabians in the reign of Joram, 
or by Joash, king of Israel, in the reign of Amaziah, or in the reign of 
Jehoiakim, or Jehoiachin, in all of which the Idumeans were hostile. 



JONAH. 721 

ANALYSIS. 



1-16 Doom of Edom. 
17-21 Ee-establishment and prosperity of the Jews. 



LESSON NOTES. 

The language of verses 1-16 is thought to be an utterance about the 
future of the Edomites. They were the descendants of Esau, and old 
enemies of Israel. The word here is that a rumor has gone out that the 
nations are arising against Edom and will utterly overthrow it. Verse 2 
declares that her doom is practically sealed, and verse 3 gives the reason. 
They had flattered themselves that they could not be conquered, and had 
taken advantage of the distress of Israel to vex and annoy her. For this 
conduct God was about to call her to a strict account. Verse 5 means that 
when the enemies of Edom close about her they will fully satisfy their 
vengeance, and still more; thieves when they have gathered what they 
can carry will leave the remainder, but these enemies will leave nothing. 
Even those who seem to be friends of Edom will prove to be enemies. 
Those upon whose wisdom the nation depended for guidance shall be 
utterly destroyed. The reason of this all, as shown by verse 10, was the 
violence they had done to Jacob. They had taken advantage of the 
disaster which came upon the Jews to do extreme violence to them, and 
had cut off those who had escaped and were fleeing to a place of safety. 
It is here declared that they should be made to suffer what they were 
causing others to suffer, and should utterly disappear as if they had not 
been. 

17-21. — But of the Israelites he declares that they shall be brought 
back again to their own place, and be made a highly favored people. Then 
he says that the people shall be a flame which shall consume Edom and 
possess his country, and that all which remain of Edom shall be scattered 
and judged by Israel. 



JONAH 



INTRODUCTION. 

This prophet belonged to the ten tribes. He prophesied at the time 
when Israel was at the lowest point of depression, about 860 to 825 B. C, 
in the days of Elisha and Zechariah. 

Nineveh was the chief object of his prophecy. It was a heathen city, 
and very great. The object of putting the book among the sacred writings 



722 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

seems to be to furnish a proof to the chosen family that the heathen 
respond to God's prophets quicker than the people of the chosen family. 
Tarshish, the city to which he attempted to flee, was on the southern coast 
of Spain, three thousand miles west. It is probable, however, that he 
never got far from Joppa, where he embarked, and that he was thrown up 
on the coast of Palestine. He was unwilling to preach to the Ninevites 
because they were old enemies of Jonah's people, and Jonah believed that 
if they repented God would spare them. 

The story of the fish is not unlikely, because men have been known to 
live more than twenty-four hours in the belly of a fish. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Ordering of the prophet to Nineveh. 
3 His flight to Tarshish. 

4-14 The storm. 
15-2-10 Story of the fish. Jonah's prayer and deliverance. 
Chapter 3. 

1, 2 Second order of Jonah to Nineveh. 

3-9 Eepentance of the Ninevites. 
10 God's change of purpose. 
Chapter 4. 

1-3 Jonah's complaint. 

4-11 God's reproof by the gourd. 



LESSON" NOTES. 

Cli. 1:1, 2. — Nineveh was a city of Assyria. It flourished about the 
sixth century B. C. The prophecies of Jonah were from 860 to 825 B. C. 
This is the first instance on record in which a Hebrew prophet was sent 
to a heathen city. Nineveh was nearly two hundred and fifty miles north 
of Bab}don, situated on the Tigris Eiver. It was a city of six hundred 
thousand people. This city was originally built by Nimrod, Gen. 10:11. 
There were two reasons why Jonah was sent to Nineveh : First, for the 
saving of the city ; second, to shame Israel, who would not repent though 
preached to by a multitude, by showing that those strangers would repent 
at the first preaching of the prophet. 

3. — Jonah did not want to go, for he believed the people would repent 
and be spared, and as the Ninevites were old enemies of Israel he wanted 
to see them destroyed. So he took passage on a ship going in the opposite 
direction. Tarshish was in Spain, more than three thousand miles away. 



JONAH. 723 

Jonah paid his fare and took passage that he might get entirely out of the 
way, and not be forced to declare the message to Nineveh. The expression, 
"From the presence of the Lord," means away from the place where God 
manifested himself to his people. Some think that another reason why 
Jonah ran away was his fear of being called a false prophet when he 
preached to Nineveh and his words did not come true. 

4-14. — But Jonah was running away from one from whom he could 
not escape. When the storm came every soldier cried to his idol for safety. 
Jonah was asleep, and they wakened him that he might call upon his 
God. They knew that he was running away from his duty (verse 10), 
and they wanted to know what he would say of the storm. Jonah told 
them what to do, and was so frank about it that they tried their utmost 
to keep from casting him into the se^a. 

15-2-10. — The men did as Jonah bid them, and after he was cast into 
the sea the storm ceased, and the men became exceedingly afraid of the 
God of Jonah, and so made offerings to him. The fish here mentioned 
was not a whale (the throat of which is too small to admit the passage 
of a man), but was a shark or dogfish. Other instances are on record in 
which a man has lived two or three days in the stomach of a fish. It is 
not impossible nor improbable, but it was as much of a miraculous inter- 
ference in this case as if such a thing had never happened, because Jonah 
was spared of God for a special purpose. Taking into consideration the 
place which Jonah at this time occupied, the prayer he voiced is well 
worthy of study. The word here rendered "hell" is "sheol," which meant 
"the place of departed spirits," and Jonah's thought was that in that 
place he was as good as dead. The language, however, indicates his faith 
that he would be delivered, and so we have verse 10. 

Ch. 3 :1, 2. — It is not known upon what land Jonah was thrown, but 
it was probably somewhere on the coast of Palestine. Now when he is 
ordered a second time to go to Nineveh he goes promptly, and goes with 
the intention of carrying out the orders. 

3-9. — When he had come well into the city he began to cry out his 
message. Instantly all, even the king on his throne, gave unmistakable 
evidence of repentance. 

10. — The result was that the purpose to overthrow them was set aside, 
because their overthrow was to be the result of their manner of life, but 
they were promised mercy on condition of putting away their evil doings. 

Ch. 4 :l-3. — But Jonah was not pleased. He had hoped that Nineveh 
would be overthrown, hence his complaint, and the context shows that he 
was exceedingly angry. He says in sustance, I knew you would be 



724 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

merciful, and therefore I did not want to come to Nineveh. He ended 
by saying that he wished to die. 

4-11. — The means which God takes to rebuke him was that of a gourd. 
The prophet sits down just outside of the city under a booth which he 
had made in order that he might watch events. While he waited a gourd 
sprang up and grew rapidly over his booth, so protecting him from the 
sun. When this vine was smitten by a worm it died, and Jonah was so 
overcome by the heat that again he said it was better for him to die. The 
Lord now shows Jonah how greatly he was concerned for a gourd, but how 
little he cared for the life and welfare of half a million people. 



MICAH. 



INTRODUCTION". 



Micah is the sixth of the minor prophets. He was a native of Judah, 
on the borders of the Philistine country west of Jerusalem. He prophe- 
sied between 757 and 699 B. C. So he lived at the same time as Isaiah, 
Hosea and Nahum. 

This prophecy was against both Judea and Israel, telling of the cap- 
tivity of both. He tells of the coming and reign of the Messiah. 

At the time these prophecies were uttered, more than seven hundred 
years remained before the coming of the promised Messiah. Had the 
people listened to the voice of the prophets the whole current of Israel's 
history would have been changed. The northern kingdom would not 
have been carried into captivity, and the kingdom of Judah would have 
had no such an example to lead them away from their national standing 
with God. At the time the prophets were little heeded, but experience 
taught that their sayings regarding the future were entirely correct. It 
must be remembered that all this time there were many false prophets 
who taught that the prophets we are now studying were false. This 
accounts for the final overthrow of both nations. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1 Introduction. 
2-4 God's threat against his people. 
5 The reason. 
6-16 A picture of the punishmnet. 



MICAH. 725 

Chapter 2. 

1-11 Specification of their evils and the punishment. 
12, 13 A promise of restoration. 
Chapter 3. 

1-12 Reproof of the princes, prophets and priests. 
Chapter 4. 

1-8 The establishment of Christ's kingdom. Its character. 

9-5-1 Its consolation to the faithful. 

2-15 The appearance and influence of the Messiah. 
Chapter 6. 

1-8 God's former deliverance of his people. 

9-16 His appeal to their sense of justice. 
Chapter 7. 

1-6 A picture of the iniquity of the land. 

7-13 The prophet's hope in God. 
14-20 His prayer. 

LESSON" NOTES. 

Ch. 1. — It will be seen from verse 1 that Micah was a contemporary of 
Isaiah, and so lived in the days when both of the Hebrew kingdoms were 
flourishing. Their downfall never would have come had they listened to 
Isaiah and Micah and profited by their advice. The prophets of these 
days gave messages concerning both kingdoms, because they recognized no 
division of the Hebrew nation in God's plans and purposes concerning his 
people. 

The threat of verses 2-4 is a notification to all nations that God will 
utterly overthrow his specially chosen nation and cause it to disappear 
from among the powers of the earth if they persist in their evil ways. No 
mercy will be shown, them unless they repent. History shows that God 
did actually perform the threat here contained before the people learned 
to listen to the warnings and heeded them. As verses 3 and 4 indicate, 
political conditions seemingly as stable as the hills were made to dissolve 
like wax under the hand of an offended God. It should be remembered 
also that these transformations took place through human agency, by 
what the world calls natural causes. Nevertheless, as these prophecies 
assert, they were none the less divine visitation. 

5. — The cause of these troubles soon to come upon Israel is stated in 
verse 5. The word "sin" answers all. Samaria, the capital of the 
northern kingdom, was the seat of the idolatrous worship of the calves. 
Jerusalem, the capital" of the southern kingdom, while professing to 



726 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

remain faithful to the worship of the true God, had nevertheless so far 
imitated Israel as to have made their allegiance to God a mere pretense, 
and was a sepulcher full of dead men's bones. Hence the names of those 
two cities were synonyms for the sins of the two nations. 

6-16. — So follows the picture of the punishment. Samaria shall be 
overthrown to her foundation. Idolatry was termed spiritual harlotry, 
and seeing that for a time they had prospered in their iniquity, their 
prosperity was now soon to turn and flee away because of that very 
iniquity by which they thought themselves to be flourishing. The prophet 
represents himself as wailing on account of those conditions which he 
here describes, expressing his conviction that the wounds are incurable 
except by the calamities which he here deplores. Moreover, he declares, 
the malady had taken hold on the kingdom of Judah. So he says, Tell it 
not in "Gath," the headquarters of the old Philistine enemies of Judea, 
lest they exult at your calamities. Shapher was a village in Judea famed 
for beauty. He says, It shall go into captivity. Zaanan was a strongly 
fortified city, but verse 11 intimates that it shall be shut up in siege, and 
that the fall of Beth-ezel near by shall cause their courage to fail. Verse 
12 indicates that evil shall come upon the whole land so that cities shall 
wait in vain for help. Lachish was the first city of Judah to introduce 
the false worship of the northern kingdom, and this city was made the 
headquarters of Sennacherib when he came against Judah. Hence he 
says, Get your swiftest steeds that you may flee in haste. Some authorities 
contend that the fourteenth verse should be rendered, "Thou shalt give 
a writing of renunciation to Moresheth-gath," meaning that they should 
have to renounce all claims to that city, which had fallen under the 
Philistine power. The meaning of verse 15 probably is that the leaders 
of the Hebrew nation shall be forced to seek refuge in caves, as David had 
once done. In view of such calamity, he says, Give expression to your 
grief because of these fearful disasters. 

Ch. 2 :1-11. — Having this picture of the punishment, he goes somewhat 
into details as to the evils for which the punishment is about to be sent. 
He shows how they study mischief even when they should be asleep, and 
how diligently they execute their dark plans. Because of the facts of 
verse 2 is God's determination as expressed in verse 3. How bitter God's 
punishment shall be is indicated by the doleful lament here prophesied 
(verse 4). The casting of a line by lot refers to the custom of measuring 
off possessions in Canaan under the direction of the proper authorities. 
Verse 6 might be read, "Prophesy not, they (the people) say (to the 
prophets), You shall not prophesy of such things. You never cease to 



MICAH. 727 

insult us." Such is the language of evil men to this very day, whenever 
their ill doings are denounced. The question of verse 7 is meant to call 
attention to the fact that the evils coming upon them are not the result 
of God being impatient, but that the people have become robbers, and 
treat innocent passers-by as if they were war captives. Neither sex nor 
age is spared. Hence (verse 10) they should be themselves thus treated 
and cast out of the land of Canaan — all because of their sin. Verse 11 
says, "The man who walks in a spirit of falsehood and makes lying 
prophecies is the prophet who suits the people best." 

Verses 12 and 13 are a silver lining to the dark cloud. It is a 
remarkable fact that all the prophets were united in the faith that after 
bringing the people to their senses by these judgments, God would show 
his power in rescuing them from their enemies and returning them to 
Canaan. And history shows that their faith was well founded, for Israel 
was returned to Canaan. Bozrah was the richest of pasture land. He 
declares that they shall increase in numbers until they have become a 
mighty flock. The breaker refers no doubt to the one whose warlike 
deeds would make it possible for Israel to return to Canaan (Cyrus for 
instance), and the prophet recognized that at the head of all the move- 
ment was the God of Jacob. 

Ch. 3 :1-12. — The prophet here shows his fidelity and courage by taking 
vigorously to task those who most deserved censure. He states their evils, 
and then says (verse 4) the time will come when these same rulers will 
cr}' for mercy and will not be able to find it. The prophets who cry peace 
when there is no peace shall see the day when darkness shall cover them 
with frightful shadows, and the priests who teach simply for hire and 
declare that no evil is near, all these shall be the cause of the utter 
destruction of Jerusalem. 

Ch. 4:1-8. — At this stage of his denunciations the prophet interjects 
a beautiful picture of the ultimate outcome of all this discipline. The 
people shall return from captivity cured of their idolatry, and the house 
of their God should become a center of interest to all the nations. From 
Jerusalem should go out the influence which should so transform the 
nation that instead of making a business of war, they should make a 
business of the peaceful pursuits of daily life. History has fully verified 
these predictions. Christianity has become the dominant power of the 
earth, and the strongest nations have been molded by it. The transfor- 
mation is still going on, and shall continue until the picture of these eight 
verses is completed and all nations are gathered into one, and are subject 
to the teaching of the God of Jacob. The prestige which Israel had 



728 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

among the nations in the days of David and Solomon was only a hint of 
the prestige of Christianity over all the earth. But this picture would 
have been realized much sooner had this chosen people have gladly 
received and properly treated the Messiah when he came. The thought 
of verses 6 and 7 is that this kingdom shall so transform the nations of 
the earth that those who were of little importance shall become mighty 
under the molding influence of the Messiah's kingdom. 

9-5-1. — Seeing that these things shall be, the prophet finds in it a great 
consolation for those who are earnestly desiring the coming in of the 
kingdom of righteousness. They need not act as if God had forsaken 
them. They shall go into captivity, but God will watch over and return 
them to Zion and give them power over the nations who exult over them 
and desire their destruction. But before these things come to pass 
(chapter 5 :1) the enemies of Israel should take her, smiting her ruler (an 
act of the greatest indignity) . 

2-15. — The means by which the above picture should be realized is set 
forth in the theme "Appearance and Influence of the Messiah." From 
Bethlehem, a most humble village of Judea, was to come the Christ. 
This was the village where Bachel was buried, who died at the birth of 
Benjamin. Since Jesus was born there Bethlehem has become the 
center of interest to all nations. Yerse 3 means no doubt that God will 
deliver this sin-cursed nation into captivity until the people have learned 
the lesson of obedience to God, after which she shall be prepared to 
gather together again the faithful and inaugurate a condition which 
will make the nation ready to bring forth and herald to all nations the 
Savior Christ Jesus. Yerse 4 is a statement of how his kingdom shall 
increase. At the time of this prophecy Assyria was the greatest foe 
which Israel had ; hence Assyria stood as a synonym for all foes of God's 
people, and it is here declared that when any foe shall attack God's people 
that seven leaders (i. e., a complete number) and even more shall rise 
to destroy their power. So (verse 7) the small band of Jacob's posterity, 
which was only a remnant, shall become so great that it will be a terror 
to God's foes. Paul teaches in Bomans that all believers in Christ belong 
to this company of Israel. As indicated in verses 10-15, the coming of 
this kingdom means less trust in human agency and more in God. The 
Hebrew nation when it came to Canaan was forbidden to have horses lest 
they should become like the Egyptians and should try to rival them in 
the art of war. That would be the surest way to draw them into alliance 
with neighboring nations and mix them with idolaters. Solomon's 
violation of this rule was one of the things which drew him into idolatry. 



MICAH. 729 

As the knowledge of the Lord advances all the abominations mentioned in 
these verses disappears before it. 

Ch. 6:1-8. — It will be noticed that the first three topics of this lesson 
have discussed the final glory of Christ's kingdom. Now Micah discusses 
the justice of God's demands. He reminds the people that God brought 
them out of bondage in Egypt, guarded and supplied them on the way to 
Canaan, and gave them the land promised, and now, he declares, this 
God demands of you not burnt offerings, but justice and mercy. Thus 
he teaches them that they have no reason to be now turning their backs 
upon God, since he has shown them nothing but kindness. 

9-16. — The specifications made in his appeal to them show some of the 
things which force God to take a stand against them. They cheat and 
oppress, and because they will not be rebuked for their violence God will 
make 'them to suffer want and be humbled by the sword of the conqueror. 
Their land and crops should be given into the hands of their enemies 
because the people were following the example of the wicked Kings Omri 
and Ahab, whose very names were synonyms for high-handed outrage 
against God's commands. 

Ch. 7:1-6. — The picture which the prophet here gives represents him- 
self as lonesome for the companionship with a godly man. The whole 
land is filled with corruption and a premium is put upon violence. Xote 
the language of verse 4. Xo wonder the day of God's visitation was at 
hand when such a condition existed as that of verses 5 and 6. 

7-13. — In such a dark hour as that the prophet's only stay was his hope 
in God. So strong was his 'trust that he could use the language of verse 
8 when the enemy of God taunted him. He was willing to accept that 
national chastisement as a just visitation from God for the sins of the 
nation. He voices the thought in the first person for the entire just 
element of the nation. The feminine pronoun in verse 10 stands for the 
enemy of Israel. Verses 11 and 12 refer to the regathering and rebuilding 
of the walls by consent of Cyrus after the seventy years in Babylon. Even 
after the return for a long time the land was very sparsely populated. 

14-20. — Micah closed with a prayer. Bashan and Gilead were the best 
of pastures in the days of Israel's prosperity, and the prophet desires to 
see that prosperity return. He wants to see the sins of his people forgiven 
and God's hand displayed in their behalf as in the days of the Exodus, so 
that the fear of the Lord should fall upon all the people. The language 
of verses 18 and 19 is the language of one who had a personal knowledge 
of pardon. He tries to turn the thoughts of his people back to the 
promises of God to the fathers. 



NAHUM. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Elkosh was a village of Galilee, near Capernaum. This village is said 
to be the birthplace of Nahum, and Capernaum, which means "city of 
Nahum," is thought to have been so named from its having been the place 
of this prophet's residence. The time of this prophecy was probably from 
about 720 B. C. to 698 B: C, thus falling in the reign of Hezekiah, king 
of Judah, and being just after the destruction of the northern kingdom — 
Israel. He would therefore be a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah. It 
was now about one hundred and fifty years since Jonah had been sent 
to Nineveh, and though at this time it had been spared because of its 
repentance, yet the people had relapsed again into their old ways and 
Nahum here announces its final doom. Both Isaiah and Micah were 
showing that although God was visiting wrath upon his people for their 
sins, yet he would finally show mercy and re-establish them in their 
place, and Nahum emphasizes the point that God, who has sent calamity 
on his people, will also send calamity on these Assyrian enemies of God's 
people. This prophecy was made about one hundred years before the 
destruction of Nineveh. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-8 Attributes and works of God. 
9-15 Judgment on his enemies. 
Chapter 2. 
1-3-19 Ruin of Nineveh. 

1-6 Might of her enemies. 
7-13 Her desolation described. 
Chapter 3. 

1-4 Its cause. 
5-7 Her reproach. 
8-10 A precedent. 
11-19 Certainty of her judgment. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1-8. — The expression "Burden of Nineveh" is another way of 
eaying, "An oracle concerning Nineveh." (See margin of your Bible.) 



NAHUM. 731 

The prophet begins by showing the character of God. The word "jealous" 
is used in the second commandment. The thought is that God must have 
the exclusive rule in the heart of his creature. To give loyalty to any 
opponent of his is rank treason to him. If there come a rival to God's 
authority within his domains, God must of course bring his power to bear 
against it. The first clause of verse 3 suggests that God deals with men 
as free moral agents, giving them the right of choice, hence he bears long 
with their perversity; but on the other hand, he cannot let sin pass 
without visiting justice against it. As this and the three following verses 
indicate, his power to do this is unlimited. But he is good, and careful 
for his people when any trouble arises to them, and will utterly overwhelm 
their enemies. The attributes of this theme may be "summed up thus : 
Jealousy, long suffering, righteous wrath, justice, omnipotence, goodness. 

9-15. — The above attributes are named by the prophet in order to lead 
up to the second theme. Seeing that God is just as well as generous, the 
force which he will bring to bear against the evil here mentioned will be 
overwhelming, and there will be nothing left to make further trouble or 
necessitate a second visitation. Though they seem to be as difficult to 
penetrate as a mass of tangled thorns, and though they be crazed and 
furious from drink, yet they shall be utterly destroyed. This is true of 
all enemies of God, but the prophet no doubt has Nineveh in his thought 
when he utters it. Verse 11 probably refers to Sennacherib, who in these 
days made an attempt against Judah which was a frightful failure. ( See 
II Kings 19.) The latter part of verse 12 might be read as the margin 
gives it, "I will so afflict thee that I will afflict thee no more ;" that is, God 
would have no further need to afflict Assyria, having fully completed their 
punishment in the great stroke which he was about to visit on them. Or 
the language may be an assurance to Israel that out of their afflictions 
shall come deliverance to them. Verse 14 is addressed to Nineveh, while 
verse 15 is a declaration that Judah should be delivered and be free to 
continue in her religious duties. 

Ch. 2:1-6. — The remaining two chapters are devoted specifically to 
Nineveh. The first six verses relate to the might of the enemies who 
shall come against Assyria, relating no doubt to Cyaxares and Ndtoopolas- 
sar, whose Medo-Babylonian army destroyed Nineveh. The injunction 
of verse 1 is e(}uivalent to saying, "Do your best," and then you will fall 
under the power of your adversary, because (verse 2) God intends to 
care for his people who have been despoiled and oppressed by their 
enemies. Verses 3 and 4 describe the appearance of the enemies of 
Nineveh in their operations against her. "He" in verse 5 refers to the 



732 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

king of Nineveh in his effort to defend the city, but, as verse 6 shows, he 
fails. The mantelet refers to the covering machine used by besiegers to 
protect themselves in advancing to the wall. 

7-13. — Huzzab was said to be the name of the queen of Nineveh. The 
meaning of verse 8 is, that though from its earliest history Nineveh has 
been surrounded and protected by water, yet her defenders shall flee out 
of her, totally ignoring the command to stand in their places and defend 
the city. The remaining verses show her sorry condition after her enemies 
have sacked her. Verses 11 and 12 refer to the warriors, who regarded 
and represented themselves as lions in braver}^, but, as verse 13 declares, 
the power of Nineveh was to be utterly broken. 

Ch. 3 :l-4. — The cause of the desolation here foretold is stated in verse 
1. , Verses 2 and 3 describe the enemy as coming upon Nineveh and 
stumbling over the dead bodies of Nineveh's mighty men, and all because 
of the evils mentioned in verse 4. 

5-7. — The language of verse 5 relates to a custom expressing the 
greatest possible indignity, that of throwing the skirts of a lewd woman 
upon her face and so exposing her in a way to cause shame. Verse 6 
refers to a similar insult — that of throwing vile refuse upon an individual. 
Even those who had formerly professed to be her friends should now 
turn their backs upon her, and there should be none left to speak to her 
a word of sympathy. 

8-10. — No-amon was Thebes, in upper Egypt, situated among the 
canals into which the river Nile was divided. J. F. B. says of it, "Thebes 
lay on both sides of the river. It was famed in Homer's time for its 
hundred gates. Its ruins still describe a circuit of twenty-seven miles. 
Of them the temples of Luxor and Karnak, east of the river, are most 
famous. The colonnade of the former and the grand hall of the latter 
are of stupendous dimensions. One wall still represents the expedition 
of Shishak against Jerusalem under Eehoboam (I Kings 14). The Nile 
was called the sea from its appearance in time of the annual flood. The 
conquest of this city was made by the Assyrian, Sargon, who performed 
the atrocities mentioned in verse 10. 

11-19. — The first clause of verse 11 may refer either to the fact that 
the curse of drunkenness prevailed in Nineveh, or that the city would be 
so confused by the appearance of the enemy as to act like drunken men. 
The thought of verse 12 is that the strongholds would fall like ripe fruit. 
That of verse 13 is that the warriors were as useless for fighting as women, 
and so verse 14 is spoken in derision of their ability to protect themselves. 
Though they call out all their forces and swarm like the destroying pests, 



HABAKKUK. 733 

yet the sword should devour them as the insects devour vegetation. The 
prophet likens the hordes of iissyria to swarms of insects, most likely 
because their chief characteristic was their selfish greed. But, he says, 
as the insects are swept away in a day, so shall be these Assyrian forces 
of Nineveh. This city was the capital of the Assyrian empire. The 
meaning of verse 18 is that the leaders of Assyria were overconfident in 
their supposed security, and so their carelessness should prove their ruin. 



HABAKKUK. 



INTRODUCTION-. 



Some authorities represent Habakkuk as belonging to the tribe of Levi, 
and others think he belonged to the tribe of Simeon. He prophesied 
between 610 and 590 B. C. for about fourteen years. It appears that at 
the time the Chaldeans were about coming against Judah, and so the 
prophet first foretells how his people shall suffer at their hands and then 
how that God will afterward visit the iniquity of the Chaldeans upon 
them. These dates would put his prophecy in the reign of Jehoiakim 
and his successors, and it is believed that he lived to the destruction of 
Jerusalem in 588 B. C. He lived more than a hundred years after 
Nahum, and as Xahum foretold the punishment of the northern kingdom, 
Israel, by Assyria, and the punishment which God would send upon 
Assyria for their cruelty to Israel, so Habakkuk here foretells the evil 
which shall come upon Babylon for its similar treatment of the southern 
kingdom, Judah. It was about this time that the prophet was seeing 
the actual destruction of Nineveh, which Xahum had foretold one 
hundred years before. This fact of history furnished him good grounds 
for his faith that God would do similarly with the conquerors of Judah. 
At the time of this prophecy, though the warriors of Babylon were 
probably on the way to Judea, still it would not have been too late to 
have averted the national calamity had the people turned repentant to 
God. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-4 The prophet's complaint of violence. 
5-11 God's purpose of vengeance by the Chaldeans. 
12-17 The prophet's complaint of the Chaldeans. 



734 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 2. 
1-20 God's answer. Judgment on the Chaldeans. 

Chapter 3. 
1-19 Prayer of the prophet. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-4. — The cry of verse 2 seems to be the wail of a being who has 
become nauseated with the sights and sounds of this world of sin. It 
looked to him as if error was on the throne and truth in the dungeon; 
that law was not regarded, and evil men ruled the land. Such was a 
picture of the chosen family of God's people in that dark day of the 
nation's history. The very sight of this family which Moses had brought 
from Egypt was one continual reminder of violence and human perversity 
and ingratitude. Continual contact with it filled the heart of a righteous 
man with sickness and discouragement. 

5-11. — But in verse 5 there broke upon the vision of this man of God 
a new light. The reference here is to the Chaldeans, whose capital was 
Babylon, but the declaration is that God was guiding that people to work 
out his will. The description here given of their bitterness, haste, terror 
and dignity, their determination, and contempt for strong opposition, 
makes a striking picture of Babylonian character. The heaping of dust 
refers no doubt to the casting up of earth mounds, by which they 
overcame cities. Verse 11 shows that their conquests were not made 
because they cared for right, but because they had might. 

12-17. — The complaint of the prophet after that revelation was a very 
natural one. He appeals to the character of God as shown by past 
mercies to assure himself that God does not mean to let these conquerors 
utterly destroy the chosen family. He declares they are simply to correct, 
the Hebrews for their sins. He asks how God, who cannot endure evil 
(as shown by his correction of his people), can endure the evil of the 
Chaldeans, and allow them to swallow up the Hebrews when they, bad 
as they were, were yet better than the Babylonians. The language of 
verses 15 and 16 is a comparison of the might and success of this people 
'to a fisherman taking fishes in a drag or net, and that just as such fisher- 
man in his ignorance worships his fishing tools, so will these Babylonians 
accord no praise to God, but worship their own might. Hence the prophet 
pleads (verse 17) that God will make this nation cease to overwhelm the 
other nations. 



HAJBAKKUK. 735 

Ch. 2 :l-20. — The answer of God in chapter 2 is the answer which God 
gives to all who are impatent with the unequal conditions of this life of 
probation. God does permit evil to exist, and permits it to punish his 
people for their sins, hut if the visitation upon God's disobedient children 
from sin is to be dreaded, much more is to be dreaded the punishment that 
shall fall upon unrepentant evil-doers, even though God overrule and use 
some of their evil doings for the good of his people. Hence God assures 
Habakkuk (verses 2 and 3), You may proclaim boldly that judgment is 
sure to come upon these Chaldeans, and come because (verse 4) of their 
pride. This verse expresses the difference between the egotistical self- 
assertion of the evil man and the quiet, trustful attitude of the man of 
faith. Verse 5 begins to show some of the reasons why the evils men- 
tioned should come upon them. This people were strongly given to wine, 
that messenger of hell which is never satisfied with its work of destruc- 
tion. Their pride, their dishonesty, their wine, were sure forerunners 
of destruction, and should cry against them for vengeance. The violence 
which they had shown to others should be visited upon them. The woes 
mentioned in the remainder of the chapter were to come upon the 
Chaldeans because they were guilty of all these evils here mentioned. 
Yerses 9-11 relate to the evil man who fattens himself at the expense of 
those whom he wrongs. As shown in verses 12-14, it is no excuse for 
wrong doing that the public derive a revenue from it. The cry of those 
who are oppressed by such wrong doing rises to heaven, and God will 
demonstrate that he has better purposes for his creatures than to have 
their labor thus turned to profitless toil. God's ideal and determination 
is expressed in verse 14. The curse of God upon the drunkard maker is 
stated in verses 15-17. Seeing that they gloried in their shame, the 
foulest of shame was to come upon them, and the violence which they 
had done to the Hebrew nation should be returned to them with interest. 
Hence he says, Woe to them that trust in idols and try to make dead stone 
and cold images their protection. Meanwhile God is in his place, and in 
due time the earth will have to acknowledge him. 

Ch. 3 :1-19. — It is probable that Habakkuk's original prophecy on this 
subject ended at this point, but sometime in his history he wrote this 
psalm to be set to music. In it he prays God to be merciful to his people, 
and revive his work in their midst. He calls attention to the former 
display of God's power in behalf of his people. The thought of verse 18 
is that God's dividing of the rivers and the sea was not displeasure with 
them, but for the purpose of the salvation of his people. And so because 
of such divine interference in behalf of God's people the prophet says of 



736 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the evil now to come upon his people (verses 14-19), As thou didst pierce 
the head of the enemy with his own weapons and displayed thy majesty 
(verse 15) (at which display fright took possession of me), I am inspired 
by that history to have faith in thee now, and though all the evils of verse 
17 come against us, yet I will rejoice by faith (verses 18 and 19), 



ZE PHANI AH. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Zephaniah was of the royal line. He prophesied in the early reign of 
Josiah, as shown by the fact that he thundered against the very national 
sins which Josiah later put down. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah 
and Habakkuk and Huldah. When these four began to prophesy it was 
perhaps sixty years since there had been heard the voice of any prophets 
in Judea. The northern kingdom had long before gone into captivity, 
and after the death of Isaiah, Manasseh began his wicked reign, during 
all of which there were no prophets, and the evil influence of this king 
had in the fifty years of its continuance brought the nation to the brink 
of moral and physical ruin. The nation of Judah would have gone into 
captivity much sooner than they did had not there arisen a just king 
like Josiah and a number of prophets to resist the tide of iniquity. Had 
the reforms which were begun at this time been continued the decree 
would have been reversed and the nation saved. But the successors of 
Josiah were evil kings, and the prophet, foreseeing what was coming, 
foretells the punishment of Judah and then God's judgment on the 
surrounding nations, and looking still farther beyond tells of the restora- 
tion of the chosen people. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-18 Vengeance against Judah for idolatry. 
Chapter 2. 

1-15 Judgment on the surrounding nations. 
Chapter 3. 

1-7 Eebuke of Jerusalem. 

8-20 Final restoration and happiness of God's chosen people. 

LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1-18. — The northern kingdom had gone into captivity about 
ninety years before this time. Amon, the father of Josiah, had been a 



ZEPHANIAH. 737 

very wicked king, as had been his father, Manasseh, and the people had 
been fully turned .into the ways of idolatry, so that Judah was fast 
following the lead of the northern kingdom, Israel. For this cause God 
was about to turn upon them the engines of his wrath. Verses 2-6 
indicate that the only way God saw to bring this chosen people to its 
senses was to destroy the people and their substance and their idols. 
Josiah had been making a strong effort to put down idolatry, but the 
people clung to it, and he was not able to stamp it out utterly, hence God's 
threat of vengeance against them. Baal was the idol god of Phenicia, of 
which country Tyre and Sidon were the chief cities, and of which race old 
Jezebel, wife of Ahab, came. Chemarims were the child priests of the 
idols, said to have been dressed in black. The expression "hosts of 
heaven" refers no doubt to the imaginary deities with which idolaters 
people the skies. Malcham means "the king." In idolatrous nations 
the king was the .head of the state church, and so in a measure was 
worshiped. This chosen people had sworn fealty to the Lord, but were 
showing their falsity by swearing by the king, who stood to them as a 
leader in idolatry. Josiah refused, but the people clung to the idea, and 
expected some day to have idolatry re-established by the king. The 
sacrifice of verse 7 refers to the fact that God is about to visit the 
iniquities of Judah on her by the Chaldeans, whom he has "set apart" 
for that purpose. They are here called guests. Verse 8 was fulfilled in 
the treatment given to the sons of Josiah. The natural explanation of 
verse 9 is that the servants of the rulers entered violently into houses and 
robbed the inmates. History says that it was through the fish gate that 
Nebuchadnezzar entered. The gate was so named from its having the fish 
market situated near it. Jerome says that Maktesh, or "the mortar," 
was a name applied to the valley of Siloam from its hollow shape. "It 
was between Zion and Olivet at the east extremity of Mount Moriah, 
where the merchants dwelt." (J. F. B.) It is thought that the expres- 
sion "all the people of Canaan" was applied in irony to the Jews, 
expressive of their greed. Verse 12 shows how thoroughly Jerusalem 
was to be sacked. The latter part of the verse uses the figure of wine that 
has stood until it has settled a crust at the bottom. The ease into which 
the people had come had hardened them into a false security. That false 
security had called out the fearful outcome described in the remaining 
verses of the chapter, this picture of the frightful devastation of the land 
by Nebuchadnezzar, which was soon to come. 

Ch. 2:1-15. — But there was another side to this sorry story. The 
chosen family was to be scourged for its falsity to God, but the nations 



738 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

around them which had all along been enemies of God were to be visited 
still more terribly. Warning is given to them that they may have 
opportunity of repentance. It is a matter of history that the Philistines, 
Canaanites, Tyrians, Moabites, Ammonites and Assyrians were all 
destroyed by the Babylonians. Thus the land out of which the Hebrews 
had failed to destroy them was eventually cleared by these Chaldean 
forces for the faithful remnant of Hebrews who were returned from 
the twelve tribes after the captivity in Babylon. They were never again 
molested by these foes after that, nor reduced by them into their idolatry. 
Verse 15 indicates that the people of Nineveh would not believe that 
they were in any danger, so great and strong was the city. Brown says, 
"Nothing then seemed more improbable than that the capital of so vast 
an empire, a city sixty miles in compass, with walls one hundred feet 
high and so thick that three chariots could go abreast on them, and with 
fifteen hundred towers, should be so totally destroyed that its site is with 
difficulty' discovered. Yet so it is as the prophet foretold." It was in 
view of this fact that the prophet here warns of judgment on the sur- 
rounding nations. 

Ch. 3 :l-7. — Now he turns again to Jerusalem, the offending city, 
because she is the leader in the wickedness which is carrying Judea to its 
ruin. Zephaniah here paints a picture of their aggressive evil deeds, 
showing her disobedience to God, the violence of her rulers, the treachery 
of her people and the profanity of her priests. God had given them 
many examples of his care for them and his punishment of God's enemies, 
but in the face of all these things they had persisted in their evil Ways. 

8-20. — But to the faithful among the people he gives assurance that 
in the fury which God shall pour out on the nations he shall prepare the 
way for the recall of the chosen family as a people of clean lips who shall 
serve him from choice. Verses 10 and 11 prophesy the return of the 
Hebrews from captivity, but the following verses declare that the haughty 
sinners who are at this time the leaders in sin shall be removed, and that 
the class who compose this better nation shall be the humbler class. The 
language of verse 13 is expressive of the general condition. This was 
exactly true of the Jewish nation after the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. 
But it is sad to record that even after such experience that people, while 
the captivity did cure them of idolatry, had become so proud and self- 
righteous that they were unwilling to receive the truth, and were even 
willing to crucify the long promised Messiah in v their effort to secure their 
own prestige. The picture of verses 15-20 was meant to intensify in 
brightness the coming of the Messiah, and would have, done so had 



HAGGAI. 739 

the leaders kept their faith and humility. Because they did not God 
changed his plan, and while the spirit of these words was carried out, 
God did it by calling a spiritual Israel out of all the nations, the children 
of faith who took the place of the faithless and unbelieving sons of 
Jacob in God's economy, and made the Christian church the "seed of 
Abraham according to the promise." Hence this language applies first 
to the return of the Jews from Babylon, and after that to the believing 
ones not only among the Jews, but among all nations. 



HAGGAI 



INTRODUCTION. 



Haggai was born sometime in the Babylonian exile. It is not certain 
to which tribe he belonged, but his name, Haggai (my feast), indicates 
that there was among the Jews at the time of his birth a joyful antici- 
pation of the return from captivity. He probably came back with 
Zerubbabcl and Joshua (high priest), 536 B. C. King Cyrus, as prophecy 
had foretold, allowed the Jews to return from captivity and rebuild the 
temple and Jerusalem, and he furnished the material, but while the 
work was going on he died, and his successor, Cambyses (Ahasuerus in 
Ezra 4), also allowed the work to continue. But he ^ied also while the 
work was in progress, and later Smerdis stopped the work by an order 
which was inspired by the jealous Samaritans, who were angry because 
they were not allowed to assist in rebuilding the temple. Darius, in 
521 B. C, gave an order allowing them to begin their work again, but 
meanwhile they became absorbed in building mansions for themselves 
and did not take interest in the temple building. So the Lord raised 
up Haggai and Zechariah in 520 B. C, sixteen years after the return 
under Zerubbabel, to rouse the people to the work of completing the 
temple, which work had been suspended for fourteen years. The efforts 
of the Samaritans to stop the work again under Darius only resulted in 
a fresh decree allowing the work to proceed, ordering the surrounding 
nations to supply them with whatever material they desired to finish the 
work. But the people were pretending that there were yet two years of 
the seventy before the temple was to be built, hence they were slow about 
beginning to work. 



740 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-11 Keproof for neglect to rebuild the temple. Eesult of neglect. 
12-15 Outcome of this reproof. 

Chapter 2. 

1-9 Glory of the new temple. 
10-19 The promise of divine favor after obedience. 
20-22 Euin of earthly kingdoms. 

23 God's care for his own. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :1-11. — The dates mentioned in these chapters show that the four 
parts of it were given in the space of about three months. Just what is 
meant by those who assign two years as the period covered by Haggai 
is not clear unless they suppose him to have lived and encouraged the 
work for that length of time after this event, Zerubbabel was the prince 
spoken of by Daniel who under the order of Cyrus led a vast company 
of exile Jews from Babylon, and Joshua was the descendant of Aaron 
who at that time was high priest. When the people were urged to the 
work of temple building they pleaded as excuse that it was "not time" 
to build God's house, and the prophet here hurls back their own words, Is 
it "time for you to live in ceiled houses ?" Now, he continues, take notice 
of your experience as to food and clothing and wages and produce of the 
land, and you will see that despite all you do you are not receiving a 
sufficiency. The reason is that you are refusing to do your duty regarding 
the house of God, and so the Lord is withholding from you the blessings 
of heaven and the increase of the field. This paragraph shows how easy 
it is for people who are spiritually lazy to reason themselves into a wrong 
position toward God and wrong his cause. Under such circumstances it 
sometimes happens that God visits upon them his displeasure and with- 
holds from them his providences. There is no economy in keeping back 
what is due to God in order to serve one's own pleasures. Though such a 
one may have every appearance of much, it shall all come to little. 

12-15. — The effect of this reproof at the hands of the prophet was 
almost instantaneous. The civil and religious leaders of the people began 
at once to carry out the suggestion, and in twenty-four days had the work 
in motion. As soon as the people showed the disposition to obey the 
Lord immediately sent them notice of his pleasure with their purpose. 

Ch. 2:1-9. — About thirty days later, after the work had been cleverly 



HAGGAI. 741 

started, the people would naturally begin to compare the new temple 
with the magnificent one built by Solomon, which had been destroyed 
by Nebuchadnezzar. So God sent a message by Haggai to the prince and 
the high priest and the people telling them to be of good cheer, for the 
God of heaven who brought them out of Egypt is with them, and in his 
own good time will make the nations of the earth and all their riches 
contribute to make his house glorious. This was notably true when 
Rome, mispress of the world, built Herod's magnificent temple. It was 
literally true that the latter glory of the house of God at Jerusalem was 
to be greater than the former, because it was to be the place of the 
appearance of the Messiah and the point from which the Gospel of the 
Son of God was to be preached to all nations. From that place went out 
the doctrine of universal peace from the Prince of Peace, whose life and 
teachings have been for two thousand years shaping the final destinies 
of the nations. No doubt verses 6 and 7 would have been true in a 
material sense of Israel from this day forth had they been as true to God 
as they should have been after the return from captivity. Certainly the 
fact that they so lived as to be capable of treating Jesus as they did when 
he came was a reason why this people, instead of being more generally 
honored as here stated, were held in subjection to stronger nations until 
the cup of their iniquity was filled by their treatment of the Savior, since 
which for nearly two thousand years they have been scattered among 
the nations. 

10-19. — Two months after the second message came this lesson on 
God's promise of favor after obedience. The first phase of the case was 
that the mere contact of a holy person with outward things did not make 
those things holy. The second fact was that an unclean person made 
unclean what he touched. The lesson was that this people of Israel, 
though they outwardly came in contact with holy things, were not made 
holy by that contact, but on the other hand, being unclean by their 
persistent disregard of God's expressed will, they only .made unholy and 
unacceptable the religious ceremonies which they performed. Now, he 
continues,- remember that although heretofore you have been finding a 
shortage in all your increase of the field, though I brought disaster on 
you, yet now that you have turned to me and begin the work which I 
commanded, although there are as yet no signs of revival of better 
conditions, yet remember the promise that from this day forth you shall 
prosper. 

20-22. — This fourth and final message came on the same day as the 
last. It is an assurance to this people that God will show his power in 



742 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the overturning of earthly governments, and thus open the way for the 
freedom and security of his people. History is only a record of God's 
providences, and while men usually see in it only change of human 
prowess, here the prophet teaches that God makes it, in spite of human 
perversity, to work out his will. When he pleases he will turn evil 
against itself and make it self-destructive. 

23. — We know as a matter of history that the Jews did prosper under 
this Prince Zerubbabel, and it was fitting that he, standing for the head 
of that chosen and highly favored family which was to introduce the 
salvation of Christ to the human race, should be as a signet on God's 
hand. A signet was a ring with the king's private seal constantly worn 
by him, and the impress of which delegated great authority to another. 
So God delegated his authority to the Christ who embodied salvation, 
in the preparation for which Zerubbabel and his people were returned to 
Jerusalem. 



ZECHARIAH. 



INTRODUCTION. 

In 520 B. C, two months after Haggai began to prophesy, came this 
prophecy of Zechariah. This man was born in captivity at Babylon, and as 
his grandfather, Iddo, was one of the priests who returned with Zerub- 
babel and Joshua from Babylon, Zechariah must have been very young 
when he came from that city. It will be noticed then than he was a priest 
as well as a prophet (like Isaiah and Jeremiah). Like his contemporary 
Haggai, the object of the prophet Zechariah was to encourage the Jews 
to rebuild the temple after the work had been interrupted for fourteen 
years by the jealousy of the Samaritans. This he accomplishes by the 
giving of those visions showing how the Lord of hosts was interested in 
this nation and in Jerusalem, and how he would cause to prosper what 
was done in his name. The power of the enemies was to be broken, and 
the boundaries of the national life enlarged, the glory of Israel restored, 
and her light was to be made a perpetual brightness to lighten all the 
nations. The ungodly were to be visited with vengeance and idolatry 
banished ; providence was to be manifested in the nation, and the typical 
services were to give place to the real spiritual worship. To this end the 
religious instruction and the political changes which are noted from 
chapters 7 to 14 tend. Just how long his prophecies continued is 
uncertain. 



ZECHABIAH. 743 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-6 God's commission to Zechariah. 
7-6-8 The nine visions. 

7-17 First vision. Its meaning. 
18, 19 Second vision. Its meaning. 
20, 21 Third vision. Its meaning. 

Chapter 2. 

1-13 Fourth vision. Its meaning. 

Chapter 3. 

1-10 Fifth vision. Its meaning. 

Chapter 4. 

1-14 Sixth vision. Its meaning. 

Chapter 5. 

1-4 Seventh vision. Its meaning. 
5-11 Eighth vision. Its meaning. 

Chapter 6. 

1-8 Ninth vision. Its meaning. 
9-15 Crowning of the high priest. 

Chapter 7. 

1-8-23 Instruction about fasts. 
1-3 The inquiry. 
4-8-23 The prophet's discourse in answer. 
4-7 Hyprocisy of the people. 
8-14 Hypocrisy of their forefathers. 
Chapter 8. 

1-17 God's jealous care of Jerusalem. 
18-23 Reply concerning the days in question. 
Chapter 9. 

1-8 Prophecy against the nations. 
9-17 Encouragement to the Jewish church. 

Chapter 10. 
1-12 God's blessing on the chosen family. 

Chapter 11. 
1-17 Israel's future rejection of truth the national calamity. 

Chapter 12. 
1-14 Restoration of Jerusalem. 



744 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

1-6 Jewish acceptance of the atonement. 
7-14-2 Destruction of evil leaders. Kefinement of the faithful. 
3-21 The triumph of righteousness. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-6. — The statement of verse 2 swept the whole former history 
of the Hebrew nation and summed up the situation in a word. Because 
the Hebrews had been rebellious toward God they had been seventy years 
in captivity, and had just returned, and now for fourteen years had been 
neglecting the work of rebuilding God's house. Hence the fitness of the 
language in verses 3 and 4, and God commissions Zechariah to give that 
message to this people. Your fathers, he says, have died, and even the 
prophets who gave the message gone from the earth, but God's words were 
fulfilled, were they not ? And the people confessed that they had been. 

The first vision is given in verses 7-17. The month of Shebet is the 
eleventh of the Jewish sacred year. Eed horses signified boodshed, 
white horses, peaceful conquest, and sorrel or "speckled" (a mixture of 
red and white) a combination of the two. The teaching was that the 
providential plans of God were moving forward to the desired consum- 
mation, whether by the strife of nations or by peaceful preaching of the 
truth. The personification of God's presence who stood among the 
myrtle trees said that the earth was at rest at that time, and the angel 
who talked with the prophet answered how long ere God will make it 
possible that Judea may be redeemed from the curse which hangs over it. 
So comforting was the assurance given to the angel that he told the 
prophet that the Lord was jealous for Jerusalem, and is much more 
displeased with the nations than he was with Jerusalem. Hence he 
would again bring his chosen land and people to great prosperity, and 
punish the nations who had shown such resentment against his people. 
It is a significant fact that while God uses world powers to work out his* 
punishment on the chosen people for their sins, yet he will call these 
powers to account for the way in which they use their authority. The 
last clause of verse 15 conveys the impression that the nations afflicted 
the chosen family excessively. 

18, 19. — The four horns referred to in the second vision may have 
meant four prominent world powers which in their day were to be 
oppressors of the" chosen family. Two of these (Babylon and Medo- 
Persia) had already risen; the other two, Graeco-Macedonia and Eome, 
were yet to rise. It is suggested that among a flock-tending people like 
Israel the horns of the strongest in the herd suggested "power and pride 



ZECHAMAH. 745 

of conscious strength." Hence this figure. Some authorities think the 
number four referred to the world powers toward the four points of the 
compass, e. g., Assyria and Samaria on the north, Egypt and Arabia on 
the south, Chaldea, Ammon and Moab on the east, and Philistia on the 
west. As to the latter part of verse 19 it must not be forgotten that the 
better element of both kingdoms attached to the kingdom of Judah, and 
returned after the seventy years in Babylon, so that both kingdoms were 
represented in the company to whom the prophet was here speaking. 

Verses '20 and 21, I think, constitute the third vision, though most 
authorities seem to regard them as a part of vision 2. Having seen the 
powers which smite Judah, the prophet in this next vision sees the 
agencies which God employs to break the power of these nations over 
the chosen people and give them freedom again. It is a fact worthy of 
notice that while the four great powers mentioned did tyrannize over 
Judah until the Jews dared not lift their heads, yet the Jew remains 
while those nations have long since passed into history. 

Ch. 2:1-13 constitutes the fourth vision. A man sent out to measure 
Jerusalem, and the angel who talked with the prophet going forth, 
presumably in the direction of the city, was met by another angel, who 
hurried him back to tell the prophet that Jerusalem should be so large 
that she would no longer need walls to defend her, and the Lord would 
show her special favor and be to her a special protection. Then he refers 
to the return from Babylon and the spoil which they would bring, and the 
fact that latterly many nations should join themselves to this people and 
become a part of God's family. To whatever extent this might have been 
true of Israel after the return from Babylon, it undoubtedly finds its only 
complete fulfillment in the fact that Christ has gathered all nations into 
his family, thus accomplishing the great end and aim of the call of 
Abraham. Verse 8 may mean that the wrath of God being visited upon 
the nations which oppressed Israel will have the effect of restoring the 
glory of Israel of old. The apple of the eye is its tenderest part, so that 
such a comparison expresses the closest and dearest relation between God 
and the chosen family. 

This fifth vision in chapter 3:1-10 suggests the logical reason for 
the closing statements of the former theme. The priesthood of the 
chosen family stood for the salvation scheme of which Jesus was the 
embodiment, and as a preparation for which the chosen family was called. 
Satan stood there to withstand the work, probably on the ground that 
the people, having sinned, should have no mercy shown them, but God 
rebukes that spirit, and claims Jerusalem (standing for the chosen 



746 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

family) as his own, snatched out of the ruins of sin. The filthy garments 
snatched away were a picture of former sins forgiven, and the beautiful 
raiment put on was a type of the white robes of righteousness in which 
the saints are clothed. All this was typified in the Aaronic priesthood, 
and so the angel very properly protests to Joshua against the sin which 
had been separating them from God, and says, If in future you keep my 
charge I will establish your authority. Those that "stand by" and "sit 
before thee" referred to the ones under the authority of the high priest. 
Verses 9 and 10 draw a picture of the ultimate effect of the priestly 
service. By reference to the book of Hebrews it will be seen that just 
as is here foretold, out of this priestly arrangement grew the branch, 
Jesus of the royal line, who was the perfection of the Melchizedek 
priesthood and who was the embodiment of God's perfect vision, able to 
detect and correct all sin, and to unite all nations of the earth into the 
one family of God. 

Ch. 4 :1-14. — In vision six the prophet sees a golden lamp stand. Here 
is the direct message to Zerubbabel and Joshua for which the previous 
visions have been a preparation. The number seven signified perfection 
and so this lamp meant perfect light. The light which at that time was 
shining from God to the human family was the Jewish church, and the 
two in charge of it, through whom God's spirit operated, were Zerubbabel 
and Joshua, the heads of the civil and ecclesiastical power. Here then 
was a direct message to them. It said, "By my spirit shall you accomplish 
the work you have begun. All difficulties shall be overcome by you, as 
if a mountain in the line of your march should become a level plain. 
You shall finish the temple with rejoicing, and so you need not be 
discouraged about its humble beginning." The two olive trees, or "sons 
of oil," mentioned refer likely to Zerubbabel and Joshua, who were God's 
spokesmen and represented his authority at that time. It is a significant 
fact that the angel wakened the prophet as if out of a sleep when he 
showed him this vision, and the prophet wakened as out of a sleep the 
returned captives when he showed them how God was in the very midst 
of them, and the result was that the temple was speedily built. 

Ch. 5 :l-4. — As a seventh vision the prophet sees a flying roll, which in 
brief was a curse passing swiftly upon those who stole and swore falsely. 
It meant that Israel should be purged from these sinners whose false 
dealings had cursed the nation. The leaders had been repeatedly 
threatened for these misdoings, and failing to take warning had gone into 
captivity to Babylon. The roll was written upon both sides, a side being 
devoted to each form of evil, and the roll clearly warned the people that 



ZECHARIAH. 747 

although God restored them from their captivity, he did not thereby 
approve these their misdoings, but determined that iniquity should be cut 
off from the midst of the chosen family. 

5-11. — In the eighth vision the prophet sees a measuring vessel, one 
of the very kind which the Hebrews had been accustomed to falsify (the 
bushel). A woman, personifying the wickedness by which they had 
made themselves so infamously notorious, was crowded into, that false 
measure and pressed down by a leaden weight, and two other women 
hurried her away to the land of Shinar, where she had her abode (in 
Babylon, which became a synonym for evil). Thus again God declared 
his purpose to cleanse from evil the land of his chosen people. 

Ch. 6 :l-8. — The ninth and last vision pictures red horses (war), black 
horses (famine), white horses (truth's conquest), and grizzled horses (a 
mixture of all these), answering to the four winds of heaven, or the 
dispensations of God's providence by means of which he works out his 
will in human history. Mountains of brass fitly signify those seemingly 
immovable conditions out of which issue God's providences. The north 
country answered to the land of these formidable enemies which entered 
from the north against Israel, viz., Assyria and Babylon. The fearful 
devastation with which the Medes and Persians visited Babylon made 
pertinent the figure of black horses going in that direction. Peace (at 
least temporary) would naturally follow such conditions, and, as verse 8 
indicates, the punishment inflicted filled up the measure of God's wrath 
against them. The south country meant Egypt. Verse 7 declares the 
work of God's visitation of war and might was to go on up and down 
the earth until God's plan was thoroughly worked out, and the earth was 
taught by the bitterest experience to know the folly of resisting God. 

A digest of these visions might be put thus : 1. The soul of the prophet 
is made to be burdened for the trimuph of God's cause. After that God 
assures him that the cause shall prosper. 2. As to how it shall prosper, 
four horns are to punish Judah for its iniquity. 3. Then four smiths 
break down the power of those horns, giving them freedom again. 4. A' 
man with' a measuring line shows how this kingdom of God's chosen 
people shall be increased by the addition of the nations, and so, 5, Satan 
makes a bold effort to snatch away this chosen family from God's favor, 
but God rebukes him, and stripping off the sins of Israel, clothes him 
in shining garments, then, 6, he shows that from this church, for which 
Joshua stood, perfect light should shine and every obstacle should be 
removed from before this consummation, hence the encouragement to 
build the neglected temple. 7. God's curse should pass upon the thieving 



748 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

perjurers in the Hebrew family who were reproaching God's, cause, and, 
8, evil of all forms should be put out of the land, and, 9, finally not only 
the present, but all future enemies of God's people should be subdued 
before them. 

9-15. — Many expositors, by regarding verses 18-21 of the first chapter 
as one vision, thereby make the first theme of this lesson the ninth vision. 
There is no evidence that this was a vision. It was rather an object lesson 
by which the minds of the people were to be logically and firmly fixed 
upon the certainty of the promise that out of this nation should come the 
power that should rule the earth. In the presence of representative 
witnesses that the act might be kept in lasting remembrance, the repre- 
sentative of the Jewish church was crowned to signify that out of this 
church should come the one who should sit on the throne forever, ruling 
all nations. And not only was he to be a king, but a high priest forever, 
and the last clause of verse 13 expresses his unity with the father. This 
crown was laid up as a memorial of this prophecy. The language of 
verse 15 applies to the scattered Jews who aided the building of the 
temple by gifts, and was still more applicable to the hosts of earth who 
should in future unite to form the church of the living God. 

Ch. 7 :l-3. — This instruction about fasts was called out by an inquiry 
which came to headquarters from Bethel. The tenth day of the fifth 
month had been observed as a day of fasting and weeping through the 
seventy years of the captivity, because it was the anniversary of the 
destruction of Jerusalem. They ask if they shall continue the observance 
now that the temple and Jerusalem are being rebuilt. 

4-7. — In answer to this the prophet discourses at length. First he 
hurls against them the grave charge that they had been keeping this fast 
and the other one mentioned not in the spirit of true penitence, but, like 
their eating and drinking, to satisfy their own desires and love of display. 
The fast of the seventh month was in memory of the murder of Gedaliah 
and dispersion of the Jews soon after the destruction of Jerusalem. 
Verse 7 intimates that if these inquirers were fasting in the right spirit 
they would keep the Lord's commands by the former prophets, which they 
evidently were not doing. 

8-14. — And further he adds, God commanded as stated in verses 9 and 
10, but your fathers were like refractory cattle refusing to wear the yoke; 
because they acted as indicated in verses 11 and 12, all this calamity of 
the captivity had come upon the nation. All that the earnest prophets 
could say and do could not move the people to listen until God as a result 
brought upon them the fearful calamity of verses 13 and 14. 



ZECHARIAH. ' 749 

Ch. 8:l-17.-^But, continues the prophet, God has not forsaken his 
beloved Zion, but will yet show his care for her by returning to manifest 
himself in her midst. So settled should be her peace that her inhabitants 
should grow to a great age, and the children could play fearlessly in 
the streets. What seemed (verse 6) to be beyond belief to those recently 
returned captives was not at all beyond the power of God to produce. Not 
only would God gather the captives from Babylon, but from all other 
countries where they were scattered he would bring them to the land 
promised to Abram, and so Zechariah exhorts them to give attention to 
the words of God's prophets (himself and Haggai). Verse 10 refers to 
the fourteen years in which the people had been allowing the temple 
building to lie idle, but now that you have again taken up the work, 
verses 11-13 shall be true of you. So certainly as they had seen evil, so 
certainly should they now experience God's favor. The rule for their 
future conduct is given in verses 16 and 17 in order that they may 
continue in God's favor. 

18-23. — Finally as to a specific answer about the fast days named, the 
prophet declares that they shall be turned into feast days, because of the 
fact that cities and peoples and nations should shortly come seeking to the 
God of the Hebrews. This also finds its complete fulfillment in the 
preaching of the plan of salvation as offered to all peoples and kindreds 
and tribes and tongues by the Jewish Messiah, "the seed of the woman" 
whose power should bruise the serpent's head. 

Ch. 9:1-8. — Authorities claim that chapters 9-14 were written long 
after the preceding part of the book. They are prophetical and foretell 
the future relating to the Jewish church and people. Damascus, Tyre 
and Zidon and the land of the Philistines were all conquered by Alexan- 
der. New Tyre was on an island seven hundred paces from the shore and 
surrounded by a wall one hundred and fifty feet high. Alexander took 
the city after a seven-months' siege in B. C. 332, slew eight thousand, 
enslaved thirteen thousand,, crucified two thousand, and burned the city. 
The language of verse 7 means that idolatry should be stopped among 
the Philistines. The drinking of blood and the eating of things offered 
to idols was a part of his false worship. They were to be visited with 
God's wrath, while the chosen family was to be protected and honored. 

The language of verses 9-17 is a song of encouragement to the Jewish 
church. Beyond the glory which shall speedily come by her turning to 
God and keeping his commandments in sincerity lies the still greater 
glory which should come to her when her promised king should come to 
take his everlasting throne. Verse 9 was fulfilled four hundred and fifty 



750 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

years later when Jesus Christ came to his own. The thought of verses 10 
and 11 is that his rule should be so perfect that his subjects would not 
have to fight for their freedom. Pits without water were often used as 
dungeons, and the language here indicates that under his rule captives 
would go free. Hence he encourages them with a strong hope. Verses 
13-17 probably refer to the deliverance by the Maccabees of Jews from 
the power of the Grecians which took place under the successors of 
Alexander, all of which was to take place shortly by way of preparation 
for the greater victories of the Messiah mentioned in verses 9-11. 

Ch. 10:1-12. — The blessing here promised the chosen family was in 
keeping with the promises of God by Moses, which were conditioned upon 
obedience. Stress was laid upon the worship of God rather than that of 
idols, for it was the worship of idols which had caused the national 
calamity of the Jews and deprived them of God's promised blessings. 
J. F. B. thinks that he goats is in apposition with shepherd, meaning 
that the leaders of Israel who should have been shepherds were rather he 
goats. Having punished and removed these false leaders he will make of 
the house of Judah a battle horse for the King of kings. The remainder 
of this chapter was literally fulfilled in the after history of the Jews 
before the days of Christ, but the language of verses 4 and 5 are just as 
applicable to the whole Christian family of which Jesus of the tribe of 
Judah was the head. But in preparation for the coming Christ the 
enemies of the Jews were overwhelmed and Judah was gathered again 
and was a nation of note at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, but 
their treatment of him caused them to be scattered again to the ends of 
the earth. 

Ch. 11 :1-17. — In the two preceding chapters the prophet looked for- 
ward to the favor which God would send upon the nation after its 
restoration from Babylon, showing how their enemies would be punished 
and how this chosen people would be encouraged and blessed. In this 
chapter 11 he passes on to the more remote future, and sees how that 
having become prosperous and proud, this people shall later commit that 
outrage against God which will make them the curse of ages and the 
wonder of all time. The language of verses 1 and 2 is generally thought 
to refer to the princely cedars of Lebanon of which the temple was built, 
and so it was only another way of expressing the downfall of the nation. 
In verse 3 the shepherds were the rulers of Israel, and the young lions 
the princes. Jesus Christ was sent to feed the flock which was being led 
to slaughter by the chief priests and scribes and pharisees. But they 
would have none of him, hence verse 6. Verses 7 and 8 describe how he 



ZECHARIAH. 751 

fed them. Nevertheless, because of the unwillingness of the people he 
resolved as in verses 9 and 10, and so, as in verse 11, it was only the best 
of the common people who heard and heeded the word. Verses 11-13 
exactly describe the selling of the Lord by the act of Judas and the chief 
priests, and the cutting of the staff "Union" describes the discord in 
the nation which resulted and which was to continue until the treatment 
of Christ was nationally repudiated. Furthermore, verses 15-17 teach 
that the nation, having rejected the true light, shall suffer appalling 
things from a false and evil designing and self-constituted ruler who 
shall set himself over them. Possibly excepting these last three verses (and 
possibly not) every phase of this eleventh chapter has been accurately 
carried out in the Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ. 

Ch. 12:1-14. — Chapter 12 looks still farther future and describes a 
restoration which shall come to pass through much tribulation. Out of 
troubles with the nations among which the Jews have these centuries been 
scattered, Jerusalem shall a third time be established, and the nations 
who do the Jews despite shall be broken. The thought of verses 7 and 8 
is that God shall save as a class the tribe which has been faithful to him, 
caring for the feeble branches as well as the stronger ones. Verse 10 
gives the secret of this restoration. Their spirits shall seek God through 
the only begotten Son, and verses 11-14 show that it shall be no mere 
outward display of a body politic, but the solitary grief of those who 
retire in secret to pour out each individually his penitence to God. 

Ch. 13. — The first six verses of chapter 13 follow logically the pre- 
ceding. 4 Verse 1 doubtless means that at that stage they shall be ready 
to accept the plan which had been settled and in operation centuries 
before, but which then for the first time becomes operative to the Jews 
as a nation. So zealous do they become for the truth and so averse to 
idolatry that they put down idolatry and idolaters with a strong hand, 
not sparing violence even in their immediate families. Verse 4 refers to 
the false prophet, and verse 6 to the fact that he must repudiate his claim 
to be a prophet in order to save his life. 

7-14-2: — Thus the prophet exclaims, Let the sword do its work against 
these false shepherds, my fellow Hebrews, and though the flock be 
scattered, and many cut off, yet out of that experience shall come the 
faith that shall turn the remaining portion permanently to the Lord. 
The little ones mentioned refer to the third part, or the faithful who 
shall be refined by these difficulties and call on the name of the Lord. 
The first two verses of chapter 14, which should be set off with the last 
chapter, show how the work mentioned in verses 7 and 8 of the preceding 



752 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

chapter shall be accomplished. It describes what did actually take place 
under the Bo-mans, as the result of the treatment of Christ by the Jews. 
The Roman power did represent all nations, embracing as it then did the 
known world. 

Yerses 3-21 of chapter 14 describe the conflict and triumph of truth, 
probably that same scene described in Eev. 19. The margin of the first 
clause of verse 5 I think the better rendering. The appearance of the 
Lord at his second coming shall be the signal for a decisive conflict 
between truth and error, and the ushering in of the personal reign of 
Christ, the millennium. It would be impossible to say what all these 
figures used might mean, seeing the matter is yet future, but the teaching 
is that from Jerusalem shall go the influence of the living God which 
shall govern all nations and consume God's enemies, 



MALACHI. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Malachi is thought to have lived and prophesied at the same time as 
Kehemiah, about 420 B. C, nearly one hundred years after Haggai and 
Zechariah. This is probably the very last book of the Old Testament 
written, having come perhaps a little after Nehemiah. This prophet 
was a supporter of Nehemiah and Ezra the priest, just as Haggai and 
Zechariah supported Zerubbabel and Joshua nearly one hundred years 
before. Auberlen says that "Ezra the priest performed the inner work of 
purifying the nation from heathenish elements and reintroducing the 
law, while Nehemiah did the outer work of rebuilding the city and 
restoring the national polity." This prophet powerfully seconds the 
work of both by pointing out how God had loved the Jews and how basely 
they had treated him, showing that both priests and people were guilty, 
and that suddenly the Messiah should appear, bringing judgment against 
the evil-doers, here specifying the evils, and showing the triumph of truth, 
and finally pointing out again the coming of a messenger who should 
prepare the way for the Christ. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-5 God's love for the Jews. 
6-14 Their ingratitude. 



MALACHI. 753 



Chapter 2. 

1-9 Rebuke of the priests. 
10-17 Eebuke of the people. 
Chapter 3. 
1-4-4 Coming of Christ to the temple. His mission. 
1-6 Judgment against evil-doers. 
7-15 Specification of the evils. 
16-4-4 Relative standing of the just and unjust. 
5, 6 Christ's forerunner. 



LESSON" NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1-5. — Xo doubt the question sometimes rose in the minds of 
the Jews, "In what respect are we blessed above other nations ?" Because 
of their sins their penalties were most severe and often inflicted of God 
through their enemies. This second verse shows that they greeted the 
reformers with the question, "What is the evidence that God favors us 
any more than other people ?" For answer they were cited to the case of 
Jacob and Esau, using the language which Paul afterward quoted, 
meaning that because of Esau's conduct God gave him over to the results 
of his doings and made his evil deeds to recoil in curses on the nation of 
Esau. Esau was not shown the distinguished temporal favor which was 
shown to Jacob, but the reason was Esau's fault alone. It was, as 
elsewhere shown, because Esau put his temporal pleasures above his duty 
to God. Hence (verse 4) when he determined to establish himself in 
spite of God, the Almighty not only withdrew his help, but showed his 
power against Edom. 

6-14. — And now, says the prophet, though a father is honored, and a 
master is honored, what honor do you show to your heavenly Father? 
Your conduct would indicate that you despise him. For example, verses 
7 and 8, and yet after such conduct they impudently ask, What have we 
done wrong? Far more becoming in you, he adds, would be prayer for 
God's favor. The thought of verse 10 is that it was the duty of certain 
of the priests to stand at the temple doors and close them against 
blemished victims of sacrifice. This verse suggests that there was no one 
brave enough to champion the cause of justice in this respect. The fact 
that God had given the law to Israel and special temporal benefits and 
guidance and counsel in carrying out their special charge was entirely 
overlooked by these ungrateful people, who used these mercies without 
thankfulness. Verses 11 and 12 should have been a revelation to this 
people, but the history of the case shows that even in the days of Jesus 



754 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

this people thought themselves to be the only ones whom God cared for, 
though it was evident that in all ages and among all peoples God has had 
faithful worshipers, and such were far more precious in his sight than 
these Hebrews who outwardly professed God's law and then shamefully 
violated his precepts. 

Ch. 2:1-9. — The priests as a class are now severely censured. They 
are plainly told that unless they give heed to these commandments their 
services will be turned into curses. Already God's curse had begun upon 
them because they showed no concern when God blamed them for their 
sins. Verses 4-9 declare that God will display the strength of his 
covenant with the priestly tribe by visiting on them the result of their 
apostasy, just as he had given peace to them when they walked uprightly. 
The result of the corruption is stated in verse 8. The contrast between 
this condition in verse 8 and the reverence in which the tribe of Levi, was 
held in the days of Moses and Solomon is very striking. 

10-17. — After the rebuke of the priests comes the rebuke of the people. 
They are charged with burying the feelings of common humanity and 
showing treachery each to his brother, as well as profaning the covenant 
of God by putting away Jewish women and taking idolatrous women as 
wives. Verse 12 declares that God will visit according to the evil on all 
classes of these offending people. Some authorities think that the tears 
mentioned were those of the unoffending wives who were repudiated for 
foreign wives. Calvin thinks it was the tears of the people who perceived 
that their sacrifices were rejected. Most likely, however, the tears were 
the hypocritical pretense of penitence on the part of the worshipers, and 
so were an unsavory offense to God. In the following verse (14) is set 
forth a chief offense. The meaning of verse 15 is better brought out by 
the marginal rendering. No one who had a semblance of just spirit 
remaining did so. The "one" mentioned in the next clause is thought 
to refer to Abram (an apparent exception), who took another wife with 
a religious intention. But the remainder of the verse plainly indicates 
that these transgressors have no such excuse. It is supposed that the word 
garment, used in verse 16, refers to the excuse with which the people 
cloaked their practise. In a twofold sense were they wearying the Lord ; 
first, because they called evil good, and second, because they encouraged 
others to do evil on the ground that God would not punish it. 

Ch. 3 :l-6. — The most of the next two chapters describes the great event 
toward which all the Jewish nation was looking. When the Christ should 
come to his temple, which he should do suddenly, his first attitude would 
be that of a rebuker of the iniquity. As corroborative of this witness the 



MALACHI. 755 

attitude of Christ regarding the scribes and pharisees and chief priests, 
who were the leading religious teachers of his day. The prophet well 
knew that the Messiah would have occasion to take strong grounds against 
the evil abuses of the hypocritical leaders of religious services among the 
Jews, that he would do so with no uncertain sound. After such rebuke 
as he should offer, the offerings (shown by the New Testament writers 
to be spiritual ones), would be acceptable to God, just as were those of the 
early Aaronic priesthood. Yerse 6 indicates that the unchangeable 
covenant of God was indicated by the fact that these sinners were not 
consumed. 

In verses 7-16 the evils are specified. For years the people had been 
departing from God's ordinances. They had been withholding the tithing 
which was the only support of the religious system of the Jews. Because 
they had done so, God had brought upon them the curses threatened in 
the law of Moses. The fact that they had failed to support these religious 
services was only a climax to the other evil habits from which they had 
passed by an easy transition to utter contempt and neglect of the temple 
services. Furthermore, the people had openly declared that it was a vain 
thing to serve God, and that those who followed their own evil inclinations 
were happier than those who served God. Not only did these people 
withhold their dues to God and speak against him, but when reproached 
for it had the impudence to say, "Wherein have we robbed God or spoken 
against him?" 

16-4-4. — Such a condition of things naturally drew a line of demar- 
cation between the faithful and unfaithful, and opened the way for 
righteous and open discrimination between them. God would publicly 
own the just, and appoint them as associate justices with himself in the 
work of future judgment of the wicked. The language of chapter 4:1 
most likely refers to the great event described in Eev. 19, on the going out 
of the rider of the white horse. The words and the deeds of daily life 
laid up in the book of God's remembrance raise the just to association 
with the Lord of hosts and sink evil-doers to the position of culprits, just 
as the law of Moses had declared. 

5, 6. — Malachi sees the appearance and work of the Christ and the 
judgment which he should bring and his final conquest of evil. Hence 
the expression, "Great and terrible day of the Lord." As Elijah in 
his thunderous denunciation of evil embodied the spirit of loyalty to God 
and uncompromising hostility to wrong among the prophets, so this 
prophet declares that the spirit shall again be manifested before the 
Messiah appears to begin his work. Hence we find John the Baptist 



756 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

appearing with scathing denunciations of the scribes and pharisees and 
preaching repentance to all. This fifth verse Jesus explained to refer to 
John the Baptist. The repentance which he preached was the one thing 
which could restore harmony, so that the Lord could bless rather than 
curse the earth, 



GOSPEL. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Gospel means "good news." It is the story of the coming of the 
promised Messiah and the salvation and inheritance which he brought 
to the human family. It is the actual fulfillment of what the prophets 
foretold about God's plan to redeem the world. 

Matthew was a Jew of Galilee, living at Capernaum, where he was a 
publican, or collector of customs, under the Eomans. While at this 
work he was called by Jesus to be a disciple. He was probably the first 
to write the Gospel, the date being between 50 and 60 A. D., as is 
supposed. Some think he wrote in the Hebrew language, but the better 
testimony seems to be that he wrote this Gospel in Greek. He wrote 
especially for Jews, and emphasizes Jesus as the "Man" or promised seed 
of Abraham. 

Mark is believed by many to be John Mark, the son of Mary and the 
nephew of Barnabas, who started with Paul on the first missionary trip. 
There is, however, no evidence that this writer is the same person. He 
was very probably some Jewish disciple who had adopted the Eoman name 
Mark. His writing of the Gospel was especially to the Eoman people, 
as shown by his many explanations of Jewish customs, and emphasizes 
Jesus as the all conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah. He wrote, 
probably, sometime between 63 and 70 A. D. Authorities quite generally 
agree that he was a close companion and probably a secretary of Peter, 
and many think they can trace Peter's hand in this book. 

Luke is said to have been a native of Antioch in Assyria, and a 
physician. He wrote about the same time, apparently, as Mark, about 63 
A. D., in the Greek language, directing this Gospel message to Theophilus. 
It is thought that Luke was a Gentile, converted to Judaism, and after- 
ward became a Christian. This message is suited to all Christians, Jews 
or Gentiles, and points out Jesus as the great sacrifice for sin, a redeemer 
for the entire human family. 

John was a Hebrew, a native of Bethsaida, and possibly a nephew of 



GOSPEL. 757 

Jesus. He was a fisherman, and from that occupation was called to be 
a disciple of Jesus. He wrote last of all the Gospel writers, and empha- 
sizes the divine nature of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, 
and was about the same age as Jesus. He was doubtless at first a disciple 
of John the Baptist, and after joining himself to Jesus was a most 
faithful and intimate companion of the Savior. He write in Greek. 

ANALYSIS. 

MATTHEW. MARK. LUKE. JOHN". 

Introduction ..; , 1:1 1:1-4 1:1-18 

Genealogy of Jesus 1 :1-17 

Gabriel's appearance to Zacharias. 2-25 

Gabriel's appearance to Mary 26-38 

Mary's visit to Elizabeth 39-56 

Birth of John the Baptist 57-66 

Prophecy of Zacharias 67-79 

Ohildhood of John the Baptist 80 

Circumstances of the birth of Jesus 18-25 2 :l-20 

The birth 18-25 1-7 

The angel's appearance to the 

shepherds 8-14 

The search for Jesus by the 

shepherds 15-20 

Circumcision of Jesus 21 

Visit of the magi 2 :1-12 

Flight into Egypt 13-15 

Slaughter of the babies in Bethle- 
hem 16-18 

Return of Joseph to the land of 

Israel 19-21 

Presentation of Jesus in the temple 22-38 

Retirement to Galilee 22, 23 39 

Childhood of Jesus 40, 41 

Jesus among the temple teachers. . 42-52 

Ministry of John the Baptist 3 :1-12 2-8 3 :1-18 

John's testimony of himself 19-28 

Baptism of Jesus 13-17 9-11 

A mention of Herod's treatment of 

John 19-20 

Genealogy of the newly baptized 

teacher 21-38 



MARK. 


LUKE. 


JOHN". 


12-13 


4:1-13 


29-37 

38-51 

2:1-11 

12 

13-22 

23-25 

3:1-21 

22 
23-36 



768 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

MATTHEW. 

The temptation 4 :1-11 

John's testimony of Jesus ........ 

The first disciples of Jesus . , 

The first miracle 

Sojourn of Jesus and his company 

in Capernaum 

Cleansing of the temple 

Many believe 

Discourse to Nicodemus 

Ministry of Jesus in Judea 

John's second testimony of Jesus . . 
Departure of Jesus from Judea (at 

John's imprisonment) 12 4:1-3 

Discourse with the Samaritan 

woman 

Exhortation to his disciples 

Ministry among the Samaritans. . 

Ministry in Galilee 13-18-35 

His reception 

Healing of the nobleman's son at 

Cana 46-54 

Sermon at Nazareth 16-30 

Change of residence from Nazareth 

to Capernaum 13-17 

Call of Simon, Andrew, James and 

John 18-22 16-20 

Tour throughout Galilee 23-25 

Sermon on the mount 5 :l-7-27 

The beatitudes 1-12 

Preservative influence of Christ's 

disciples 13-16 

The perfection of law's fulfill- 
ment 17-20 

Conditions of peace defined. . . . 21-26 

Adultery defined and its preven- 
tion 27-32 

Warning against swearing 33-37 

Direction as to treatment of evil . 38-42 







4-26 






27-38 






39-42 


14-9-50 


14-9-50 


43-11-57 


14,15 


14-15 


43-45 



GOSPEL. 759 

MATTHEW. MARK. LUKE. JOHN. 

Attitude of God's sons toward 

their enemies 43-48 

Spirit and practice of alms-giving 6 :l-4 
Spirit and practice of prayer. . . 5-15 

Spirit and practice of fasting. . 16-18 

Aim of the earthly life toil 19-34 

Warning against judging fellow 

beings 7 :l-5 

Rule for adaptation of religious 

energy 6 

Assurance regarding praj^er. ... 7-11 

Summary of religious activity. . 12-14 
Warning against false teachers. . 15-23 
The blessing of obedience and 

curse of neglect 24-27 

Effect of the sermon 28, 29 

Healing of the leper 8 :l-4 

Healing of the centurion's servant 

at Capernaum 5-13 

Healing of a demoniac at Caper- 
naum 

Healing of Peter's mother-in-law. . 14, 15 

Healing of many diseased 16, 17 

Sermon from Peter's boat . . '. 

The great draught of fishes 

Healing of a leper 

Departure for Gadara. Condition 

of discipleship 18-22 

Stilling of a storm 23-27 

Healing of two demoniacs. Destruc- 
tion of swine 28-34 

Return to 'Capernaum. Healing of 

a paralytic 9 :l-8 

Call of Matthew., 9 

Healing of an infirm man at Jeru- 
salem 

Discourse to the Jews 

Their persecution of Jesus for 

the healing 10-16 



21-28 


31-37 


29-31 


38,39 


32-39 


40-44 




5:1-3 




4-11 


40-45 


12-16 



2:1-12 


17-26 




13,14 


27,28 


5:1-9 

10-47 



760 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

MATTHEW. MARK. LUKE. JOHN. 

Eeply of Jesus. Their passion. . 17, 18 

Jesus declares his unity with the 

Father 19-29 

Testimony to Jesus by the Father 30-47 

Feast of Matthew 10-13 15-17 29-32 

Answer of Jesus to John's disciples 

about fasts 14-17 18-22 33-39 

Healing of the woman. Raising to 

life the ruler's daughter 18-26 

Healing of two blind men 27-31 

Healing of the dumb man. Accusa- 
tion by the pharisees 32-34 

Ministry throughout the country. . 35-38 

Sending out of the twelve. The 

charge to them 10 :l-42 

The ordination 1 

Names of the ordained 2-4 

The place and character of their 

ministry 5-15 

Manner of their behavior 16-23 

Its reason 24-33 

Warning of the immediate effect 

of their ministry 34-39 

Assurance to those accepting the 

ministration 40-42 

Question to Jesus from John. An- 
swer of Jesus 11 :l-6 

Christ's testimony of John 7-19 

Upbraiding of the cities for un- 
belief 20-24 

Christ's thanksgiving and invita- 
tion of grace 25-30 

Discourse of Jesus on Sabbath 

observance 12 :i-8 23-28 ' 6 :l-5 

Healing of a withered hand on 
Sabbath 9-13 3:1-6 6-11 

Pharisee plot. Withdrawal of Jesus. 

Healing of many 14-21 7-12 



GOSPEL. 



761 



MATTHEW. 

All-night prayer. Mention of twelve 
chosen. Healing of many 

Sermon on the plain 

Beatitudes 

Woes 

Attitude of God's sons toward 

their enemies 

Warning against judging a 

fellow being 

Blessing of obedience and curse 
of neglect 

Healing of the centurion's servant 
at Capernaum 

Raising to life the widow's son, of 
Nain 

Question to Jesus from John. An- 
swer of Jesus 

Christ's testimony of John 

Jesus at the pharisee's feast. 
Anointing of his feet 

Tour of Jesus with a company of 
men and women 

Healing of a demoniac and pharisee 

charge 22-24 

Discourse of Jesus on the unpar- 
donable sin 25-37 

Answer of Jesus to the demand for 

a miracle 38-45 

Christ's true kindred 46-50 

Parable of the sower 13 :l-9 

Question as to the method of teach- 
ing reply of Jesus 10-17 

Explanation of the parable of the 

sower 18-23 

Parable of the tares. 24-30 

Parable of the mustard, and others. 

The lighted lamp 31, 32 

Parable of the leaven 33 



MARK. 



13-19 



20-30 



31-35 
4:1-9 

10-13 

14-20 



LUKE. JOHN. 
12-19 

20-49 
20-23 
24-26 

27-38 

39-45 

46-49 

7:1-10 

11-17 

18-23 
24-35 

36-50 

8:1-3 



4-8 



9-15 



21-34 16-18 



762 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

MATTHEW. MARK. LUKE. JOHN. 

Parable of the tares explained to 

the disciples 34-43 

Three likenesses of the kingdom of 

heaven 44-50 

Hidden treasure 44 

Costly pearl 45, 46 

Net * 47-50 

Likeness of a disciple 51, 52 

Christ's true kindred 19-21 

Departure for the Gadarenes. Still- 
ing of a storm 35-41 22-25 

Healing of a demoniac. Destruc- 
tion of the swine 5 :l-20 26-39 

Return. Healing of a woman. Rais T 

ing of Jairus' daughter 21-43 40-56 

Unbelief of Jesus' own countrymen 53-58 6 :l-6 

Sending out of the twelve 7-13 9 :l-6 

Herod's perplexity about Jesus . . . 7-19 

Herod supposes Jesus to be John 

resurrected 14 :1-12 14-29 

Return of the twelve. Withdrawal 

to the desert. Feeding of the five 

thousand 13-21 30-44 10-17 6:1-14 

Return across the lake. Peter walks 

on the water 22-33 45-52 15-21 

Discourse of Jesus to the multitudes 

seeking him 22-71 

Their search for him 22-25 

Accusation by Jesus. Their reply. 

His answer 26-40 

Their murmur. Reply of Jesus. 41-51 

Stumbling of Jews and disciples 

at his teaching 52-65 

Palling away of some of the 

disciples 66-71 

Healing of a multitude 34-36 53-56 

Traditions of scribes and pharisees 

rebuked 15 :l-9 7 :1-13 

Discourse of Jesus on defilement. . 10-20 14-23 



GOSPEL. 



763 



MATTHEW. 

Jesus at Tyre and Sidon. Healing 
of the daughter of the Canaanite 
woman 21-28 

Opening the ears of a deaf man. . . 

Many healed in the mountain near 

the sea of Galilee 29-31 

Feeding of four thousand. With- 
drawal by boat to Magadan. . . . 32-39 

Answer of Jesus to the demand for 

a miracle 16 :l-4 

Warning against the scribes and 

pharisees 5-12 

Opening the eyes of a blind man. . 

Peter's confession of Christ (in 

Cesarea Philippi) 13-20 

Jesus foretells his death. Eebuke of 

Peter. Charge to his disciples. . 21-28 

The transfiguration 17 :l-8 

Explanation of the -coming of 

Elijah 9-13 

Healing of the epileptic boy 14-21 

Jesus foretells his suffering and 

death 22, 23 

Jesus pays poll tax 24-27 

Discourse on true greatness 18 :l-35 

Humility 1-5 

Inoffensiveness 6-14 

Righteous dealing with the un- 
just 15-20 

Forgiveness. The king's debtors 21-35 

Jesus goes secretly to the feast of 
tabernacles at Jerusalem 

His teaching in the temple at the 

feast 

Source of his knowledge ques- 
tioned. Reply of Jesus 

His origin questioned. Reply of 
Jesus 



make:. LUKE. 



24-30 
31-37 



8:1-10 

11-13 

14-21 
22-26 

27-30 18-21 



JOHN. 



31-9-1 

2-8 

9-13 

14-29 



22-27 
28-36 



37-43 



30-32 44, 45 



33-50 


46-50 


33-37 


46-48 


38-50 


49,50 



7:1-13 



14-10-39 



14-24 



25-29 



764 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

MATTHEW. MARK. LUKE. JOHN. 

Attempt of the pharisees to arrest 

Jesus. Result 30-46 

Discussion among the pharisees. 47-52 

Decision of Jesus • as to the 

adulteress 53-8-11 

Jesus' witness of himself 12-20 

Warning against their unbelief. 21-30 

Result of faith. Attempt to stone 

Jesus 31-59 

Healing of a blind man 9 :1-12 

The man's expulsion from the 

church by the pharisees 13-34 

Jesus seeks him 35-39 

Talk to the pharisees. Parable of 

the sheep-fold 40-10-18 

Division of opinion as to Jesus. . 19-21 

Sermon of Jesus at Solomon's 

porch 22-39 

Jesus at the place of John's baptis- 
ing 

Death of Lazarus 

Resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus . . • 
A pharisee council. Prophecy of 

the high priest. . . .' 

Jesus hides himself from the Jews. 

Ch. 19: 

Ministry in Judea 1-28-20 

Rejection of Jesus by a Samaritan 

village 51-56 

Answer of Jesus to two desiring to 

follow him 57-63 

The thirty-five couples sent before 

him 10 :1-1£ 

Upbraiding of the cities. 13-16 

Report of the seventy. Answer and 

joy of Jesus 17-24 

Jesus and the lawyer. Parable of 

the good Samaritan 25-37 







40-42 






11:1-16 






17-44 






45-53 






54-57 


Ch. 10: 




Ch. 12: 


1-16-20 


51-24-53 


1-21-25 



GOSPEL. 



765 



MATTHEW. 

Appearance in Judea. Incident of 

Martha and Mary 19 :1, 2 

Discourse on prayer 

Healing of a dumb man. Charge 
of his enemies. Reply of Jesus . . 

Statement of a woman. Reply of 
Jesus 

Remarks of Jesus about those wish- 
ing a sign 

Jesus utters woes against pharisees 
and lawyers 

Resentment of scribes and pharisees 

Disciples warned against pharisees. 
The unpardonable sin 

Warning against covetousness .... 

Warning against anxiety for tem- 
poral things 

Exhortation to the faithful 

To whom this teaching applies .... 

An effect of the ministry of Jesus . . 

Speech on lack of discernment .... 

Reference to the slain of Galilee 
and Siloam 

Parable of the unfruitful fig-tree . . 

Healing of the crippled woman. . . 

Parable of the mustard seed and 
leaven 

Who are the saved ? 

Message of Jesus to Herod 

Lamentation over Jerusalem 

Healing of one with the dropsy at 
the feast of the pharisee 

Parable to the guests 

Exhortation to the host. A gospel 
feast 

Parable of the great feast 

Condition of discipleship 

Parable of the lost sheep 

Parable of the silver 



MARK. LUKE. 



JOHN. 



10:1 



38-42 
11:1-13 

14-26 

27,28 

29-36 

37-52 
53,54 

12:1-12 
13-21 

22-31 
32-40 
41-48 
49-53 
54-59 

13:1-5 

6-9 

10-17 

18-21 
22-30 
31-33 
34,35 

14:1-6 
7-11 

12-15 

16-24 

25-35 

15:1-7 

8-10 



766 



BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 



MATTHEW. MARK. 

Parable of the prodigal son 

Parable of the unjust steward 

Eeply of Jesus to scoffers 

Parable of the rich man and Laz- 
arus * 

Woe to the one causing stumbling. . 

Answer of Jesus to the apostle's 
request for faith 

Healing of the ten lepers 

Jesus tells of the manifestation of 
his kingdom 

Parable of the importunate widow . 

Parable of the pharisee and pub- 
lican 

Discourse on marriage and divorce 3-12 2-12 

Jesus blesses the children-. 13-15 13-16 

Jesus and the rich young man. 

Promise to the disciples. . . 16-22 17-22 

Discourse of Jesus on riches 23-20-16 23-31 

The snare of riches 23-26 23-27 

Eeward of self-denying Chris- 
tians 27-30 28-31 28-30 

Parable of the vineyard laborers . 20 :1-16 

Jesus foretells to his disciples his 

death " 17-19 32-34 31-34 

Eequest for James and John. An- 
swer of Jesus 20-28 35-45 

Healing of two blind men (Bar- 

timaeus and another) 29-34 46-52 

Incident of Zaccheus 

The supper at Bethany 

Conspiracy against Lazarus 

Parable of the pounds 

The triumphal entry. Jesus weeps 

over the city "■ 21:1-11 11:1-10 

Cleansing of the temple 12, 13 

Healing in the temple 14 

Fault-finding of the scribes. An- 
swer of Jesus 15, 16 



LUKE. JOHN. 

11-32 

16:1-13 

14-18 

19-31 
17:1-4 



5-10 
11-19 

20-37 
18:1-8 

9-14 

15-17 

18-23 
24-30 

24-27 



35-43 




19:1-10 






12:1-9 




10,11 


11-27 




28-44 


12-19 


45,46 





GOSPEL. 



767 



MATTHEW. 

Withdrawal to Bethany 17 

The barren fig-tree 18-22 

Temple cleansing (continued) .... 
The withered fig-tree. Jesus' re- 
marks on faith 

Attentiveness of the people 

Greeks call for Jesus at the feast. 

His discourse 

Jesus hides himself from the unbe- 
lievers 

Message of Jesus to believers and 

unbelievers 

Authority of Jesus questioned. His 

reply 23-22-14 

Baptism of John 23-27 

Parable of the two sons 28-32 

The wicked husbandmen 33-46 

The king's marriage feast 22-1-14 

The question of tribute to Caesar. . 15-22 
Marriage and the resurrection. . . . 23-33 

Christ's summary of the law 34-40 

Christ's question to the pharisees. 41-46 
Warning against the hypocrisy of 

the scribes and pharisees 23:1-12 

Christ's denouncement of the 

scribes and pharisees 13-36 

Jesus' lament over Jerusalem 37-39 

The widow's mite 

Prophecy of the temple's destruc- 
tion 24:1,2 

Jesus tells the signs of his coming. 3-25-30 
Commotion, persecution and false 

prophecy 3-14 

Abomination of desolation 15-28 

Shaking of the earth powers .... 29-31 
Exhortation to regard the signs 32-51 

Parable of the virgins 25 :1-13 

Parable of the talents 14-30 

A picture of the judgment 31-46 



MARK. 


LUKE. 


JOHN". 


11 






12-14 






15-18 






19-26 


47,48 


20-36 
37-43 

44-50 


27-12-12 


20 :1-18 




27-33 


1-8 





12:1-12 



9-18 



13-17 19-26 

18-27 27-40 
28-34 

35-37 41-44 

38-40 45-47 



41-44 


21:1-4 


3:1,2 


5,6 


3-37 


7-36 


3-13 


7-19 


14-23 


20-24 


24-27 


25-28 


28-37 


29-36 



"03 



BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 



MATTHEW. 

Daily teaching in the temple 

Plot of the chief priests and scribes 

against Jesus 26 :l-5 

The anointing of Jesus in the house 

of Simon the leper 6-13 

Barter of Judas to betray Jesus. . 14-16 
Preparation for the Passover. The 

feast begun 17-20 

Jesus washes his disciples' feet 

His exhortation to them 

Betrayal announced. Lord's supper 

instituted 21-30 

Exhortation to the disciples at the 

close of the supper 31-35 

Anouncement of his departure. . 

Contention as to who should be 
greatest 

Jesus' prophecy of denial by his 

disciples 31-35 

Call of Jesus for a sword 

Exhortation to good cheer. The 
Comforter promised 

Eelation of Jesus to his disciples 

His command to them 

Object of this exhortation 

Office of the spirit 

Mention of Christ's death and 
resurrection 

Character of the future teaching 

Prayer of Jesus for his disciples . 
Sorrow of Jesus in Gethsemane. . . 36-46 

The betrayal 47-56 

Flight of a young man 

Arrest of Jesus 

Trial before Caiaphas 57-68 

Peter's denial 69-75 

Mockery of Jesus 

Jesus before the council. Examina- 
tion by the high priest 



MARK. 



LUKE. JOHN". 
37,38 



14:1,2 22:1,2 



3-9 






10, 11 


3-6 




12-17 


7-14 


13:1-11 
12-20 


18-26 


15-23 


21-30 


27-31 


24-38 


31-17-26 
31-35 



24-30 



27-31 


31-34 
35-38 


36-38 




* 


14:1-31 

15:1-16 

17-27 

16:1-6 

7-15 

16-24 

25-33 

17:1-26 


32-42 


39-46 




43-50 


47-53 


18 :1-11 


51,52 




12-14 


53-65 






66-72 


54-62 
63-65 


15-18 



66-71 19-27 



6-15 


13-25 


38-40 


16-20 




19:1-5 
6-16 


21-32 


26-38 


17-22 
23,24 



GOSPEL. 769 

MATTHEW. MARK. LUKE. JOHN. 

Jesus brought before Pilate. Sent ♦ 

by him to Herod 27:1,2 15:1 23:1-7 28-38 

Jesus before Herod. Returned to 

Pilate 8-12 

Suicide of Judas 3-10 

Trial of Jesus before Pilate 11-14 2-5 

Pilate's proposal to release Jesus. 

Demand for Barabbas 15-26 

The mock coronation 27-31 

Pilate's fear. Demand of the Jews . 

The crucifixion. The superscription 32-44 

The gambling for his garments . . . 

The penitent thief 39-43 

Mention of friends present 25-27 

Death, darkness, earthquake, rend- 
ing of the vail 45-56 33-41 44-49 28-30 

The piercing of his side 31-37 

Joseph (of Arimathaea) buries 

Jesus 57-61 42-47 50-56 38-42 

The tomb guarded 62-66 

The resurrection. Its announcement 

by angels 28 :l-7 16 :l-8 24-1-12 20 :1-10 

Appearance to Mary Magdalene 

and other women 8-10 9-11 11-18 

Perjuring of the guards 11-15 

Appearance to two disciples 12, 13 13-32 

Report of the two. Mention of the 

appearance to Peter 33-35 

Appearance to ten disciples 19-23 

Appearance to the eleven disciples. 

His charge to them 16-20 14-18 36-49 24-29 

Mention of other miracles 30, 31 

Appearance to the seven at Tiberias. 

The draft of fishes 21 :l-8 

Jesus eats with them 9-14 

Charge of Jesus to Peter 15-19 

Eemarks about John, the beloved . . 20-24 

Extent of the acts of Jesus . 25 

Ascension 19, 20 50-53 



770 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

LESSON" NOTES. 

The introduction to the Gospel writings is given by three of the writers, 
Mark, Luke and John. Mark is very brief, giving but one verse to it, but 
in that verse he declares Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. On that 
assumption he bases all that follows in the hook, announcing it as good 
tidings from God to men as shown in Christ. His writing will point out 
Jesus as the powerful Lion of Judah, overcoming all opposition. 

Luke seems to have written a personal letter to his friend Theophilus, 
and in his introduction (chapter 1 :l-4) he mentions that many who were 
preaching the word had written an account of the origin and spread of 
Christianity. It is probable that many of these attempts to summarize 
the teachings of the apostles were so badly done that Luke thinks it highly 
necessary to write. It is not likely that in this statement he refers at all 
to Matthew, which must have been written some time before. Luke 
wanted his friend to have an intelligent and sufficient basis for his faith, 
and so writes this account. 

In his introduction to the Gospel, John, who wrote after the three 
preceding Gospel stories had become familiar, begins his emphasis of the 
divinity of Jesus by asserting that to begin with, there was a message, 
and that it came from God, and God was its theme. That is precisely 
what the Greek of verse 1 says, and in the light of such a rendering what 
follows becomes plain. The antecedent in verse 2 is God, not Christ, as 
many have contended. The capitalizing of "word" in verse 1 is taking 
unwarranted liberty with the text. God shined his light into the world 
through the old dispensation, but, as Paul shows in the first of Eomans, 
the world shut its eyes to him, and John the Baptist, who was the last 
of the old dispensation, bore testimony to the light that had been, by 
commanding men to repent in readiness for the new dispensation, which 
was about to begin. 

The light of God was in the world, but the world shut its eyes to the 
light and refused to recognize God its author, except a comparatively few 
faithful children of light. Then he declares that the message was incar- 
nated (at this point he introduces Jesus), and that when the incarnation 
of the message appeared the Baptist (representative of the old dispen- 
sation) owned him as his superior, showing his belief that the new 
dispensation, for which Jesus stood, was the superior of the old dispen- 
sation, which simply meant that the Mosaic covenant pictured the greater 
covenant of Christ, which was to save the believing world. Christ has 
shown God, his Father, to the world by embodying in himself the 



GOSPEL. 771 

salvation plan, and working into actuality what was originated in the 
mind of God. 

Matt. 1:1-17. — The genealogy of Jesus is here given by Matthew only. 
It was natural that he who wrote to show that Jesus was the promised 
seed of Abraham should begin the line of descent with the father of the 
faithful. This table will show that the ancestors of Jesus were not always 
Jews, nor were they always righteous in character, a fact from which 
even the humblest may take courage. Forty-two generations are named 
between Abraham and the Christ — about nineteen hundred years. 

Lu. 1 :5-25. — Luke now continues regarding Gabriel's appearance to 
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Abijah was the eighth of the 
twenty-four courses of priests instituted by David (1 Chron. 24:10). 
Both parents were of the Aaronic line, but both were aged and childless, 
although just. When Gabriel appeared to this aged priest he was 
burning incense in the holy place. The prayer mentioned in verse 13 
was probably the priestly prayer of this aged man for the coming of the 
Messiah, and he is here assured that not only will the Messiah come, but 
a son shall be born to this aged pair to be the herald of the Messiah. 
Like Abraham when a son was promised him, this aged servant doubted, 
and the fact that he was made dumb indicates that he continued to doubt. 
After the week which he was to serve had been fulfilled he returned home. 
Verses 24 and 25 show how reproachful it was for a Hebrew woman to 
be barren. The probable meaning of verse 17 is that the spirit of the 
ancient worthies of Israel should be instilled into the degenerate children. 

Lu. 1 : 2 6-3 8. — Six months later Gabriel was sent to Mary, a cousin of 
Elizabeth, living at Nazareth. The angel's statement to her greatly 
disturbed her mind, but his assurance to her of a son and the character of 
that son greatly comforted her. He was to be the royal king of whom 
David was but a type, and because his reign was a spiritual one, therefore 
it was to be everlasting. Mary's question of the angel was a natural one, 
and because it was an honest question he answered it frankly. At the 
Garden of Eden God made two human beings outside the pale of what we 
call natural law. Compared with the origination of the first Adam, that 
of the second is very easy of comprehension. The highest ambition of the 
Jewish maiden was to be the mother of the promised Messiah; hence 
verse 38. 

Lu. 1 : 39-5 6. — Immediately after the above event Mary goes on a three 
months' visit to Elizabeth from Galilee to Judah, probably to Hebron, 
where the priest must have lived. The language of verses 39-56 leaves no 
doubt that these two women were inspired with the concept of God's 



772 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

salvation plan. The embodiment of the Aaronic priesthood (which John 
was) was consciously affected at first contact with the great embodiment 
of the Melchizedek priesthood, who was to bring life and salvation. 
Mary's reply to Elizabeth is suggestive of the fact that as Eve was blamed 
for her part in the fall, Mary will be praised for her part in nurturing 
the world's Eedeemer. Also that God uses the lowly and humble to 
overturn all the power of the mighty, and because of their teachableness 
will grant them gifts to which the rich are strangers. 

Lu. 1 :57-66. — The birth of John the Baptist would of course be a time 
of rejoicing. The mother had known what the child was to be named, 
and so she overruled the friends' attempt to call him after his father, but 
their importunity called out a verification of the name the mother had 
suggested, and the incident was the occasion of loosening the dumb 
tongue. By this means much public attention was called to the child. 

Lu. 1:67-79. — The grand old priest with his tongue loosened now 
blesses God for a Redeemer (the promised Messiah) and one who would 
save his people from their enemies and enable them by their conquests and 
supremacy to worship God fearlessly. Such a condition indicates that 
settled peace toward which Christianity is steadily and surely leading 
the world. 

Lu. 1 :80. — The statement concerning the childhood of the Baptist 
shows that he was much alone with nature (verse 80), a large factor in 
his healthy youthful development which fitted him in body and spirit to 
preach successfully repentance to the people. The last clause refers no 
doubt to the beginning of his public ministry. 

Matt. 1 : 18-2 5. — Under the circumstances of the birth of Jesus the 
story of the birth is given by both Matthew and Luke. Matthew gives the 
domestic details, matters which probably occurred after the return of 
Mary from Elizabeth, and after telling these facts he merely states that 
Mary brought forth a son and called him Jesus. This was six months 
after the birth of John the Baptist. 

Lu. 2:1-7. — Luke tells how he came to be born in a manger in Beth- 
lehem. Mary was not living in her native city where the prophets said 
Jesus was to be born, and probably the force of that prophecy had never 
occurred to her, but in due time God sent her there by means of an order 
from the government under which she lived. And so Caesar fulfilled the 
prophecies without knowing that he was doing so. 

Lu. 2 :8-14. — At this point Luke alone continues again the thread of 
the narrative. The appearance of angels to shepherds indicates that it 
was the common people who retained faith in the promises, and were 



GOSPEL. 773 

looking for their fulfillment. To such God's messenger came, and came 
while they were busy about their daily occupations, telling the shepherds 
where and how to find the Christ. In parts of Palestine shepherds sleep 
out with their flocks all winter. Angels joyfully announced the coming 
of Christ to earth, but never have been permitted to give the call to 
repentance which Christ's salvation has made necessary. The revised 
rendering in verse 14 conveys the idea that because of Christ, God is well 
pleased with men, i. e., being well pleased with Christ he is well pleased 
with all who are united to him. 

Lu. 2:15-20. — When the angel had gone the shepherds proved the 
matter by going into the village of Bethlehem and searching till they 
found the child, and then telling their experience with the angels. The 
story was a matter of wonder to all hearers, but Mary took special note 
of everything, studying the events diligently. 

Lu. 2:21. — According to Jewish usage the child was circumcised at 
eight days of age, and was formally named Jesus, as the angel Gabriel 
had commanded Mary. 

Matt. 2 :1-12. — It was about this time that there appeared a delegation 
of foreigners, who had been brought to Jerusalem by the appearance of 
a star. At their inquiry King Herod called together the readers of the 
law, who declared that, by the prophecies, Christ should be born at Beth- 
lehem. The jealous and hypocritical old wretch after he had learned 
exactly when the star appeared sent the star-guided worshipers to 
Bethlehem to find the child and bring him word. He claimed he wanted 
to worship him. In reality he meant to kill him. The strangers hurried 
joyfully on, but after they found Jesus and had worshiped him in the 
house, they were warned of God against Herod and sent home another 
way. 

Matt. 2 :13-15. — And now Joseph was warned to hurry at once to Egypt 
with his wife and the child. This journey would take two or three days. 
He obeyed instantly and departed by night. 

Matt. 2:16-18. — Possibly the slaughter took place while Joseph was 
yet on his way to Egypt. When the crazy old Herod, who was at that 
very time on his death-bed, learned that his distinguished visitors had 
disregarded him, he attempted to accomplish his purpose with a high 
hand. Everything under two years, which a mother might wrap in her 
arms, was slain. 'Keav Bethlehem Eachel was buried, and this was called 
Rachel's land. So the mothers of that land weeping for their children are 
pictured by the expression Bachel weeping for her children. That group 



774 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

of boy-babies who died for the sake of the world's Eedeemer would be 
an interesting sight to behold in the city of the blessed. 

Matt. 2:19-21. — Probably Joseph had no sooner reached Egypt than 
he was met by the angel and told that the brutal old king was dead and 
that therefore he might return to the land of Israel. It is not at all likely 
that Joseph was more than a few days in the land of Egypt. Herod died 
at the time of an eclipse close to the birth of Jesus. 

Lu. 2 :22-38. — At this point Luke again takes up the narrative. At the 
age of forty days the male Hebrew was to be presented to the Lord and 
a sacrifice offered. This I think without doubt took place after the flight 
to Egypt and return. While the babe was at the temple the aged and 
devout Simeon saw him and burst into rhapsodies over this babe, whom 
he declared to have brought salvation to both Jews and Gentiles. He 
blessed Joseph and Mary and spoke of the sword which should pierce the 
mother's soul, referring no doubt to the crucifixion. An aged prophetess, 
Anna, coming up at that moment, also testified of Jesus as the Messiah. 

Matt. 2 :22, 23 ; Lu. 2 :39. — Both Matthew and Luke now speak of the 
retirement to Galilee. . There can be little doubt that pressure was put 
upon the parents to remain in their native place, Judea, where the child 
might be seen about the temple, and it would be natural that they would 
desire to do so, but when Joseph heard that Archelaus (a young wretch) 
was reigning in his father's room, he was afraid to frequent Jerusalem, 
and at God's warning went to Galilee. This perfectly accords with Luke's 
statement that after they had accomplished at the temple all things 
according to law (at which time they heard who took up the rule of 
Herod) they returned to Xazareth. 

Lu. 2 :40, 41, notes an important fact. The child Jesus developed 
naturally, mentally and spiritually. "No doubt he was a close student of 
the Old Testament. That would make him naturally an honest toiler 
and strong mentally, and as a legitimate consequence he would grow in 
grace. And the starting point of it all is shown in verse 41. His parents 
were religious and faithful to the means of grace. They went year by 
year to the Passover, and Jesus was taught carefully about these things. 

Lu. 2:42-52. — Twelve years was the age at which the Jewish boy was 
admitted to the synagogue, and was called a son of the law. Jesus 
showed the bent of his disposition by keeping company with the doctors in 
the temple. After they had missed him in the homeward caravan and 
turned back seeking him, he replied in answer to his mother's question, 
"Did you not know that I wculd be in my Father's house?" (temple). 

Three writers, Matt. 3:1-12, Mark 1:2-8, Luke 3:1-18, speak of the 



GOSPEL. 775 

ministry of John the Baptist. There is an interval of about eighteen 
years between the incident of Jesus in the temple and this theme. In 
John the Levitical priesthood ended, and he merged all that dispensation 
back into the Melchizedek priesthood. His message was, "Show re- 
pentance to the extent of parting with your sins." That was the essence 
of all which the old dispensation had taught. John's habits of life were 
very simple, so that he had no distractions from his work. Locusts 
properly prepared made a favorite dish in those days. His earnestness 
and ability were evidenced by the fact that the people heard and heeded. 
Even the leaders were swept by the tide, and John met their hypocritical 
cant and egotistical self-justification by the retort of verse 9. As John 
put water upon them, God was to put upon them the Holy Ghost and fire 
of consuming energy. Mark is briefer than Matthew, referring to John 
simply as the herald of a royal person, while Luke notes still more than 
Matthew the details by which John taught them to bring forth fruits 
answerable to amendment of life. All note the fulfillment of prophecy. 

Jo. 1 :19-28. — At this point the Gospel by John drops in a testimony of 
the Baptist concerning himself. His success led the Jewish leaders to 
question him as to his identity. He plainly told them that he was the 
forerunner of the Messiah, who stood in their midst already. The 
watchword of this new kingdom was to be that measure of repentance 
which reformed the life. 

. Matt. 3 :13-17 and Mark 1 :9-il here give the account of the baptizing 
of Jesus. John did not at first understand why he should baptize Jesus 
until Jesus answered him in verse 15. Num. 8 :7, together with the logic 
of Hebrews on the Melchizedek priesthood, fully explains this verse. Just 
as the Baptist visibly put the water upon him, so God visibly manifested 
the descent of the spirit upon him, and audibly attested his Sonship. 

Lu. 3 :19, 20, mentions that Herod shut up John in prison because 
John had the courage and fidelity to rebuke Herod's sins. Here is 
evidence of how evil men will abuse power when it is put into their hands. 
He did not reform, but attempted to cover evil in his life by committing 
fresh atrocities. This statement is ahead of its chronological order, as 
what follows will show. 

Lu. 3 : 2 1-3 8 here states that Jesus having been baptized as Matthew 
and Mark have stated, began to teach, being the lawful priestly age. The 
genealogy here given is supposed by high authority to be that of Mary, 
and that Joseph is mentioned as son-in-law and legal head of the family, 
and after him the bride's father (Heli). Thus on the side both of father 
'(real and supposed) and mother, Jesus Christ was the Son of God. 



776 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Matt 4:1-11; Ma. 1:12, 1-3; Lu. 4:1-13.— Three writers describe the 
temptation, the first and third minutely. The devil attacks him at three 
strong points : 1, physical necessities ; 2, assumption of parental backing 
in presumptuous acts ; 3, worldly ambition. As to the first, Jesus replies 
that the word of God is as necessary as natural food. As to the second, 
no one, however secure, has a right to do fool things. Third, I am no 
time server. 

The evangelist John, 1 :29-37, here takes up' the narrative how John 
the Baptist, when he beheld Jesus, publicly proclaimed him as the 
Messiah, and pointed him out as such. He also states (verse 31) that in 
the divine economy John's preaching and baptizing was instituted that 
Jesus might be brought before the people in his proper relation. Verses 
35-37 show how John's testimony turned his followers to Jesus. 

Jo. 1. — In verses 38-51 John specifies that when Jesus saw the two 
disciples of the Baptist following him he asked them what they wanted, 
and after they said, "We are looking for your abode" (doubtless with a 
view to finding him at their will), he asked them home with him, where 
they staid the rest of the day (from 4 p. m. till evening). One was 
Andrew (the other is thought to be John, the writer of this book). 
Andrew, the first spontaneous follower, makes the first convert, his 
brother Peter. Next day Jesus went to Galilee, where Andrew and Peter 
lived, and found and called Philip, and Philip found Nathanael. From 
the remaining verses of the theme note: 1, that Nazareth was low in 
repute; 2, that these two were familiar with the law; 3, that Nathanael 
was a just man; 4, that God has great visions in store for faithful and 
pure believers. 

Jo. 2 :1-11. — John here gives an account of the first miracle. It was at 
a wedding. Curiously, John never mentions the name Mary, but always 
calls her the mother of Jesus. The question of Jesus, verse 4, indicates 
that his mother, convinced of his powers, was pushing him to perform 
miracles before the proper time. There is no evidence that a miracle 
was called for on this occasion, and Jesus doubtless did what he did 
simply to gratify his mother. However, his disciples, who were present, 
were confirmed by the display into greater admiration and confidence 
of Jesus. 

Jo. 2 :12. — Yerse 12 indicates that Jesus took his disciples for awhile to 
Capernaum. Whether the family had removed there from Nazareth, or 
whether they stayed with some friend, is not clear. 

Jo. 2 :13-22. — It was now near the Easter season and Jesus went with 
his disciples to the Passover at Jerusalem, where he had been taught to 



GOSPEL. 777 

go from childhood. Xow assuming the work of his ministry to which 
John's baptism had consecrated him, he asserts his prerogative as a 
Hebrew to drive the desecrators from the temple court. They claimed to 
be there as a matter of convenience to worshipers. In reality they were 
there as a matter of selfish gain. In any event they had no right in that 
court. The whip he made was to drive out the stock. His reply to the 
question they afterward asked him about a sign, showed that Jesus was 
satisfied from the beginning that this crowd with which he was now 
beginning to collide would kill him ultimately. Yet he had the noble 
courage to begin the clash. 

Jo. 2 :23-25. — While he was in Jerusalem he seems to have performed 
miracles which convinced many beholders, but Jesus knew them too well 
to trust these creatures of impulse, and so he left the plants of their 
enthusiasm to either grow into permanency by enduring amid difficulties 
or to wither away as was to be expected of such as had no root. Such would 
have received Jesus with much display, but in the first conflict of truth 
with error would have abandoned him to the mercies of his enemies. 

Jo. 3 :1-21. — While here, a noted ruling phariseee, Nicodemus, came to 
Jesus privately and declared that these miracles proved that God was 
with him. That remark opened the way for Jesus to assert that all men 
who would belong to the kingdom of God must be born from above. 
Nicodemus thought of another fleshly birth, and wondered how it could 
be, but Jesus explained — a man must be born twice, of water (fleshly 
birth) and of spirit. The following verse confirms that construction, as 
does also verse 8. When the ruler expressed incredulity Jesus said, One 
in your station ought to be able to understand so simple a proposition, 
but if I tell you what I know by experience, and you cannot take it in, 
how can you hope to take in the higher truth ? I alone have brought you 
a message from heaven, and so I must be exalted before the world that all 
who desire eternal life may gain it by me. For God sent me here to that 
end because of his love for the world, not to bring judgment, but to 
deliver every believer from judgment, leaving the unbelievers under the 
judgment as they were before my coming. And in time to come it will 
only be an aggravation of that judgment to have to own that light came 
and that men would not walk by it, especially since verses 20 and 21 are 
so manifestly true. This discourse, if it did not make Mcodemus an open 
friend of Jesus, at least made him a secret one, as Jno. 19 :39 shows. 

Jo. 3 :22. — After this Jesus made a short stay in Judea, preaching and 
baptizing. So both he and John were preaching and baptizing at the 
same time. 



778 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jo. 3 : 23-3 6. — Aenon, being in a desert place, was selected by John as 
a place of operation because there was about there waters sufficient to 
supply the multitudes who went out to hear him. The success of John's 
work brought up the question of purifying, and probably the language 
of verse 26 (viz., that the whole face of the earth was going out to Jesus) 
was a retort as to the utility of John's work. John answered, The fact 
that he succeeds is proof of heaven's approbation. I said I was not the 
Christ, but simply his forerunner, therefore as a friend of him who is the 
Bridegroom, I greatly rejoice at his success. He must increase, and I 
decrease, for he is from above, and therefore over all. He can tell of what 
ho knows, and while comparatively few accept his word, yet those who do 
know experimentally the truth of his statements, for he receives the 
spirit copiously, and through this Son of God is the only way to eternal 
life. 

The two statements of Matt. 4:12 and Jno. 4:1-3 taken together suggest 
that there had been comparisons drawn between the work of John and 
Jesus, and that some might contend that this had something to do with 
John's arrrest. Hence Jesus returned to Galilee. 

Jo. 4:4-26. — On his way there he would pass through Samaria if he 
took the short cut. No orthodox Jew ever went that wa}^, so much did 
they hate the Samaritans. At noon, while Jesus waited at Jacob's well 
for his disciples to bring food from the city, he had conversation with the 
Samaritan woman by which he showed that salvation was for all people 
who would believe, irrespective of nationality, and announced himself to 
this woman as the expected Messiah. Jesus did not share any of that 
ill feeling which existed between Jews and Samaritans. 

Jo. 4:27-38. — The disciples returned^ marveling that he talked with 
this woman, but while they wondered she was spreading the news oi 
this strange prophet's words, and immediately people began to come out 
to see and hear him. The disciples said eat, but Jesus was so full of his 
blessed subject that he answered them as in verse 32. Evidently he had 
rather teach than eat. He drew a practical application by charging them, 
Do not say it is four months yet till harvest time (it was then April, 
Passover season), for I tell you if you will look about you, you will see 
the fields now suffering to be harvested, and for that work you may 
receive a rich reward. 

Jo. 4 :39-42. — Those who came out at the word of the woman were so 
interested that they prevailed upon Jesus to stay with them two days. 
After that much of his teaching they were able to testify from their own 
experience that he was the Savior of the world. 



GOSPEL. 779 

Ma. 1:14, 15; Lu. 4:14, 15; Jo. 4 :43-45.— Here begins the ministry of 
Jesus in Galilee. Mark, Luke and John mention that he was graciously 
received. Yerse 44 in John doubtless means that he toured Galilee, but 
did not preach much at Nazareth because it was his home. The Galileans 
in general received him gladly, having heard of his reputation. 

Jo. 4 :46-54. — At Cana the nobleman came from Capernaum, probably 
a short day's journey away, and besought Jesus to heal his sick son. The 
reply of Jesus to him was meant to set him to thinking, and so stimulate 
his faith. The final command of Jesus regarding the case tested the faith 
of the nobleman, and because he believed, God granted him according to 
his faith. The probable meaning of verse 54 is that Jesus worked the 
first miracle at Cana, and after he came out of Judea worked also the 
second one there. 

Lu. 4:16-30. — Now, Luke records, he goes to his home city, Nazareth. 
Here in the synagogue he read from Isaiah and preached a most gracious 
sermon, showing that this prophecy was fulfilled in himself. As was to 
be expected, many resented his remarks because they were familiar with 
his childhood and youth. Hence his comment in verses 23 and 24. Then 
he illustrates his points with two familiar cases in Jewish history, showing 
that strangers showed faith above God's chosen people, and so were 
honored of God more than the Israelites. This unanswerable argument 
made their wrath boil, and they attempted to take his life. However, he 
disappeared from their midst. 

Matt. 4:13-17. — At this point he leaves Nazareth as a dwelling place 
and goes to live at Capernaum, thus fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy con- 
cerning the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. 

Matt. 4:18-22; Ma. 1 :16-20. — This call of Simon, Andrew, James and 
John mentioned here by Matthew and Mark indicates that these persons 
had not continued with Jesus all the time since the marriage at Oana. 
They were doubtless with him part of the time and at home the remainder. 
But from this point forth they were constantly with him. 

Matt. 4:23-25. — Jesus now begins work on a large scale, and the days 
were filled with works of mercy as he tours Galilee preaching the kingdom 
and establishing his claim of Messiaship by wondrous miracles of healing. 

Matt. 5 :l-12 t — This sermon on the mount is a most prominent event 
of the ministry in Galilee. The mount mentioned is some one of the hills 
west of the sea of Galilee. The beatitudes make a text for the entire 
discourse. They deal with seven phases of a just life. The sermon dwells 
at length on these points and develops them in detail, but not, as will be 



780 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

seen, in the precise order in which they occur in the text. Commit the 
text, verses 1-12, and note the development of the points. 

Matt. 5. — Verses 13-16 deal with the poor in spirit, speaking of the 
preservative influence of Christ's disciples. Those who are consciously 
destitute of the good necessary to their perfection and happiness are 
the very class who turn to God's salvation plan for help, and so become 
the ones who are justified by faith. In those days there was collected 
stacks of ore containing salt. These were exposed to the weather as 
used, and in process of time the salt would wash out of them, and then 
the saltless ore was used to make walks. This explains verse 13. God's 
people are to have a preservative influence over the sinful masses, and 
to shed them light, failing to do which they are missing the great end 
and aim of their calling. 

Matt. 5 :17-20. — They that mourn would be such as look forward to 
the fulfillment of the promises of old, and who are sorrowful because of 
the delay in fulfillment. Such, he declares, shall be comforted in this 
fact, that Christ's work in carrying out the salvation scheme shall 
perfectly fulfill all those blessed hopes which span as a rainbow the storm 
of tears. So perfectly should all that was promised be fulfilled that 
everything in the law should find its highest exemplification in the 1 just 
life and character of Christ's followers, who should be more than the 
mere pretenders (the scribes and pharisees) whose religion consisted 
solely in form and ceremony. The kingdom of heaven mentioned here 
refers to the collection of Christ's true disciples forming his kingdom on 
earth. 

Matt. 5 :21-26. — In defining the conditions of peace he defines the term 
meek. Not only are the murderous passions to be subdued, -but anger and 
evil speaking are to be restrained, since thoughts and words are the feeders 
of action. In accordance with this spirit, anyone making offering to God 
and remembering that a brother has aught against him, must first be 
reconciled to his brother. Agreeable to this thought, if an adversary have 
a case against one, he should yield unresistingly, and have the matter 
settled to avoid further trouble. Such is meekness. 

Matt. 5 :27-32. — The next two themes contain directions as to how to 
be pure in heart. In verses 27-32 the Savior gives a comprehensive 
definition of unchastity. The real source of uncleanness is in the thought 
which must of necessity precede the act. Therefore, if seeing causes you 
to stumble, quit looking, and if doing causes you to stumble, cease your 
activity in that direction. Better go into life ignorant of, or having 
missed many things, than to have that knowledge or experience to 



GOSPEL. 781 

eternally damn you. And further, the abominable habit of divorce 
without just cause is making adulterers both of the divorced woman and 
her subsequent consort. 

Matt. 5. — Verses 33-37 warn against swearing. The rule against 
which Jesus spoke said, If you take an oath you shall perform it ; but he 
said, Take no oath, for it is unnecessary. Say "Yes" and "No? and 
•mean that. Violent protests of sincerity accomplish nothing. Their 
very utterance raises doubt as to the habitual truthfulness of the one 
who utters them. These are most timely directions to a righteous man, 
and while they do not necessarily counsel against oath taking in the 
courts of law, they do demonstrate a better method than that in practice. 

Matt. 5 :38-42. — Now come two themes regarding the merciful. Verses 
38-42 give a formula as to the treatment of evil. The just man is not 
to employ himself eternally contending for his utmost rights, but to 
cultivate that spirit of trustfulness in fellow beings of which spirit and 
practice mean people take advantage to wrong you. The thought is, do 
not cultivate the spirit of suspicion because there are mean people in the 
world, but rather cultivate the spirit of confidence even at the risk of 
being occasionally wronged. 

Matt. 5 :43-48. — The other theme is akin to this. Love your enemies — 
not their enmity, but themselves. The just man is not to busy himself 
in laying deep designs and working out schemes of vengeance against his 
enemies. This, however, is no command to forgive before forgiveness 
its asked, for that no one has any right to do, but loving them (not their 
sin), and bringing to bear upon them all his interest by praying for them, 
he thus imitates to the best of his ability the character of God in heaven, 
and by observing the rule of doing the best he knows in displaying the 
gifts and graces of his Godlike spirit, he is accounted as perfect, like 
his heavenly Father. 

Matt. 6:1-4. — Four themes are used under the head of those who 
hunger and thirst after righteousness. The very expression suggests 
intensity of desire. And first of all, to do things for the sake of display 
is to fail of the whole spirit of God-likeness. And so Jesus says, If like 
the hypocrites, you do your works for display, that is all the reward you 
will ever get. t But on the other hand, the rule is to work in that spirit of 
intense quietude which does work for righteousness sake. Do not even be 
declaiming to yourself about the matter (let not your left hand know the 
action of your right hand), the thought being intensity of quietude. 
Such resistless activity shall bring tremendous reward* in God's good time 
and in his great day. 



782 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Matt. 6 :5-15. — Again as to prayer: He who desires the coming of the 
kingdom will pray much, but not for display. Neither will he use vain 
repetitions, but will formulate his desire logically. Here Jesus gives a 
formula by which to build prayers: 1. Constant recognition of God, his 
relation to us, and our duty toward him. 2. Intense desire for the 
establishment of his kingdom on earth. 3. Petition for our daily supplies. 
4. Petition for forgiveness as we cultivate a like spirit. 5. Divine 
guidance so that every path we tread may lead to great triumph over evil. 
Here he calls special attention to the fact that prayer for forgiveness 
necessarily implies readiness to forgive those seeking pardon of him who 
prays. 

Matt. 6:16-18. — In like manner the hearers are cautioned against 
fasting for display. To get virtue from that self-denial they must 
practice it in such a way as that no one but the person and his God is 
likely to know of it. Such spirit and practice in self-denial is sure to bring 
from God the results here promised. 

Matt. 6:19-31. — Perhaps most important of all in hungering and 
thirsting after righteousness is to so carefully direct our life toil that its 
results will be not a mere collection of perishable riches, but wealth of 
accomplishments for God. Two results will issue : 1. The affections will 
be set on heaven because the riches are there. 2. The vision being fixed 
upon such a consummation, the whole being w T ill glow with the reflected 
light of the glorious future. But if one has nothing but darkness to 
which to look forward the present will be as dark as the future. A man 
cannot be a servant of God and at the same time a slave of riches. If he 
does not actually hate, he will at least despise one or the other, so sharply 
are their methods contrasted. Therefore one shall not fill himself with 
anxious care as to food and raiment. These are mere incidents of life. 
Even the birds are fed and clothed of God, and it stands to reason that 
a human being is more valuable in God's sight than they. So thoroughly 
is a man's well being bound up in the heart of God that the finite 
creature may not by any conceivable effort make any change in his 
physical stature. Hence the folly of spending one's self in anxious care 
about raiment. If the lilies outvie Solomon in the splendor of their 
raiment, shall not God, who clothes them, clothe his children ? Therefore, 
make your life work the work of God's kingdom, and give no- anxious care 
to perplexities of daily living, dealing simply with each day's difficulties 
as they come to hand. 

Matt. 7:1-5 deals with the question of peacemakers. The habit of 
passing judgment on fellow beings is the prolific source of trouble. It 



GOSPEL. 783 

is evident that those who are apt in passing judgment upon others are 
bound to be condemned by their own standards, for those standards which 
they apply to others are the measure of their light. Such can see a mere 
speck in another's character when he cannot discover a whole rotten side 
in his own. The essence 'of this advice is, look within first that you 
may be competent to look without you. 

Matt. 7:6. — The remainder of the sermon is encouragement to such as 
are enough in earnest about the cause of righteousness to endure 
persecution for it. In the first place the individual energy should be so 
adapted that one may not suffer needlessly. Spend time in exhorting a 
swine to be polite and you waste time, energy, and get your clothes soiled. 
And the same is true of some people. 

Matt. 7 :7-ll. — But that a just man may best use his energies, wisdom 
is necessary. It comes from God and comes by asking. (Jas. 1:5-8.) 
The assurance is given to such as ask, ask habitually (seek), ask 
persistently (knock). That such a one should have granted his heart's 
desire is argued from all human experience. He will certainly have to 
endure persecution, but will certainly succeed in his attempts. 

Matt. 7 :12-14. — Religious activity is comprehended in a sentence which 
sums up all that has been written about man's duty to man. That means 
to walk in a way that is bounded on either side by prohibitions. Evil 
men want that large liberty of action which means license to do as they 
please, right or wrong. And they mean to persecute anyone who attempts 
to restrict them in any degree. 

Matt. 7 : 15-23. — False teachers are sure to arise to pervert every truth. 
They pretend righteousness, and can be known only by the fruits of their 
lives. They are the most forward of all to heap reproaches on the head 
of the just who plod on in faithful toil for Christ's sake. Their wolfish 
natures deserve the end which Jesus here declares shall come upon them. 
They shall have no part in the kingdom of heaven, even though they 
profess themselves to have worked in the name of the Lord, for they have 
neither used his methods nor had his approval. Such as they are never 
persecuted for righteousness sake. 

Matt. 7:24-27. — In conclusion, this sermon, like the Mosaic law, sets 
forth blessings for duty and curses for neglect. Hearing the right 
without doing it is like building on the sand. Better never have heard 
and never have built. Anything to be substantial must have a suitable 
foundation. The closing verses indicate that man is too great a being 
to make his life a failure. Xo opposition from man or devil should be 



784 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

made an excuse for such failure, since God has promised the righteous all 
needed help. 

Matt. 7 :28, 29. — The effect of the sermon was immediate and marked. 
The masses noted that it was an entirely different quality of teaching 
from that given by the public teachers of Judaism. Nothing like it had 
ever been heard in the Jewish nation since the days of Moses and Sinai. 
And so they were visibly moved. 

Matt. 8 :l-4. — As a consequence of such teaching Jesus would quickly 
have a great following. Such a fame of him went out that multitudes 
were convinced of his intimate relation to God, and believed he had 
power to work miracles, and the matter was talked till it became a subject 
of discussion among those who were shut out from the common walks 
of men. Hence this request of the leper who had come to believe in the 
power of Christ to heal. Jesus was willing to heal him, but this physical 
healing was not his business here, but only an incident. And that his 
real business be not overwhelmed by applications of this sort, he com- 
mands him to keep it quiet, and observe the legal regulations that he 
might get back again into society. 

Matt. 8:5-13. — But no matter how quiet this healed man might be 
(and there is no evidence that he kept quiet), great numbers of the sick 
and suffering would be sure to hear of Jesus and his power to relieve. So 
this Eoman commander came to him pleading for a sick servant, and 
showing such marked respect for the person and work of Jesus that the 
Master involuntarily contrasted it with the kind of treatment he had 
received at Nazareth from his own countrymen, and used the language 
of verses 10-12 to show that faith anywhere in the world would be 
regarded and rewarded, and that such people would be honored far above 
the class who have greater light and less faith. The last verse of the 
theme shows how Jesus loved to honor such faith. 

Ma. 1:21-28; Lu. 4:31-37. — The healing of the demoniac probably 
occurred in close connection with the preceding theme. Only Matthew 
mentions the first, but Mark and Luke make note of his preaching in the 
S3 r nagogue at Capernaum and the impression that was made. No doubt 
the words of Jesus stirred up the evil spirit in the man, as it is common 
experience that righteous testimony calls out from such spirits either 
ridicule or raving. The power of Jesus to cast out such spirits intensified 
the people's awe of him, and Galilee began to ring with his praises. As 
soon as Jesus began his work of ministry the evil spirit began to rail. 

Matt. 8 :14, 15 ; Ma. 1 :29-31 ; Lu. 4 :38, 39.— It was natural that when 
the company was in Capernaum they should go to the home of the 



GOSPEL. 785 

disciples who lived there. Possibly the fact that Peter's mother had fever 
accounted for their going to Capernaum at this time. It is evident by 
what the first three evangelists say that Jesus took her by the hand, stood 
over her, rebuked the disease, and raised her up. So complete was the 
cure that she was able to entertain them. 

Matt. 8:16, 17; Ma. 1:32-39; Lu. 4 :40-44.— These miracles would set 
the land aflame, and so the multitudes brought their sick in the cool of 
the day to have Jesus heal them. The reference of Matthew to Isaiah 
does not mean that the people made any attempt to fulfill the prophecies, 
but simply that in this manner was fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah, 
who foretold that such a one as Jesus would be so compassionate that he 
would heal every afflicted one who should be brought to him. And because 
the evil spirit recognized Jesus as the Son of God, because he had power 
over them, they no doubt taunted him about his holiness, and so he would 
not permit them to rail on with their taunts. Before light came next 
day he had gone away from Capernaum, but the people followed and tried 
to keep nim, but he declared that he must be about his chief mission, 
which was to preach and not to heal. 

Lu. 5 :l-3. — But the multitudes continued to crowd after him. They 
were now on the lake ehore, so for convenience sake he stepped into 
Peter's boat and pushed off from the shore a little so he could the more 
easily address the throng. This theme in Luke makes it evident that 
when the disciples were not actually with Jesus they were following 
their usual occupations. It must be that they supported themselves 
while they followed Jesus. 

Lu. 5:4-11. — After the sermon from Peter's boat Jesus performs 
another marked miracle. He said to Peter, Push out from the shore and 
let down your net. Peter said, Though we have worked all night and 
did no good, yet I will do as you say. Little did he think what was about 
to happen. It would seem that Jesus performed this miracle as a private 
object lesson to his disciples, and it was likely a turning point in their 
lives. From this time on they were probably much more in the company 
of Jesus, and were learning how to become successful fishers of men. 
They were vastly impressed with the divine power of Jesus. 

Ma. 1:40-45; Lu. 5:12-16. — Mark and Luke here speak of a leper 
being healed. Many suppose this to be the same case as that mentioned in 
Matt. 8, because similar language is used, but I think it an entirely 
different case, and at a much later date. This, Luke says, happened in a 
city. The other was when he first came down from the mountain, 
probably at its base. And Mark tells us that this man blazed abroad the 



7«6 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

story of his cure immensely. Indeed it is doubtful whether he ever got 
to the priest to offer what Moses commanded of a cleansed leper. Jesus 
performed these cures for pity's sake, but did not want his work to be 
hindered by a great reputation for healing bodies. But they could not 
keep it quiet, and you will hardly censure them if you read the description 
of that dreadful disease in the book of Leviticus. The joy of being cured 
must have been prodigious, and they fairly ran to tell it. It would be 
difficult to say how many lepers Jesus had cured among the miracles he 
was now working. 

Matt. 8 :18-22. — But the crowds were now becoming so dense x and so 
importunate that Jesus thought best to cross the lake to get free from 
them. A certain scribe offered to become a disciple. Jesus showed him 
that he must expect association with poverty and toil. No doubt this 
scribe thought Jesus would have an honored place to offer him. Jesus ■ 
had nothing but discouragement for such. To the one who wanted to 
suspend the duties of discipleship for home duties he said, Let those 
duties be done by those who will not do these greater duties. 

Matt. 8 :23-27. — Now they start across the lake. On the way the tired 
Master falls asleep and one of those sudden storms comes down upon the 
lake of Galilee for which it is so noted. The rowers attempted to manage 
the boat, and when disaster seems sure to them they waken him and 
implore his help. First he reminds them that it is want of faith on their 
part to believe that the ship would go down with him aboard, arid then 
shows his power over the elements of nature by making the winds to hush 
and the waters to cease their tossing. The power which he exerted over 
the storm was a matter of awe to the disciples, even though they had 
witnessed his former miracles. 

Matt. 8 :28-34. — On the east side of the lake two men met him possessed 
of demons. They had such a reputation that the inhabitants were 
thoroughly afraid of them. The demoniacal spirits at once recognized 
the power of Jesus, and besought him, if they must leave the men, to be 
allowed to go into the swine. But the granting of their request proved 
to be their destruction, for a combination of devil and swine is imme- 
diately self -explosive. They went pell mell by the supposedly impassable 
route down into the lake, and Galilee closed over them forever. The 
keepers fled almost as terror-stricken as the hogs, and soon the whole 
country was astir, and possibly fearing nameless evils, they besought 
Jesus to leave their country. 

Matt. 9:1-8; Ma. 2:1-12; Lu. 5:17-26.— Jesus granted their request, 
and as by this time the excitement in Capernaum had somewhat settled, 



GOSPEL. 787 

he recrossed the lake to Capernaum. But word soon spread that he had 
returned, and the crowds packed the place, even visitors from Jerusalem 
and Judea ; pharisees, and doctors of the law. Four men came carrying a 
paralytic and were obliged to take off a part of the flat roof of the house 
in order to get him into the presence of Jesus. Mark and Luke mention 
this, but Matthew says nothing of their removing the roof. When Jesus 
said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," these pharisees and others began to 
find fault, saying it was blasphemy. Then Jesus proved it was not 
blasphemy by curing the man of pals} r so that he rose from his couch and 
went home. So the multitudes were more than ever convinced of his 
divinity and glorified God, but it is very probable that these self-righteous 
pharisees and others who could not brook even an opinion different from 
their own, went sullenly away to wait for some other opportunity to accuse 
him. 

Matt. 9:9; Ma. 2:13, 14; Lu. 5:27, 28. — At this time he finds by the 
seaside Matthew, or as Mark and Luke call him, Levi, at his place of 
business as a tax collector. Jesus calls him to be a disciple, for he sees 
in him the elements of a good preacher of righteousness. And Matthew 
leaves his business and goes after Jesus, joining himself to the disciples. 

Jo. 5 :l-9. — Jesus goes to the Passover feast at Jerusalem. The events 
here mentioned, while they did not take place in Galilee, do properly 
belong under the head of ministry in Galilee, for they occur within that 
period. While he is there he heals the man who for thirty-eight years 
had been afflicted. It seems from this account that there was believed 
to be virtue in this water when it was troubled, although the best editions 
of the Greek Testament and the revised omit the last part of verse 3 and 
all of verse 4 as spurious, i. e., not in the original. However, verse 7 
practically covers the same ground. It is evident that Jesus here used his 
power without the sick man even knowing who he was. As to the history 
of this pool we are left to guess, nothing authentic being known about it. 
The point of importance is that Jesus cured the man of his long sickness 
and sent him away sound and rejoicing. 

Jo. 5:10-16. — The second theme of this lesson introduces a strange 
fact of history, viz., that they who will to be righteous shall suffer 
persecution. So far had those Jewish leaders gone from the spirit of the 
law that they were ready to quarrel with this restored invalid for folding 
up the cot on which he had lain helpless for years and walking away 
with it. The invalid reasoned justly that if one had power to heal him, 
then his order to take up the bed was proper. But these prejudiced bigots 
would not admit that reasoning, and wanted to know who the healer was, 



788 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

only that they might persecute him. As soon as the cured man found 
out, he innocently told them, and at once they began their evil persecution 
of Jesus. The language of verse 14 does not argue that the man's previous 
condition was the result of his sin, but says, Cease from sin, or it will 
bring upon you worse evils than the sickness of which you have just been 
cured. 

Jo. 5 :17, 18. — The reply of Jesus was in substance this : God has been 
working from the beginning up to this moment, doing on week days and 
on Sabbath by what is called natural law just what Jesus had here done 
by a shorter process. Hence Jesus rightly claims the privilege of doing 
similar work even on the Sabbath without in any sense doing violence to 
its sanctity. They did not stop to weigh the argument, but broke out into 
violent demonstrations against Jesus because he called himself the Son 
of God, as well as violated (as they considered) the Sabbath. They failed 
to perceive that their murderous passions were much more serious as an 
offense than the mere violation of their interpretation of Sabbatic law. 

In the declaration of Jo. 5 :19-29 Jesus says that he is doing just what 
he sees the Father do. He declares that God has given him power in 
himself to give life, and committed into the hands of Jesus the judgment 
of the human family. Elsewhere he shows that men are to be judged by 
the words he speaks. And so, honor to God the Father means honor 
to the Son, and to hear and accept the words of Jesus is to pass from 
under the condemnation of sin into a condition of justification, and such 
shall have no part in the judgment hereafter, except, as we are* elsewhere 
shown, to sit as associate justices with Jesus in passing upon the char- 
acter and retribution of the wicked. And thus it is that many under the 
domains of death should come into life through the word of Jesus, seeing 
that Jesus was the possessor of life ; and not only this, but finally all the 
departed should come out of their graves either to be with Jesus, or to be 
banished by him to the place of evil. 

Jo. 5 : 30-47. — In confirmation of this, God himself bears testimony to 
the position occupied by Jesus. Jesus judges according to principles laid 
down by the Father, with whom the plan of salvation originated. The 
thought of verse 31 is that if there was nobody but one's self to testify 
of his works it would be good evidence that the testimony was not true, 
but John the Baptist testified of Jesus, and he calls attention to the fact 
for the sake of convincing the Jews (who believed in John). But, 
continues Jesus, I have still better evidence than the witness of John, 
for the fact that I do such works is sufficient evidence of the Father's 
testimony of me. You have not seen God, and the fact that you will not 



GOSPEL. 789 

be convinced by these evidences show that you are not in touch with his 
word. You search your scriptures, thinking that they give you life and 
testify of your coming Messiah, but you refuse to come to him when he 
appears in your midst, yet you will follow a false prophet. For this 
reason the very scriptures you search will rise to condemn you in the 
day of accounts, because Moses testified of me, and if you believed Moses 
you would believe me. 

Matt. 9 :10-13 ; Ma. 2 :15-17 ; Lu. 5 :29-32.— The feast of Matthew took 
place in Galilee. For some time now Matthew had been a disciple of 
Jesus and had become well established in the faith. The pharisee 
ceremonialists began to croak as usual because Jesus mingled with what 
they considered the lower classes. Jesus' answer to them was to this 
effect : If I am come to call sinners to repentance, why do you object to 
my going among that class? You think you are righteous and do not 
need a Savior ; why then do you object to my going among acknowledged 
sinners, instead of you, who profess not to need me ? It was a knock-down 
argument, but Jesus does not say nor intimate that these pharisees were 
not also sinners. Indeed, he shows elsewhere that they were the very 
worst class of sinners. It will be noted that the first three Gospel writers 
mention this feast. 

Matt 9:14-17; Ma. 2:18-22; Lu. 5:33-39.— The same three mention 
the answer of Jesus to John's disciples. On the occasion of a certain 
fast, they want to know why the disciples of Jesus do not likewise. 
Jesus lets them a little into the future by showing that after awhile he 
will not be with them, and then his disciples may fast. He illustrates the 
fitness of holding to a policy adapted to his particular system by showing 
that new cloth sewed into an old garment is likely to tear the old garment, 
as new wine, by fermenting, will burst old wine skins, and so the attempt 
to operate one system by the methods of another is likely to accomplish 
nothing for either. 

Matt. 9 :18-26. — Just about this time a ruler comes to ask Jesus in 
behalf of his expiring child. As Jesus, followed by a throng, goes toward 
his home, a woman, for twelve years an invalid, pressed through the 
throng and touched his garment, believing that she should be healed. 
And she was. Jesus probably knew she was coming, and after she had 
touched him, addressed her and healed her. He honored the faith which 
brought her to him by granting her in return for it her desires. At the 
ruler's house he ordered the hired mourners to cease their tumult, because 
the maid was only sleeping. The ill-mannered mob taunted and ridiculed 



790 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

him, and for that reason he demanded that all should be put out before he 
performed the miracle of restoring her. 

Matt. 9 :27-31. — On his way from there two blind men besought him 
for their sight. After they had expressed their faith in his power to 
restore their sight he touched their eyes and they saw. He charged them 
to be quiet, but they did not mind him. 

Matt. 9 :32-31. — The healing of a dumb man so amazed the multitudes 
that their praise of Jesus was more than the jealous pharisees could stand. 
And so, because they could find nothing else against him, they had to 
resort to the pitiable accusation of verse 34. So far will jealousy prompt 
its slaves to go. 

Matt. 9 :35-38. — But Jesus went right on with his work. He taught, 
he preached, he healed. It stirred his soul to see the hungry people who 
needed to be fed with the word. This brought out the exclamation of 
verses 37 and 38. He felt that he needed co-workers to assist him in 
multiplying the very work in which he was then engaged. 

Matt. 10 :1. — This "Sending out of the twelve. The charge to them," is 
a sub-topic of "Ministry in Galilee." It has seven minors (separated from 
each other by quarter lines) . The first one is the ordination. The simple 
statement is here made by Matthew that "Jesus called the disciples to 
him and gave them authority, etc." Much may be read between the lines. 
The details of that service would be wonderfully interesting reading. 
Just what the Savior said to them and just what he did would on such an 
occasion be most absorbing in its nature, but the superior wisdom of God 
has withheld them from us in order that a main fact might stand out 
prominently, viz., that he had power and that he did actually give his 
disciples power over all the disorder in the human nature, and sent them 
out to exercise their gifts and graces. 

Matt. 10:2-4. — Here is given a list of the twelve apostles. We are not 
given the time or circumstances of the call of each of these apostles, but 
here is the point where they are formally ordained and sent out to do the 
work which Jesus instituted. It will be well to commit to memory this 
list. 

Matt. 10:5-15. — The place and character of their ministry was 
definitely pointed out. The first heralding of the work of Jesus Christ 
was to be done among those who were prepared through the past ages 
to receive it. The Gentiles were not in touch with this great scheme of 
God to redeem the world. It would logically be supposed that the 
Israelites would furnish a more readily fruitful field than would the 
Gentile world. The Samaritans were a mixed race put into Samaria by 



GOSPEL. 791 

the Assyrians after the kingdom of Israel was carried captive. They 
were held in profound contempt by the Jews, partly because of their 
mixed blood and partly because after they were denied the privilege to 
help build the temple in the days of Zerubbabel they did all they could 
to hinder the work, and finally built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim 
(the Mount of Blessing — Josh. 8:33). While Jesus took no sides in 
that feud, and although as the sequel proved, he intended salvation for 
all men on equal terms, yet he did not want at this stage to complicate 
difficulties by stirring up that tribal prejudice. Hence he said, Keep to 
the Israelites just now. Of the work which he commissioned them to do, 
the first and foremost thing was to preach the Gospel, and announce the 
presence of Christ's kingdom on earth. The healing, the life-giving, the 
cleansing and casting out of demons were simply power given them to 
corroborate their divine commission, the greatest feature of which was the 
preaching of that Gospel which was to so transform the world that by and 
by these things would not need to be done. And they were charged not to 
create the impression that they were preaching for money, but to give 
freely what God had given them. And those who meanly mistreated them 
would have to answer to God. The expression, "Let your peace return 
to you/' simply meant to withhold your blessing. 

Matt. 10:16-23. — The manner of their behavior is next in importance 
to the message they bore. They were charged to show penetration of 
judgment and gentleness of action. They were warned against the 
hypocrisy of men, but this most valuable advice given. Don't become 
panic-stricken and forget or neglect your message in an effort to prepare 
speeches to vindicate yourselves. Tell your simple story and that shall 
prove your best defense, and shall also carry the truth into the high 
places. Your work shall give rise to much strife and persecution, and you 
shall be hated and forced to flee from place to place. But do it willingly, 
for by the time you have gone over the ground, I will call for you. 

Matt. 10 :24-33. — Now Jesus - states a reason for the directions he had 
given. Seeing that they have said the meanest possible things of me, 
you must expect them to treat you likewise. But do not be afraid. All 
they do and say shall be brought to light, and you may openly proclaim 
these facts which I am here telling you privately. Do not be afraid of 
such people. Fear God, who cares even for the birds, and who will 
certainly care for you. Stress is here laid on the matter of publicly 
owning the Master. 

Matt. 10 : 3 4-3 9. — Another most important matter was to forearm the 
disciples against discouragements. They must. not conclude that their 



792 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

work is doing harm rather than good because trouble arises of it. The 
first and partial effect of the preaching of the truth would be to stir up 
great opposition, and his people must be willing to encounter such 
opposition if they are worthy to be called the disciples of Jesus, for 
spending of life in so worthy a cause is the strongest possible commen- 
dation of ourselves to him in the great hereafter. God wants service 
here at any cost, and nothing must be allowed to stand between the 
individual and the service due. The first of verse 39 refers to sparing 
one's self trouble for the truth's sake. The surest way to find life 
ultimately and fully is to spare no trouble for the truth's sake. 

Matt. 10 :40-42. — The assurance follows logically. They need not weary 
themselves about the manner of reception they receive. They are the 
representatives of a world-wide kingdom and a mighty King, and those 
who treat well the ambassadors of such a power shall have their reward, 
while those who do them ill must take the responsibility. And the 
language here shows that whatever good men do shall be rewarded, even 
to the simplest act. The king himself shall some day distribute the 
recompense to men as they deserve. 

Matt. 11 :l-6. — Jesus now goes his way to continue his ministry while 
his disciples perform their work. John, who at this time was in prison, 
sent by his disciples to know of Jesus whether he was the Messiah. It is 
not impossible that John's pitiable treatment at the hands of the 
authorities led him to wonder if after all Jesus was only a prophet of 
the new dispensation, and that the Messiah, who had all power, might be 
coming after him. The answer of Jesus in verses 2-6 was all compre- 
hensive. "Tell John what you see and hear," etc. The works testify to 
his character. Blessed then is the one who shall believe in him. 

Matt. 11 :7-19. — As the messengers went away Jesus spoke to the 
people about John. The three questions which he asked were simply to 
arrest the strict attention of the multitude that he might impress upon, 
them John's standing as a prophet, and then show by comparison the 
greatness of membership in Christ's kingdom (kingdom of heaven). 
The reason .why membership in Christ's kingdom was greater than the 
office of any prophet was because the salvation of Jesus Christ was the 
essence and end of all about which they prophesied. The language of 
verse 12 probably refers to the violence manifested by the pharisees and 
their sympathizers toward Jesus and his work. John was the last of the 
old dispensation, and with him ended the dispensation of the law and 
the prophets. As Elijah stood for a representative of the prophets, so 
when it was promised that a great prophet should come before the 



GOSPEL. TO 

ushering in of the dispensation of Christ, that prophet was called Elijah. 
The closing language of this theme Jesus uses to say that the attitude of 
the people reminds him of playing children. The inconsistent con- 
trariness so often shown by children in their play is here shown in their 
treatment of John and Jesus. The last clause means that it is a good 
thing to be consistent. 

Matt. 11 :20-24. — The upbraiding of the cities shows something of the 
character of the final judgment. These cities had light and opportunity 
which they would not embrace. The language indicates that these places 
were assuring themselves that they were the children of promise, better 
than other nations, and so entitled to God's protection. Jesus says, "The 
heathen whom you despise would do better than you with such privileges 
as yours." Capernaum was especially privileged in that it was the dwelling 
place of Jesus. And the most degraded and accursed place known to the 
Jew was here used to show by comparison the greater degradation of the 
civilization that would reject and treat with contempt the teachings of 
Jesus Christ. 

Matt. 11 :25-30. — Here Jesus seeks consolation in the consciousness 
that the heavenly Father knows the situation. The salvation brought by 
Jesus was plain to the one who desired it, and sought with childlike faith, 
while though those leaders who desired pomp and display could find 
nothing in the scheme to satisfy their cravings for personal distinction. 
God had put the whole salvation plan into the hands of Jesus, and he 
believed that God was the only one who understood him, just as he alone 
of all humanity comprehended God's plans. Then with his mind filled 
with the vastness of this divine scheme he bursts forth in that closing 
invitation which sets forth in a word the whole salvation scheme. Come 
to me for rest from the difficulties brought by sin, for direction of your 
energies, and for teaching. The last sentence is another way of saying 
that one can with ease accomplish what Jesus gives him to do. 

Matt 12:1-8; Ma. 2:23-28; Lu. 6:1-5.— The incident of passing 
through the wheat fields and rubbing out heads of wheat is here 
mentioned 'by three writers because it shows the spirit of those critical 
Jewish leaders with whom Jesus had to deal. The question asked of 
Jesus by the Pharisees on this occasion displays a narrowness of mind 
marvelous, especially in view of the teaching which Israel had been given 
through the centuries. No doubt on this occasion Jesus said many things 
not recorded by any of the evangelists. Matthew records most, telling 
not only the conversation about David by which Jesus silenced these 
Jews, but also referring to the temple service and to the spirit behind all 



794 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

these things embodied in the life and teachings of Jesus by which he 
shows that not forms and ceremonies are desired, but a spirit of love and 
mercy. The last expression by each of the writers indicates that Jesus 
spoke with authority on the subject. 

Matt. 12:9-13; Ma. 3:1-6; Lu. 6:6-11.— The healing of the withered 
hand also happened on the Sabbath. These carping critics were watching 
for an opportunity to blame Jesus, and so in order to meet their assault 
openly Jesus ordered the man to stand before them, and then he asked 
the critics ^a question which they refused to answer, seeing it convicted 
them. Mark notes that Jesus was indignant because of their stubborn 
egotism, and performed the cure before them in a way to show his 
impatience with their unreasonable judgment. They did not dare to say 
a word, but the miserable ingrates at once began to plot his destruction. 

Matt. 12 :14-21 ; Ma. 3 :7-12. — Jesus withdrew from that place because 
of that murderous spirit which, when it was out-argued, wanted to kill. 
He leaves the land of Israel and goes for awhile among Gentiles while 
the Jewish anger cools. Tyre and Sidon were on the coast northwest 
of Galilee. The fame of his healing had so gone abroad that they brought 
sick to him in such numbers that he had to resort to a boat to get out of 
reach of the persistent crowd. No doubt the sick were pressed upon Jesus 
until as a mere matter of self-protection he would charge his patients not 
to advertise him as a traveling physician. The word "Gentiles" used in 
the quotation means the nations, and the thought of that prophecy was 
that Jesus should bring salvation to all the nations of the earth. 

Ma. 3 :13-19 ; Lu. 6 :12-19. — Here Mark and Luke speak of his going 
into a mountain, the first merely mentioning it, the second noting that he 
went there to pray. Both mention an appointment of twelve to be called 
apostles, meaning those sent forth. Matthew has already given account 
of it. The immediate order of these events, all of which occurred within 
a few days, is not made clear to us because it is a matter of no consequence. 
But it is neither impossible nor improbable that the twelve were sent out 
previous to this time, and that all or a part of them had returned and that 
Jesus at this time names over again the list, as no doubt he often did, 
and renewed the charge, sending them out on new tours. Such a view 
makes the order of events as mentioned by the four writers in perfect 
harmony. It is a possible thing that this mountain to which Jesus went 
to pray was over near the great sea, west of the land of Israel, and in the 
country of ancient Hiram, king of Tyre. Possibly the sermon on the 
plain which follows was also preached outside the dominions of the chosen 
family. The outrageous treatment Jesus had just received in his own 



GOSPEL. 795 

country, and from which he had withdrawn, explains this all-night prayer. 
It was impossible, however, burdened as the great teacher was, for him to 
get away from the work of healing, so closely was he followed and so 
importuned by needy humanity. The tremendous record is made that he 
healed them all. 

Lu. 6 :20-23. — Where this sermon was preached no man knows. It 
bears much resemblance to the sermon on the mount. That fact, and the 
fact, that it is not so complete as the sermon on the mount, make it seem 
likely that it was preached in a foreign land, being a partial reproduction 
of the sermon on the mount. The text is an extract from the beatitudes, 
the text of the former sermon. The wording is a little changed, but the 
thought remains the same. 

Lu. 6 :24-26. — The woes which he pronounces come upon such as have 
no conscious need of the good essential to their perfection and happiness. 
Such find all their consolation in the riches, happiness and approbation 
of this world. Like the beasts, they know of no needs beyond temporal 
ones. When they awaken to the consciousness of how they have abused 
their opportunities, their fullness and laughter shall change into hunger 
and mourning. As you cannot preach truth without opposing error, so 
you cannot do your whole duty without being opposed by evil men. These 
woes deal with the case of the first three mentioned in the text — the poor, 
the hungry and the mourning. 

Lu. 6 :27-38. — The attitude of God's sons toward their enemies deals 
with the rest of the text. Love the enemies, not their enmity. Do good 
to them and bless them, but do not approve their hatefulness nor curses. 
Do not cut off association with those who do you wrong, but give them 
opportunity to do better, even at the risk of being further wronged by 
them. Treat men, friends or enemies, us you would be treated, and you 
are sure then to use all the light you have. Anything short of that would 
be nothing in advance of the character of God's enemies. To follow these 
directions is to become like your Father in heaven, and your reward shall 
be accordingly. 

Lu. 6 :39-45. — The warning against judging another is pertinent, since 
if one blindly spend his energy in tryinsr to correct others according to his 
standard, especially when that standard is faulty, he shall accomplish 
nothing except to stir up strife. The admonition is, use all your knowl- 
edge to set yourself first absolutely right, then you will know the better 
how to help another; for if your course of action is wrong, you cannot 
bring out of it good for others any more than you can gather grapes from 
thorns or figs from brambles. A good man will speak what is good 



796 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

because it is predominant in his nature, and for the same reason an evil 
man will speak evil. 

Lu. 6 :46-49. — Finally he lays stress on obedience. Professing Christ 
and doing nothing is building the reality of life on a miserably poor 
foundation. To do as well as you know is the utmost that God demands, 
and constitutes perfection, while to neglect what you know is as fatal as 
to commit bold sin. 

Lu. 7:1-10. — The language of verse 1 in chapter 7 of Luke to some 
seems to indicate that the sermon on the plain was preached near Caper- 
naum. The same language, however, would have been used if he had 
come all the way from the seacoast. This case is not the same as the one 
mentioned in Matthew 8 :5-13. It is not a matter of wonder that there 
should be many similar cases, for there were many Eoman centurions in 
Israel, and this particular one had built a Jewish synagogue, and it is 
not singular that Jesus used substantially the same language in this as 
in the other, for he wanted to make of such shining illustrations of faith 
on the part of men who had not been given the opportunities of faith 
which had been accorded to this chosen and specially trained family. 

Lu. 7:11-17. — Nain was a small city not far from Capernaum. What 
were the peculiar circumstances which led the Savior to have special care 
for this particular case we are not told, but it was evidently a worthy 
case, as the consensus of public opinion argued. The neighborhood was 
following her to the burial place of her son. Jesus stopped that proces- 
sion of sorrow, and set it wild with joyful excitement. They feared, they 
praised Cod, and their eyes were opened to the character of the sojourner 
in their midst. 

Lu. 7:18-23. — It will be noticed that this question from John was 
mentioned in Matt. 11, before the events mentioned in Luke 6 and 7. It 
is likely that after the disciples of John came to Jesus that some of these 
things occurred, and so one of the writers would tell the answer of Jesus 
on mentioning the appearance of the messengers, and another would tell 
the answer of Jesus on mentioning their departure. That would easily 
account for the brief distance apart in which they are set by these two 
writers. So Jesus gave them object lessons for an answer, and sent them 
back to John to tell what they had seen. 

Lu. 7:24-35. — In Christ's testimony of John, Luke notes a statement 
of Jesus not given by Matthew, viz., that the pharisees rejected the 
preaching of John. This makes still clearer the comment on their 
childish inconsistency. They made one excuse for rejecting John and an 



GOSPEL. 797 

opposite excuse for rejecting Jesus. Hence he mentions the worth of 
consistency. 

Lu. 7 :36-50. — As the previous topics show, the leaders of the Jews were 
trying to raise some point against the character of Jesus. Hence this 
pharisee invites him to a feast and Jesus goes. He did not fear the most 
critical investigation of his acts and character. Who this woman was no 
human knows. We are not told. But the gift she brought was very 
costly, and as the following talk shows, she had been lately forgiven of 
Jesus. When the pharisee murmured against his prophetic qualities 
Jesus discovered perhaps by his face the drift of his logic, and. imme- 
diately propounded to him a parable. His answer was made the standard 
of judgment in the case before him, and what Jesus said to him about 
the treatment of himself as a guest showed clearly that the pharisee had 
not been treating him as the honored guest, but had brought him there 
for little else than to criticise him. And the latter part of the theme 
shows that the guests assembled were of the same order. They were 
critics. This incident farther shows the real character of the mission of 
Jesus — to make forgiveness possible, and suggests that the fullest and 
most complete forgiveness follows a surrender of our best to God. 

Lu. 8 :l-3. — In the tour of Galilee Jesus is followed by his apostles and 
a company of women whom Jesus had healed. Mary Magdalene is here 
mentioned, and it ought to be noted that it is presumptuous to assume 
that she is the same as the woman at the feast in the last theme. There 
is not a breath of evidence that the sin of Mary Magdalene was impurity. 
It is noticed here that one of these women came from under the shadow 
of royalty. 

Matt. 12:22-24. — Matthew here speaks of the healing of one possessed 
of a devil. When the blind and dumb man saw and spoke, the multitude 
glorified God, but the critical pharisees contended that if this man cast 
out devils it was by the prince of devils. This infamous and senseless 
accusation called out from Jesus a little talk on the unpardonable sin. 

Matt. 12:25-37; Ma. 3 : 20-30. —When Jesus heard their reasoning he 
snowed first its absurdity by reminding them that Satan's kingdom was 
not divided against itself. Then he says, If I cast out devils by a devil, 
then by what power do the other Jewish prophets perform like miracles ? 
1*hese critics assumed to be teachers of Jewish law, hence Jewish 
prophets would, in this argument, probably be termed their sons ; that is, 
sons of the law. (Whether or not there were any Jewish prophets 
performing miracles at that time makes no difference in this argument.) 
If on the other hand, Jesus did his work by the power of God, then it was 



798 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

positive evidence that the kingdom of God was among them. And Jesus 
could not spoil Satan's house unless he were stronger than Satan. Now 
he makes a most important statement: The one who does not work in 
harmony with my work is working against me. And speaking against me 
individually may be forgiven, but this blasphemous ascription to the devil 
of the work of the Holy Ghost is a mere display of the determination to 
shut your eyes to the light, however bright it may shine to you. Such an 
attitude is unpardonable. Either call me corrupt and my work corrupt, 
or call me good and my work good. I must be one or the other. You 
shall give account in judgment for the character of your words. Be 
consistent. His appellation of "offspring of vipers" shows how wrought 
upon he was by their inexcusable falsity. 

Matt. 12 :38-45. — Now this very same class begin to demand of him a 
miracle. It is plain to see that this demand was made not because they 
needed light, but because they had in view some attempt to confuse Jesus. 
He saw the spirit which animated them, and gave the proper classification 
of those who were seeking after signs. He told them in substance that 
the only great personal testimony which the Father should give of the 
Sonship of Jesus (aside from the work of Jesus) would be that of the 
resurrection. Then he reminds them that men of old who were convinced 
by the truth were a standing reproof to this class who were shutting their 
eyes to facts and whining for some ocular and unearthly phenomenon 
to convince them of the standing of one whose very works were sufficient 
evidence of the correctness of his claim. The closing verses of this theme 
pictures the condition of these growling pharisees. The chosen Hebrew 
family was taken into a covenant relation with God, and the spirit of 
Satan was cast out. But as he went about as a roaring lion, seeking 
whom he might devour, he crept back into the beautifully swept and 
garnished temple of Judaism, and was able to carry with him a complete 
number (seven signifies completeness) of other spirits still more wicked 
than the one cast out because the Jews had begun to build their righteous- 
ness on the fact that they were fleshly descendants of x4.braham. Their 
self-righteousness made them infinitely more incorrigible than ordinary 
Gentile sinners, hence Jesus told them elsewhere that the hated publicans 
and harlots would crowd into the kingdom of God sooner than they. 

Matt 12!46-50; Ma. 3 :31-35.— Just here both Matthew and Mark 
record that the immediate family of Jesus were for some reason inquiring 
for him. Jesus took that excellent opportunity to impress upon them the 
fact that his work was more important than any other matter that could 
possibly be crowded upon his attention, and declared that his most 



GOSPEL. 799 

intimate earthly tie was the one binding him to those who like him did 
his Father's will. There is a tie closer than that of blood, and it is the 
kindred spirit tie existing between those whose dispositions (natural or 
cultivated) run in the same channel. Hence those closest to Jesus, using 
the figure of a family, were his disciples. 

Matt. 13 :l-9 ; Ma. 4 :l-9 ; Lu. 8 :4-8. — Here, according to three writers, 
Jesus resorts to the seaside. The multitudes which followed crowded him 
off into a boat. The first of the parables here mentioned is that of the 
sower. Four cases are noticed: 1. The wayside. 2. The stony ground. 
3. The thorny ground. 4. The good ground. The language indicates that 
he made use of many parables, the most not being recorded. A number, 
however, are recorded, and the explanation of this one will come a little 
later. 

Matt. 13:10-17; Ma. 4:10-13.— The disciples wanted to know why 
Jesus used parables. The gist of his answer was : I use parables in order 
that you who want to know may have opportunity to find out by further 
investigation, while those who do not wish to investigate may be no wiser 
than they were before hearing the parable. And so those who display 
the energy and disposition shall be given abundance, while the indolent 
and careless by their disuse of the talents God has given them shall lose 
their ability to use even their natural endowments. He uses the quotation 
from Isaiah, who spoke of the unwillingness of Jews to hear and heed 
lest they might have to forsake their sins and become decent. The closing 
words of Matthew on this theme tells of Jesus reminding them that the 
faithful of all ages waited anxiously to see the Messiah whom they saw. 
There can be no doubt that the disciples did not understand this parable 
of the sower, and so they asked about it, and in the same connection, why 
Jesus used parables. Mark mentions that Jesus voiced surprise that they 
could not understand so simple a parable. 

Matt. 13:18-23; Ma. 4:14-20; Lu. 8 :9-15.— N x ow he explains the four 
cases, and the explanation needs only to be learned to make itself perfectly 
clear. The following language in Mark is another way of saying that 
some things are made obscure in order that they may be searched out. 
This is illustrated in all men's inventions, which, simply mean finding 
out what God has already done. And so Jesus says, If you have ears, use 
them, and be careful how you use them, for if you give out scantily you 
shall receive accordingly. The point was, that Christ's kingdom was 
increased as a man increases grain by sowing seed. And so he meant 
for them to gladly receive the truth and bountifully scatter it. 

Matt. 13 :24-30. — Xcw Jesus gives the parable of the tares. It will be 



800 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

noticed that the enemy did his dirty work while men slept. The servant 
did not understand it, bnt the knowing householder did. And the 
servants would have immediately tried to kill the tares and would have 
killed the wheat by so doing, but the wise householder said, Wait, and 
separate them later. This parable Jesus explained at length a little later. 

Matt. 13:31, 32; Ma. 4:21-34; Lu. 8:16-18.— The parable of the 
mustard seed, the lighted lamp and others, seeing the irregularity in 
which they a**e set by the various writers, indicate that there were very 
many parables given, and doubtless extendedly discussed, inasmuch that 
it was very difficult to follow any special order of their giving. The 
teaching of the mustard seed was that as that seed produces great growth, 
so a smallest seed of the truth will produce results as great as the size of 
the mustard plant is above that of the mustard seed. 

Matt. 13 :33. — The parable of leaven (corruption) shows that as the 
corruption of yeast grows through the entire mass of dough, so the truth 
will in time permeate all the human family. 

Matt. 13 :34-43. — The next parable which Jesus gives to his disciples 
is that of the tares. This language indicates that he used parables almost 
exclusively, and that the prophets indicated that he would do so. It will 
be remembered that this parable had already been spoken to the disciples, 
and at this point he explains it. The language is clear. He simply 
shows that the affairs of his kingdom is likened to the affairs of a 
husbandman. It will be noticed that explanation was given only to the 
discipies. It has already been shown that this wa,s done in order that 
those who really wanted to know might, by investigation, learn the truth. 
Hence there is special significance in his closing declaration, which simply 
means, he that has power to comprehend, let him use that power. 

Matt. 13 :44. — Here appear three likenesses of the kingdom of heaven. 
This sub-topic is divided into three minors, the first of which is the hidden 
treasure. In this he shows that the kingdom of heaven is so valuable 
that a man may well part with everything which «tands in the way of his 
possessing it. 

Matt. 13 :45, 46. — The second minor, the costly pearl, likens the 
kingdom of heaven to a merchant parting with all his treasures in order 
to possess what he considers the most valuable of all possessions. 

Matt. 13 :47-50. — The third minor likens the kingdom of heaven to a 
net gathering out of the sea all kinds of fishes, so that the catch must be 
sorted. Thus he teaches that the work done among men by the kingdom 
of heaven shall be graded, assorted and classified, until every phase shall 
fit into its proper relation, making one symmetrical whole. The closing 



GOSPEL. 801 

language of this theme indicates that the most uncomfortable feeling in 
the hereafter shall come to the man who has opportunities which he 
refuses to improve. 

Matt. 13 :51, 52. — This third sub-topic in the lesson is a way of saying 
to the disciples, Since you profess to understand these things, you will be 
wise to put away these thoughts in your minds, so that you may have them 
formulated for future use. Just as a wise householder brings out things 
new and old for use at the proper time, so you should be able to bring out 
these thoughts for use as occasion demands. 

Lu. 8 :19-21. — Here Luke makes mention of the fact which has already 
been noticed (Matt. 12). There is no discrepancy in the accounts. A 
number of parables have been mentioned between them, but the explana- 
tion probably is that they asked for Jesus about the time he was 
commencing his parables, and that he did not respond to them until he 
had finished his discourse. Hence one writer might naturally speak of 
his final answer in his notice of the first asking, while another might just 
as probably give notice of the first asking in connection with the final 
answer. 

Ma. 4 :35-41 ; Lu. 8 :22-25.— There is every reason to believe this theme 
was previously mentioned by Matthew (chapter 8). As to why these 
writers do not put all these themes in the same order many reasons might 
be given. In his rapid passings to and fro it is difficult for one who was 
not an eye witness and a close follower to keep from getting these reports 
mixed. Of necessity different narrators would change the order of the 
occurrences. For example, let one pass often between two points, and let 
different writers narrate the instances of the daily doings, and they will 
be sure to vary in their order. The reason will be apparent to anyone 
who thinks out such a case. The incident of the awakening of Jesus and 
the stilling of the storm has already been mentioned in Matthew (chapter 
8). Doubtless all these events between have taken place in a very short 
time. 

Ma. 5:1-20; Lu. 8:26-39.— The next two themes likewise have been 
mentioned .by Matthew (chapter 8). Mark and Luke are giving the 
same incident in Matthew's order, but a little later than he. Of course, 
it is not impossible that these might have been two cases similar 
(doubtless there were many), and the language indicates that there was 
but one man here, rather than two, as in Matthew. Yet that would not 
prove a new case. Possibly these writers mention but one because of his 
peculiarly fierce character, which they gave in detail. The reader is at 
liberty to judge for himself as to whether this is the same or an additional 



802 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

ease. The demons recognized the authority of Jesus, and one seems to 
have been spokesman for all. Departure out of the country meant the 
casting out from an earthly abode, so they would have to return to the 
place of disembodied spirits. This man was sent to his friends to tell the 
story of his deliverance. It would be interesting to know whether or not 
in his preaching it ever occurred to him to say that the granting of the 
demons' request proved their own destruction. 

Ma. 5:21-43; Lu. 8 :40-56.— This ninth theme is the other one that 
has been mentioned by Matthew. A little later (chapter 9). This ruler 
whom Matthew has not mentioned is mentioned by Mark and Luke. 
More of the details are given by these two writers. It is evident that 
Jesus used this language to call out the faith of the woman. It is also 
stated here that he took along with him only three apostles, Peter, James 
and John. His reason for commanding it to be kept secret was, as already 
stated, to avoid being overwhelmed by similar applications. 

Matt. 13:53-58; Ma. 6:1-6. — Matthew and Mark here declare that 
Jesus at this stage of his work comes into his own country, which meant 
probably the regions about Nazareth. His teachings astonished them, 
but instead of judging by his works, they began to say, Is not this man 
one of us ? There is evidence here that Jesus did not make any display 
of supernatural power, else they would have regarded him as a super- 
natural being, and would never have asked such a question. Jesus 
replied to them in substance, You are the only people who do not give 
me credit for what I do. And because of this envious disbelief he was 
obliged to leave there and work among some other class. 

Ma. 6:7-13; Lu. 9:1-6. — Now Mark and Luke mention what Matthew 
has told in chapter 10 — the twelve are sent out in couples. This may, 
however, have been one of the later occasions of the sending out of the 
apostles, for here they are sent by twos. There is little doubt that these 
apostles were often sent out in this way, making short tours of the. 
country. In this way Jesus was training them under his own eye for 
future service. 

Lu. 9 :7-9. — Herod, hearing of these things, thinks of John the Baptist, 
whom he had so miserably wronged because some had said John is risen. 
Others said, Elijah has risen. But Herod said, "I beheaded John, and 
I must see this man about whom there is such a stir." 

Matt. 14:1-12; Ma. 6:14-29. — Herod kept hearing the reports about 
the work of Jesus, until he finally said, "John the Baptist is risen from 
the dead/' Two of the writers tell at this point how John had been shut 
up for preaching, because he had told the king that he must not have 



GOSPEL. 803 

the wife of his brother Philip. He intended to put John to death, but 
was afraid of the people. When the birthday of Herod came, and his 
step-daughter came before him, he made the foolish promise that he 
would give her whatever she asked, even if she asked for half of his 
kingdom. She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?" 
The mother was furious against John, and said, "Ask for his head on a 
plate." The king was very sorry, for he respected and feared John, yet 
because he had made the promise he would not take back his word, so 
the infamous king, afraid to break a bad promise, had John put to death, 
and his head was brought to the mother. His disciples came and put 
his body in the tomb, and the significant record is made that they went 
and told Jesus. 

Matt. 14:13-21; Ma. 6:30-44; Lu. 9:10-17; Jo. 6:1-14.— Here is the 
first incident mentioned by all four of the writers. It was at this time 
that the twelve disciples returned from the tour on which they had been 
sent, and Jesus said to them, "Come apart and rest awhile." When they 
went out to the desert the whole multitude followed them. They were 
too far away to return for their food, and so Jesus could not send them 
home for refreshments. All four writers record that they were fed in the 
desert. The five small loaves mentioned were five small cakes, and the 
company fed were five thousand men, besides women and children, and 
twelve basketfuls of scraps were taken up. The text here shows that 
Jesus had compassion on these multitudes, because they were so hungry 
for the truth that they were willing to fast in order that they might hear 
his preaching, and for this reason he was willing to use supernatural 
means to feed them in the desert. 

Matt. 14:22-33; Ma. 6:45-52; Jo. 6:15-21.— Just after this feast he 
sends the disciples to the other side of the sea of Galilee. After he had 
sent away the multitudes he retired into the mountain for prayer, and 
later in the evening he went across the sea, walking on the waters, after 
the course which the disciples had taken with the boat. In the process of 
time he came to the disciples toiling at their oars in a tempest. They did 
not think of him, but were frightened, thinking they saw a spirit, but the 
answer of Jesus when they cried out in their fright assured them, and 
Peter jumped from the boat and started to walk to Jesus on the water. 
Beginning to sink, he cried out in fear, and Jesus took hold of him and 
helped him to the boat. It is related that the}' were greatly amazed that 
he caused the tempest to cease at his word, and that in their amazement 
they did not remember how he had fed the multitudes shortly before with 
five barley cakes and two small fishes. 



804 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jo. 6 :22-25. — At this point comes a discourse of Jesus to the multitudes 
seeking him. It is noticeable that when Jesus went away from the people 
they always attempted to follow him. The feast and the sermon which he 
had given them made them eager to seek him, and the next day, when they 
saw there was but one boat on that side, of the sea, and that Jesus was 
not there with his disciples, they got into the boat and came to Caper- 
naum to find him. It is suggestive that these people were sufficiently in 
earnest in their desire to know the truth to seek the great teacher. 

Jo. 6 :26-40. — After they had asked Jesus when he came to that point 
where they found him, he replied to them, "That they were seeking him 
principally because of the feast of which they had partaken," and gives 
this very important admonition: Toil not so much for meat which 
perishes, as for that which is imperishable — the thought being, that 
natural food, though all important, is not so important as the proper 
nourishment for the mind and heart. They say, What must we do that 
we may work the works of God? Jesus said, The first requisite is to 
believe. Then they said, What sign do you show us that we may believe 
you? Our fathers had manna given them in the wilderness. Jesus 
replied, "Moses gave you not the true bread from heaven, but you get the 
true nourishment from heaven through me. I give you the spirit which 
comes down and gives life unto the world." They expressed their desire 
for such nourishment. Jesus gave them to understand that they could 
find it by believing upon him and accepting him as the Messiah. He 
made this significant promise : "The will of God is that everyone should 
believe on Christ, and so should have everlasting life and be raised up at 
the last day." 

Jo. 6 :41-51. — There was among the throng, however, those who mur- 
mured against him because of the claim he had made. They said, This is 
the son of Joseph ; we know his parents ; why should he say, I came out of 
heaven ? The reply of Jesus to this was, My manner of life and teachings 
is such that no man will follow me except he be of the character that 
desires to do rightly, and so is taught of God ; all such are attracted to me 
and to my works. Your fathers who had manna in the wilderness died, 
but such as assimilate my life and character shall never die. The thought 
of the last clause in this paragraph is that the life of Jesus and his bodily 
comforts were sacrificed in order that his salvation scheme might be 
carried into effect, and the plan of salvation perfected. 

Jo. 6 :52-65. — It is evident from the stumbling of the disciples that 
none of them understood this language of Jesus. When he said, Except 
you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man, you have not 



GOSPEL. 805 

life, he simply meant that to partake of his nature and characteristics 
was the only method by which human beings could come into the right 
relation to God. This explanation makes the following language clear. 
To eat anything is to assimilate it and make it a part of you. This then 
refers to the assimilation of the characteristics of Jesus in the human 
make-up. It means not bodily eating and drinking, but the assimilation 
of character. Even the disciples had difficulty in understanding this, 
and Jesus marveled somewhat that they stumbled because of it. The 
language of this paragraph indicates that he thought if they could not 
comprehend what he said to them, they were scarcely able to comprehend 
the position and responsibilities attached to them when he should ascend 
again to his Father, and leave them to evangelize the world. Incidentally 
it is mentioned that there were some following him at this time who could 
not be depended upon to do his work, in that they had not in their 
character that stability which was necessary to make successful evan- 
gelists. 

Jo. 6 :66-71. — Here it is recorded that many of his disciples went back 
and walked no more with him. This led Jesus to ask the twelve disciples, 
"Will you also go away?" Perhaps until that moment they had not 
considered how serious a matter it was to turn their backs on the teachings 
of Jesus, and when the matter presented itself in this manner Peter 
readily responded, "We will not go; we have none to whom we may go; 
thou only hast the plan of salvation for humanity ," but Jesus noticed the 
fact, that of those whom he had chosen and closely associated with, even 
of this twelve, one was a devil. This language refers to the case of Judas, 
whose character was such that in spite of his association, he consented to 
betray his Master for the price of a slave. 

Matt. 14:34-36; Ma. 6:53-56. — At this point they recrossed the sea, 
and as soon as it became known that he is in the land the people come to 
him in crowds and run through the whole regions to bring their sick 
that they may take them to Jesus to be healed. They prayed for the 
opportunity even to touch the hem of his garment, and the astonishing 
record is that as many as touched him were made whole. This, as you 
will see, was only a forecast of the fact that all the great mass of humanity 
which has come in touch with the teaching's of Jesus has been raised to 
the highest degree of enlightenment and strength of character. 

Matt. 15:1-9; Ma. 7:1-13. — Here is the reply of Jesus to the scribes' 
and pharisees' attack. They asked him to explain why he did not keep 
the traditions of the elders. He retorted, Why do you transgress the 
commandments of God by means of traditions? The thought he wished 



806 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

to impress upon them is that it is of small moment whether they kept the 
conditions of a class who are capable of violating the spirit of the moral 
law by means of these traditions. He gives a specific instance : The law 
says, "Honor thy father and thy mother/' etc. Your traditions say that 
if a son goes through the formality of saying that all the value that he 
may be to his parents is taken away from his parents and given to God, 
that he shall be allowed to go free and to do as he will. Jesus here shows 
the wrongness of their traditions and scathes the hypocrisy of the class 
of people who authorized such a monument of folly. 

Matt. 15:10-20; Ma. 7:14-23. — ]S T ow having disposed of the critics, he 
turns to his disciples and the multitude and admonishes them to remem- 
ber that it is not what a man eats which defiles him, but that which 
he allows to become his thoughts and words. This is the real answer to 
the direct question which the pharisees had asked, but he had reserved 
the answer for a class of people who could appreciate it, and answered 
the scribes and pharisees in such a way as to show that he had little 
respect for that class of people, who made traditions and did not keep 
God's laws. At this point the disciples say to him, The pharisees seem 
offended at your answer. Jesus replied, "It matters little; their vain 
traditions should be disregarded." Then Peter asked for an explanation 
of what he had said regarding that which denies a man, and he said it 
is not what a man eats, but the evil imaginations and vile thoughts, and 
all that class of mental development which makes a man akin to a demon. 
These things, he said, defile a man; not the food which he eats. 

Matt. 15:21-28; Ma. 7:24-30. — Here Jesus departs for the coast and 
comes into the region or Tyre and Sidon. A woman of that country 
besought him to cure her daughter, who had an unclean spirit. The 
answer which Jesus made to her was meant to call out her faith. He 
said, I am sent to supply the children (that is, the chosen family) ; it is 
therefore not meet that I should spend my time in doing work among the' 
outside nations. Her answer as to crumbs which fall from tables meant, 
"The deed which I ask of you will not hinder the blessing which you 
are bestowing upon your own." It is related that because of this clever 
answer her daughter was cured immediately. 

Ma. 7:31-37. — From this point he returned to Galilee. Here a record 
is given of his healing a deaf man and loosening his dumb tongue. He 
repeated the charge given before that these things should not be told, 
because his mission was not to visit and heal, but to teach truth. 

Yet they scattered the matter abroad, until all men knew what he had 
done, and it is related that the people agreed in saying that he had made 



GOSPEL. 807 

the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, and so had done all things well. 

Matt. 15:29-31. — From the place where Jesus opened the ears of the 
deaf man he goes to a point nearer the sea. Taking his place in a 
mountain, a great multitude came to him, bringing their sick and 
diseased. The fact that he healed them all is proof of the closeness of 
his sympathy with burden-oppressed humanity. The dumb speaking, the 
lame walking and the blind seeing, while it was a cause of unspeakable 
joy to themselves and friends, was doubtless no less a joy to the heart of 
this older brother of ours. The unchangeableness of his character makes 
it certain that he has no less interest in the affairs of humanity today, and 
this is doubly true of those who by virtue of their relation to the atone- 
ment belong to him. 

Matt. 15:32-39; Ma. 8:1-10. — At this point occurs another miracle of 
the feeding of the multitude. This time it is four thousand men, besides 
women and children. The food with which Jesus began this feast was 
seven cakes and a few fishes, and they took up seven basketfuls of scraps. 
Just as shortly before he had fed the five thousand rather than send them 
away hungry, so now, because these people had come to hear the truth and 
were far away from their homes, this kind heart will not suffer them to 
go away hungering either for the truth or for natural bread. Such 
incidents ought to assure us how certainly our kind heavenly Father will 
provide for his own in case of necessity. Our difficulty seems to be that, 
with our limited visions, we cannot see when it becomes really necessary 
for a higher power to intervene in our behalf. Hence we often think 
ourselves in want, when in reality we have all that is needed. It is 
suggestive in both these cases that Jesus distributed the blessings through 
his trusty followers, thus honoring them and the cause which they 
represented, and he does precisely the same today. 

Matt. 16 :l-4; Ma. 8 :11-13. — It is supposed that both of these miracles 
of feeding the multitudes were performed on the east side of the sea of 
Galilee Immediately after this miracle of feeding the four thousand, 
he came by boat to the west side of the lake. Here the pharisees and 
Sadducees'come with another demand for a miracle. Both Matthew and 
Mark tell this incident, but Matthew only tells of his keen retort. The 
substance is, You are able to observe accurately enough to become good 
weather prophets, but why have you no ability to read the condition of 
the times by the trend of events? The same difficulty still seems to 
exist. Men will not be warned by the signs which indicate political or 
moral revolution until the storm bursts upon them. Hence he said 
(what is elsewhere more fully explained) that his resurrection, after his 



808 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

burial, should be the all-sufficient proof of his divinity. His sigh, which 
Mark records, is evidence that those hypocritical pretenses of these leaders 
were very wearisome to him. He further showed his contempt by leaving 
them peremptorily. 

Matt. 16:5-12; Ma. 8:14-21. — Now he warns his disciples against this 
class. Elsewhere it is shown that the leaven about which he spake was 
hypocrisy. The details of the incident are simply his explanation that 
one who could feed the multitudes as he had done in their presence had 
no need to speak to them about natural bread, but was warning them to 
beware of the false teachings of these leaders. The whole history of the 
contact of Jesus with these leaders shows that they were unwilling to 
receive the truth, because it rebuked their falsity, and therefore they were 
determined at all hazards to destroy both it and its champion. Further 
lessons will show how he ultimately was obliged to scathe them. 

Ma. 8:22-26. — This account of the opening of the eyes of the blind 
man at Bethsaida shows that Jesus took different methods at different 
times. No doubt the aim was here to call out the man's faith. When he 
had sufficiently impressed him and restored his sight, he sends him to 
his own home, probably for two reasons — that he might carry the truth to 
his own people, and that he might not enter the city to send out a mul- 
titude of people to hinder Jesus with cries for body healing. 

Matt. 16:13-20; Ma. 8:27-30; Lu. 9 :18-2L— This question of Jesus 
to his disciples as to who he was was doubtless asked for their own 
especial benefit. He was thus able to contrast in their own minds the 
essential difference between the opinion of people who simply looked on, 
and that of the disciples, who were in a position to know the whole truth. 
His answer to Peter's declaration was another way of saying, What you 
say is the truth, and the truth comes from God. Therefore your decla- 
ration is inspired from heaven. The "rock" mentioned was the "fact" 
(just uttered by Peter) that Jesus was the Christ. The keys of the 
kingdom were given to Peter just as they are given to every other disciple 
who adopts the truth that Peter uttered ; and the binding and the loosing 
is done by the truth, which in the case of each individual establishes a 
condition here which is developed indefinitely in the life hereafter. The 
final charge in this theme was doubtless made to prohibit the stirring of 
discord at this stage which would result from the disciples boldly 
proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. 

Matt. 16:21-28; Ma. 8:31-9-1; Lu. 9 :22-27.— Naturally, after such a 
talk, Jesus would speak to his disciples about his coming death. Without 
knowing more of the details, it is impossible to know just what Peter 



GOSPEL. 809 

meant by saying, "It shall not be so." The answer of Jesus at least 
indicates that Peter was expressing his opinion with offensive positiveness. 
It is very suggestive that in the former theme Jesus was calling him 
blessed, and in this next breath calls him Satan. What follows in this 
theme indicates that Peter was here suggesting to Jesus an easy way, for 
something called out from the mind of Jesus this injunction against 
trying to do his work, and at the same time seeking selfish ease. The 
thought of it all is, that spending one's self in the cause will bring a great 
reward, because this kingdom is sure to become predominant. The 
closing statement by all three of the writers refers probably to the 
manifestation at Pentecost, and subsequent similar ones. 

Matt. 17 :l-8 ; Ma. 9 :2-8 ; Lu. 9 :28-36.— The transfiguration mentioned 
by the first three writers took place probably about the middle of Jesus' 
ministry. Jesus took with him to the mount on this occasion only 
representative apostles. Peter was the bold leader, John the beloved, 
and James the legal weight who was to be the head of the church at 
Jerusalem. The time was coming when that college would need the 
sure testimony of these representative leaders to establish the fact that 
Jesus was here making clear to them; namely, that he was the Son of 
God, and had delegated power to consummate the salvation plan. Moses 
and Elijah stood for the law and the prophets, both of which were 
complemented and fulfilled by the Gospel which was embodied by Jesus. 
Here for the second time an audible voice was heard declaring Jesus to 
be the Son of God, the first case being at the baptism. 

Matt. 17 :9-13 ; Ma. 9 :9-13. — The disciples begin to understand clearly 
that Jesus is foretelling his death and resurrection, and it dawns upon 
them that they have the Messiah in their midst. When he says, Tell not 
this vision until after the resurrection, there is brought to their mind an 
important question, suggested by their former religious teaching: "If 
this be indeed the Christ, what about the Elijah which the scribes have 
taught should precede him?" Doubtless the sight of a representative 
of the law and the prophets had called out this question. Jesus says, "He 
has come already and was not recognized." They immediately under- 
stood him to speak of John the Baptist. Mark also notes his reference to 
the fact that it was prophesied of him that he must suffer boundless 
indignity. 

Matt. 17:14-21; Ma. 9:14-29; Lu. 9:37-43.— It is noticed by the first 
three writers that a boy had been brought to the disciples in the absence 
of Jesus on the mountain, and that the disciples could not cure him. The 
language used by Jesus shows that his spirit was greatly stirred by the 



810 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

fact that after all his instruction, his disciples could not bring themselves 
to the efficient point of accomplishing the results set within their reach. 
The account by Mark gives enough of the details to show that Jesus 
expected of his disciples that they would exercise that diligence which 
would make them proficient as imitators of him, but they had not done so. 
Perhaps no sentiment more than this is applicable to his present followers. 

Matt. 17:22, 23; Ma. 9:30-32; Lu. 9:44, 45.— Jesus had already 
spoken of his death, but he had not said much as to the attendant circum- 
stances. Here he speaks of being betrayed and maltreated, and calls upon 
his disciples to take careful note of this prophecy. It is recorded here 
that the disciples did not get the full import of what he said on this 
subject, and they were afraid to ask him as to the particulars. 

Matt. 17:24-27. — Here it is recorded that Jesus paid poll tax. The 
half shekel spoken of was the amount required of each man. The 
question which Jesus asked Simon and the comment which he made 
about the sons indicates that as a true Son of the King of all the earth, 
he was in reality entitled to go free. It is worth remembering that if all 
men were like in character to Jesus, no tribute would be necessary. 
Nevertheless, as a dutiful subject he regards the law, and though he did 
not have wherewith to meet the demand, he sent Peter to find it in the 
mouth of a fish. The shekel paid for both Peter and Jesus. 

Matt. 18:1-5; Ma. 9:33-37; Lu. 9 :46-4S.— In this discourse the first 
point to which attention is called in the line of true greatness is humility. 
A dispute in which the disciples had been engaged going along the way 
called out this lesson, and Jesus takes for an object lesson a little child 
to illustrate the teachable and humble qualities which are the prerequisites 
of a true follower of Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke notice that just 
such will be used as representatives of Jesus and his work, and Luke adds 
that whoso most successfully develops this spirit, develops thereby the 
most real greatness. Mark puts it that the best way to become greatest 
is to excel in serving others. Evidently all these points were emphasized 
in this part of the discourse. 

Matt. 18:6-14; Ma. 9:38-50; Lu. 9:49, 50.— The next point, inoffen- 
siveness, continues this same thought. The word offense means, cause of 
stumbling. John had forbidden one to work in the name of Jesus because 
he did not follow with his company. Jesus said, You did wrong, for the 
very fact that he can do such work proves that he must be a real friend of 
mine. And the least thing done for me does not go unnoticed. Then he 
adds, Such treatment may cause one to be permanently harmed and to 
bring such a result upon a believer would be a greater calamity than for 



GOSPEL. 811 

the one who caused it to be cast into the sea. Here he strengthens and 
rounds out this thought by using as figures members of the body — hand 
(action), foot (the organ of location), eye (vision), meaning that if 
action, surroundings or that at which you are accustomed to look cause 
you to stumble^ get rid of the cause at once. Better miss some things than 
to always consult your own pleasure and suffer eternally in consequence. 
The language of Matthew would indicate that, agreeable to the thought 
of Hebrews, the humble believer has guardian spirits who come and go 
before the throne of God. And so the Father's interest in his own is 
pictured in the magnificent parable here given of the lost sheep, and thus 
all disciples are warned not to cause anyone to stumble, but as Luke 
beautifully concludes, to have those precious qualities which will make 
each a preserving influence to all about him. This last thought concerning 
the salt is an extract from the sermon on the mount. 

Matt. 18 :15-20. — Another thought growing out of the foregoing is this 
third point — righteous dealing. Believers will surely have differences, 
but there is a just way to settle them. The Master here points out the 
real function of ecclesiastical organization by first showing its value as an 
agency for directing the affairs of men, and then pointing out its final 
authority which God has delegated to it. The value of association is 
pointed out in the closing verses of this theme. It has in it also the 
sure promise of the father to his people. 

Matt. 18 :21-35. — Peter's question naturally grew out of this theme. 
How often should a man forgive? The essence of his reply and the 
parable with which he illustrated the subject might be summed up thus : 
Forgive with a freedom and scope corresponding to the vastness of God's 
forgiveness toward you. This king's debtor was a fair picture of any 
human being who, having obtained forgiveness of God, afterward refuses 
to forgive a penitent fellow mortal. This case is also covered by a clause 
of the Lord's prayer. 

Jo. 7 :1-13. — This statement in the opening of Jno. 7 indicates that the 
Jews who had been watching Jesus so closely were now trying to kill 
him. It does not prove that Jesus had been operating in Judea, although 
he doubtless occasionally went there, but many of the leaders of the Jews 
constantly followed his ministry. When the time of this feast came Jesus 
was urged to go to Jerusalem that he might there make a public display 
of his work, on the theory that if one wished to be known openly he must 
work openly. The context shows that these relatives of Jesus were not 
believers in his claims, which probably accounts for their persistent 
inquiries for him (already referred to) while he was at his work of 



812 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

teaching. Jesus replied that the time for his manifestation (such as they 
suggested) had not yet come, but that they might fitly show their works, 
and that they would not be so thoroughly hated as he was, seeing that he 
was intensely pronounced in his testimony of the world's evil. Hence he 
said, "Go to the feast yourselves. I will not go now/' But after the 
others had gone, Jesus went secretly. There was much inquiry at the 
feast for him, and many conflicting opinions of his work. 

Jo. 7 : 14-24. — This feast of the tabernacles lasted a number of days. 
About the middle of the period Jesus began to teach in the temple. The 
surprise of the Jews and their statement about his never having learned 
letters refers simply to the fact that Jesus was not of the learned 
profession. Therefore they marveled that he was such a ready and 
successful teacher of men. Jesus' answer was to the effect that the answer 
to their question was that his teaching was of God, to whom Jesus was no 
stranger, and that if anyone chose to be obedient he could easily test in 
a personal way whether or not that doctrine had divine origin. He 
charges them with disregarding the law of Moses, and basely seeking to 
kill him. To this they made a brutal and lying answer which Jesus 
ignored ; but continued to make clear his charge, The law allows and you 
observe circumcision on the Sabbath, and yet you are angry with me 
because I healed a man on the Sabbath (referring to his work at a former 
feast, Jno. 5:1-9). This shows the inconsistency of the Jewish leaders, 
and with what Satanic persistency they dogged the footsteps of Jesus 
with unreasoning persecution. 

Jo. 7 :25-29. — Some of the hearers openly remarked on the fact that 
these would-be murderers of Jesus did not dare to open their mouths 
against him in public. They speculated as to whether or not this could 
be the Christ, but concluded that since they knew his family the chances 
were strongly against it. Jesus replied, You have opportunity to know 
me and my origin from the works I do ; your difficulty is that you do not 
know God. 

Jo. 7:30-46. — Such an arraignment angered these leaders still more 
exceeding^, and they tried to take him, but were afraid to venture upon 
violent methods. The open-minded were being convinced by the word 
and works of Jesus, and believed that he was fulfilling all the expectations 
of the promised Christ, and their expressions to this effect stirred up the 
leaders to send officers to take Jesus. The great teacher talked calmly 
on. I go shortly to him who sent me, and your search for me will be in 
vain, for there you cannot com p. The idea of his going away seemed to 
disconcert their minds; possibly it was meant to do so, and discussion 



GOSPEL. 813 

was raised as to where he would go — thinking of the Jews who were 
scattered in Greece. 

The language of Jesus on the last day of the feast referred specifically 
to a "third personage" of that triune-God-manifestation (the trinity), 
the "Holy Spirit," which was to be manifested as the leader of a dispen- 
sation beginning with Pentecost. Some judged by his words that he was 
the Christ, but others said no, because the Christ should be of the seed 
of David and born in Bethlehem, not knowing that Jesus filled these 
conditions. The officers were so absorbed by his words that they returned 
without him. 

Jo. 7:47-52. — The pharisees charged the officers with being led by 
Jesus, cited the fact that none of their number or of the rulers had 
believed on Jesus, and cursed the ignorant masses. Mcodemus, who was 
friendly to Jesus, suggested at this point that Jesus should be heard 
before being judged, and they turned upon him with biting sarcasm and 
inquired if he also was a Xazarene, reminding him that prophecy 
promised nothing from that source. 

Jo. 7:53-8-11. — When the crowds melted away Jesus went out to the 
Mount of Olives. In the early morning he returned and taught crowds 
in the temple. His old enemies bring a woman to be judged by him, but 
he ignored their question, knowing them to be worse than the woman. 
They were so persistent, however, that Jesus asked them a question which 
sent them self-condemned from his presence. Under such circumstances 
Jesus would not condemn the frightened and helpless woman, but sent 
her away, charging her to sin no more. 

Jo. 8 : 12-20. — Jesus continues his discourse in the temple by referring 
to himself as the light of the world, and saying that whoever followed 
him should have perpetual light. The pharisees took exceptions to his 
references to himself, and sneered at his claims. Jesus declared that 
he had a right to so speak of himself, because he knew the facts, and that 
they had no right to judge him. Then he continues, While I do not make 
a practice of judging others, if I should be called to do so I should judge 
justly. The reason follows: The law says that the agreement of two 
witnesses shall constitute a legal evidence. I bear witness of myself, 
and my Father bears witness of me. Here is evidence. In answer to 
their question, "Where is your father?" Jesus tells them they are not 
qualified to appreciate an answer, seeing that their characters are such 
that they are out of harmony with him, and therefore out of range of 
the knowledge of God. 

Jo. 8 :21-30. — As a warning against their unbelief Jesus again asserts 



814 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that after his going away they shall seek and shall not be able to find 
him. The sneering company gleefully report that he is about to kill 
himself. Jesus retorts, You are children of Satan, mere seekers of world 
position, and shall die in your sins because you will to do so. His declara- 
tion that they must believe on him or be lost was another way of saying 
that he was the true Messiah. In answer to their question, "Who are 
you?" he replies, "Just what I have been telling you all along." The 
following language declares that there is much to be said concerning the 
cases of these accusers, but that will be left to the Father, and that Jesus 
will occupy his time in declaring God's message to the world. Then he 
said that they should know the facts concerning him after he had been 
lifted up (crucified), and should understand that he spoke as his Father 
taught him, and did what was pleasing to God. These declarations had 
the effect of convincing many hearers. 

Jo. 8 :31-59. — The great teacher here exhorts these believers to be 
steadfast in order that the truth may make them free. They resented 
the imputation that they had not always been free, and cited their 
relation to Abraham. Jesus showed them that whoever sinned was a 
slave to sin, and should pay its penalty. This language was directed, no 
doubt, to the enemies of Jesus who were instigating these objections. In 
proof of his statements he cites their murderous passions toward him, 
explaining it solely on the ground that their dispositions do not run 
parallel with his words. He explains this difference by asserting that 
they are born from beneath rather than from above, and that although 
they claim to be Abraham's children, yet that their actions belie their 
professions. They claimed to be children of God. Jesus said, "You are 
not, else y<m would love me, for I came from him and under his orders. 
Why do you not take in my words? Simply because your dispositions 
are contrary; because you want to do the will of your father the Devil, 
that old murderer and truth hater. When he lies he is distinctly within 
his own element because he is the father of lies, but you will not believe 
me when I tell you the truth. This is sufficient evidence that God is not 
your father." His enemies contend that he is a Samaritan, and devil- 
possessed. Jesus denies, and contends that he honors God, though they 
dishonor Jesus; that he seeks the glory of God, and that his followers 
shall be delivered from death. Now, they say, we know that you are a 
devil because you claim to give more than our father Abraham and the 
prophets experienced. Whom do you claim to be, anyhow ? Jesus replied, 
"I have no need to answer. Let my Father answer whom you say you 
know. I say that you do not know him, and if I should say that I do not, 



GOSPEL. 815 

I should be as much of a liar as yourselves. Abraham looked forward to 
my day." They said, How can this be, considering your age? Jesus 
says, I was before Abraham. At this point their rage overcame their 
reason, and they finished their argument with stones. 

Jo. 9 :1-12. — After Jesus had hid himself from his murderous enemies 
and had gone from the temple, he saw by the wayside one blind from 
birth. We are not told what was the physical cause of this distress, but 
Jesus corrected the false idea that all disorders were necessarily the 
result of sin in the person affected or his parents. Here was a case 
attributable to other reasons. It is no detraction from the miraculous 
phase of this incident to say 'that there was virtue in the means which 
Jesus employed. The physically blind beggar obeyed Jesus and received 
sight. The spiritually and mentally blind pharisees reviled and mal- 
treated Jesus and died in their sins. 

Jo. 9:13-34. — At a former feast at Jerusalem (Jno. 5) Jesus had on 
the Sabbath healed the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda, and the 
leaders of the Jews had been persistently persecuting Jesus ever since. 
Now when the facts of this healing came to be known the trouble was 
intensified. First they divide on the question of the character of Jesus. 
Then they inquire of the restored man as to his opinion. Next they 
appeal to the parents to settle the claim as to whether or not this man 
was really their son born blind, and by what means he could now see. 
They established his identity, but were afraid of these violent opposers 
of Jesus, and denied all knowledge of the means by which he saw. When 
they asked again the blind man of his case, and tried to state it in such a 
way as to practically ignore Jesus in the matter, he gave them a reply 
which forever stopped argument on that line. Seeing that they could 
not argue the case further, they now begin to quibble by asking the man 
the same questions he had answered. He showed his wisdom by promptly 
throwing full in their faces the childishness of their course. They revile 
him, and contrast Moses, whom they profess to believe, with Jesus, whom 
they repudiate. But the man's good sense and courage were shown in 
the fact that neither ridicule nor false argument could daunt him, and he 
returns an answer so pointed and irrefutable that in their shame and 
humiliation and rage they put him out of membership in the Jewish 
church. 

Jo. 9 :35-39. — When Jesus heard of his excommunication he hunted 
the man and helped him to an intelligent faith in himself as the Messiah. 
The declaration of verse 39 is to the effect that the searching investigation 
which is instituted by the truth as embodied in Jesus will show the falsity 



816 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

and senselessness of many who hold up themselves as leaders of intelli- 
gence. In this sense the Gospel begins in this life the work of judgment 
by first setting right all who yield obedience to it, and then convincing 
of wrong all who are opposed to it; and will hereafter consummate its 
work by bringing into condemnation and punishment all enemies of the 
righteousness it embodies. 

Jo. 9 :40-10-18. — The pharisees were listening to this talk, and ask 
Jesus, no doubt with a sneer, "Are we blind ?" Jesus replied that if they 
are to be judged by the light they profess to have, then it is not blindness 
which afflicts them, but sin. The parable of the sheepfold is a statement 
of the claim of Jesus to be the Messiah, and an illustration of the 
correctness of that claim. The plan of salvation as embodied in Jesus 
bears the evidence within itself of its genuineness in that its character is 
just, and that the entire class of beings who love right and truth are 
irresistibly attracted to him. So the fact that the sheep follow him and 
know his voice is evidence that he is the Good Shepherd, and that those 
who came before his day professing to be the Messiah were the frauds 
which he here names them and which their end proved them. The state- 
ment that he comes to give life and lays down his own life to that end is 
a great proof of his God-likeness, and the other statement that he has 
other sheep not of the fold of Judaism, which he shall bring and 
incorporate all into one family, verified as it has been by the history of 
the centuries, is the crowning proof of his unity with God and the divine 
origin of his blessed religion. The closing statement declares that the 
combined power of all earth could not have forced upon Jesus this 
experience except he were willing to endure it for the truth's sake. It 
also foretold the Father's plan of the resurrection of Jesus. 

Jo. 10 : 19-21. — It is interesting to note the division resulting from such 
a talk. Some, the reasonable ones, would be convinced bv such logic. Of 
course the perverted souls who refused to be persuaded would use just ' 
such language as is here recorded of them. And although the friendly 
ones asked them this paralyzing question, yet they were unmoved from 
this stubborn position. 

Jo. 10 : 2 2-3 9. — The feast of dedication here noticed came in December, 
about two months after the feast of tabernacles, and Jesus seems to have 
remained about Jerusalem during the time between these two feasts. 
Solomon's porch was on the east side of the temple. It was childish for 
them to ask such a question of him if they could not accept the greater 
evidence of his works. Besides, as he here declares, he had already 
answered the question. Now he repeats what he has already said, that 



GOSPEL. 817 

the real reason of their unbelief is found in their character. Such as 
are in real sympathy with righteousness hear and heed his sayings, and 
get as a result eternal life. When he declared his unity with the father 
they were again about to stone Jesus, and he disconcerts them by asking 
for which of his many good deeds they were about to stone him, and 
when they accused him of blasphemy, he showed them that by their own 
law he had a legitimate right to so style himself. Adam was so styled; 
Psa. 82 :6 gives that appellation to judges as the official representatives 
and commissioned agents of God; and the writer of Hebrews so names 
the believers of the entire Christian dispensation, Heb. 2:10. In con- 
clusion he refers them to his works to establish the fact of his unity with 
the Father, but the claim so angered them that they again attempt to 
destroy him, and he escapes from them and leaves the place. 

Jo. 10 :40-42. — Jesus goes over beyond Jordan where John the Baptist 
began his ministry, and lived there for some time while the excitement 
among the Jews was settling. Many who were accustomed to hear John 
resorted here to Jesus, and the language makes it evident that he 
performed many miracles for the convincing of his hearers. This sort 
of a desert place and these appreciative hearers must have been to Jesus 
a precious rest from the ceaseless clash to which he had been subjected. 

Jo. 11 :1-16. — While Jesus was in this place of retirement Lazarus was 
taken sick. The sisters sent for Jesus, about twenty-five miles away, but 
because he knew something which others did not know (verse 4) he was 
in no hurry, but waited two days. When he spoke of going again into 
Judea the disciples reminded him of the dangers there from which he 
lately fled; he uses language (verse 9) which indicates that their 
passionate frenzy had had time to cool, and that if he was following the 
course of duty he was in a safe path. This language implies the necessity 
of intelligent reasoning up to the point of positive conviction, and after 
that a courageous following up of one's duty. 

Our great Master has set us the noblest example in this regard. Now 
he makes the disciples understand that he is going to Judea for Lazarus' 
sake, and when Thomas saw that he was going he said, Let us go with him 
and share the violent end that he felt sure would quickly come to Jesus 
in Judea. Little did they think what a scene they were about to witness. 

Jo. 11 : 17-44. — When Jesus arrived Martha met him and made a 
statement which indicates that she had some hopes of his resurrection. 
Her answer to the statement of Jesus that he should rise again was 
probably to call out from Jpsus an explanation of just what was to be 
understood by his statement that Lazarus should rise. His reply was so 



818 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

worded as to call out from Martha an expression of her faith in his 
Messianic claims. Now she comes to her house and sends Mary to Jesus, 
and the Jews from Jerusalem who had come to comfort her followed, 
supposing that she was going to the grave of Lazarus. She repeated what 
Martha had first said, and falling at his feet, wept piteously, the Jews 
weeping with her. Jesus asks to see the sepulcher, and as they guide 
him to it amid a flow of tears Jesus wept with them. When he ordered 
the stone away, Martha protested, but his question silenced her, and fully 
assured her of just what Jesus meant by saying, Lazarus shall rise again. 
The loud voice which he used was that all about him might hear the word 
of command. Then follows a scene which set all Judaism into com- 
motions of joy, alarm and rage. 

Jo. 11 :45-53. — The details of the joyful reunion in the home of 
Lazarus are left to the reader's imagination. The statement is made that 
many believed on Jesus, hence the alarm and rage of his enemies, the 
scribes and pharisees. A council was gathered, and in great perplexity 
they ask, What shall we do ? They trembled lest the nation should believe 
on Jesus, and that they would be leaders without anyone to lead. The 
answer of the high priest was doubtless on his part meant to be a 
suggestion to murder Jesus in order to avert the dangers suggested. But 
God so guided his tongue that his suggestion embraced the very plan of 
salvation which Jesus came to voice, and John adds that Jesus should 
gather not only that nation, but all God's children into one family. John 
saw in that expression what the high priest never had in his mind, and 
attributes it to the overruling of providence because of the office held by 
Caiaphas. His individual intent in the matter is proven by the following 
statement; from this time his followers determined to kill Jesus. 

Jo. 11 : 54-5 7. — Jesus now begins to hide himself from the Jewish 
leaders, and stays with his disciples in unfrequented places. The Passover 
here mentioned was the one at which Jesus was slain. This language 
shows that both his friends and his enemies were searching for him. With 
this theme ends the ministry in Galilee. Not many days now remain of 
the ministry of Jesus, but these are crowded with important events and 
discourses, and are spent almost wholly in Judea. 

Lu. 9 : 5 1-5 6. — The Passover season was near at hand, and Jesus turned 
his thoughts and his face toward the city which was doubtless to him 
the most sacred place on earth. He was now back in Galilee, which he 
is about to leave for the last time. All the remaining themes are classed 
under his ministry in Judea because his thoughts and plans are now on 
the work which he is to accomplish there. This time he intends to go 



GOSPEL. 819 

through Samaria and make a very public tour. So he sends messengers 
to make ready for him, but because the}' learned that he was going on 
through to Jerusalem their national prejudice repelled his agents. It 
ought to be noticed that one of these two here rebuked was the beloved 
John, and the spirit here displayed shows why he and his brother James 
were called Sons of Thunder. 

Lu. 9 :57-62. — Jesus says to the first of these three desiring to follow 
him, You need not expect wealth and honor in this road. It is very 
evident from the answer that these were the things which he was seeking. 
The answer to the second was also pertinent. Jesus was now on his last 
earthly tour, and it was highly necessary that whoever meant to follow 
him should do so now. ibid the same was doubly true of the third one. 
Besides, to go back home would be to subject himself to the danger of 
being distracted from duty by social pleasure. 

Lu. 10 :1-12. — The work of the thirty-five couples was done doubtless 
in Samaria. With such a number of helpers Jesus covered a wide scope 
in this last tour. His charge to them was much the same as to the others 
sent out before this time. The closing verses show that if any be unwilling 
to hear the truth and turn away its messengers despitefully, the respon- 
sibility shall be upon them and the result shall be appalling in that great 
day which is sure to come. The act of wiping the feet was meant to be 
a visible testimony against the guilty abusers of the truth. 

Lu. 10:13-16. — Upbraiding of the cities in Galilee, which he was now 
leaving forever, was.naturally suggested by what he had just said. These 
cities where Jesus had done so great work in the past years had shamefully 
and contemptuously treated him. The next time they hear his voice it 
will be in that day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus 
Christ according to his preached Gospel. 

Lu. 10 :17-24.— The company have now passed through Galilee and the 
seventy make their report. The answer of Jesus suggests a most inter- 
esting idea. I think it most likely that Satan was about this time warred 
against by Michael and cast out of heaven, and from this time forth 
denied access there as the accuser of the brethren. Both Job and the 
book of Revelation confirm this view. Jesus here mentions that he has 
given his people power over Satan and his doings, but, he adds, do not 
glory in his downfall, but in your deliverance from his power. The joy 
and thanksgiving of Jesus at the simplicity of the plan of salvation were 
very marked. And he here tells his disciples that that plan which is 
embodied in him and given to them is the one for which all the worthies 
of the ages looked. 



820 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Lu. 10 :25-37. — They are now about to enter the territory of Judea. 
The question asked by this reputed student of the law leads Jesus to 
ask, "What is this you have been studying, and what does it say?" In 
answer he summarized the law. Jesus said, "Then do so." But he 
wanted to restrict the word neighbor to his own set, hence his next 
question. The parable of the good Samaritan was the reply of Jesus, 
and there was probably a double reason why he used the word Samaritan. 
In the first place they were yet in or were just leaving Samaritan territory 
where the thirty-five couples had had much success in their work, and 
there was in the mind of Jesus the thought of good Samaritans, of which 
there were many. Then the Jews strongly hated the Samaritans, and 
Jesus by this parable emphasizes the fact that true neighborliness 
overleaps the petty boundaries of clans and reaches out to the remotest 
member of the human family, e\en though .that member be of so-called 
enemies. And further, that the meanest of selfishness may be often found 
among one's own, even those who ought to be leaders in goodness. His 
closing exhortation, "Go and do likewise," has in it a world of suggestive- 
ness for all concerned. That was his answer to the man's original 
question, and it left no room for controversy. 

Matt 19:1, 2; Ma. 10:1; Lu. 10 : 38-42.— Matthew and Mark, without 
telling of this trip through Samaria, simply mention the departure from 
Galilee, and the coming into the land of Judea, on both sides of the 
Jordan. One mentions his having gone to the home of Martha and Mary, 
which he probably did soon after' reaching Judea. The answer of Jesus 
to Martha's complaint and request teaches that there are those who wear 
out themselves about a multitude of unnecessary details, when but few 
such are necessary. Jesus said, You trouble yourself about many things 
when but one is necessary. And he commended Mary's disposition to 
learn. 

Lu. 11:1-13. — The request of a disciple for instruction as to prayer 
brought from Jesus practically a repetition of the thought he had pre- 
sented in the sermon on the mount under the head of the spirit and 
practice of prayer (Matt. 6:5-15). Now he emphasizes the thought of 
deep earnestness in the matter of prayer by using the following illus- 
tration. Even a friend may not be willing to take the bother of rising to 
supply your needs, but if you keep up a shameless importunity he will 
give nevertheless. Such determination as that should characterize your 
asking of God. If an earthly father knows so well how to do a good 
thing for his child how much more does God ; but he demands thorough 
earnestness. 



GOSPEL. 821 

Lu. 11:14-26.— Matthew in chapter 9:32-34 and chapter 12:22-24 has 
given account of the healing of two other dumb men. The miracle was 
so manifestly of God that in both cases, as also here, the pharisees charged 
him with using power of Satan. The answer of Jesus has been noticed 
in Matt. 12. There were no doubt many times when this accusation was 
brought against Jesus, and his reply was thorough and crushing. 

Lu. 11 :27, 28. — The blessing poured out of the mouth of this admiring 
woman upon Jesus called out this most valuable suggestion from him; 
blessings come not so much from external association as from hearing and 
keeping the word of God as I give it to you, and so coming in touch with 
God in spirit. 

Lu. 11:29-36-. — The first part of these remarks of Jesus to those 
wishing a sign have been noticed in Matt. 12. The second paragraph of 
this theme are two extracts from the sermon on the mount. There is no 
likelihood that these are the same instances as those mentioned formerly 
in Matthew. Xo doubt these various accusations and demands were made 
regarding Jesus times without number, and out of that magnificently 
prepared sermon on the mount and other carefully prepared discourses 
he drew replies to cover all these, and used them repeatedly. 

Lu. 11 :37-52. — Jesus is now, as shown in the last lesson, somewhere 
in the neighborhood of Bethany. One of those critical pharisees has here 
asked him to a feast, in order that he may criticise his actions. Jesus 
goes fearlessly, and uses the opportunity to read this class a much needed 
lesson in consistency. He shows how foolish is the idea of trying to make 
themselves righteous by the formalities of their so-called washings and 
similar ceremonies. He charges them to give to God for tithes that 
service of their inner selves which above all God desires — right thoughts 
and just deeds. The following paragraph explains. They are unjust 
and vain, and for that reason bring the cause of right into reproach more 
than their service can possibly do good. Tombs were of course full of 
corruption, and, according to Jewish custom, anyone coming in contact 
with a tomb was corrupted, whether he knew or not that the tomb was 
there. Likewise he- said of those pharisees, You are a corrupting influ- 
ence. One of the expounders of the law said quickly, That saying is a 
thrust also at our class. Jesus replied in substance, You are just right, 
and I mean it to be so. Then he shows them how they make the law a 
burden to the people and themselves slip out of the burdens. The fact 
of th^ir attempting to honor the dead prophet? with fine tombs was in 
itself a living testimony that their fathers had abused these prophets even 
to death, just as the Scripture had foretold. Seeing that this class 



822 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

especially were in possession of this knowledge, the thought of the 
following verses is that, since in spite of that knowledge they are 
unrighteous formalists, all the prophets slain, from the first to the last, 
should be rightly set against these false professors who with all their light 
were doing similarly mean things. Being the interpreters of the law, 
they should have been guides to the people in righteousness ; but instead 
of doing so, they used their knowledge to make the people unjust 
formalists like themselves. We know nothing of the history of Zachariah 
mentioned here, but he had at that time the distinction of being the last 
martyr to righteousness. 

Lu. 11 :53, 54. — As was naturally to be expected, after such a scoring 
as that, these leaders, whose dignity had received a very great shock, are 
now becoming desperate to make an open rupture with Jesus. They ply 
him with all sorts of questions, and no doubt make all sorts of false 
accusations in hope of getting him to say something which they can use 
to crush him. Jesus knows that his own end is near, and he diligently 
improves every opportunity to severely deal with these leaders in hypoc- 
risy. 

Lu. 12 :1-12. — Very properly Jesus now warns his disciples against 
these unreasonable creatures. He assures them that their hypocrisy shall 
be made clear in future so that he who runs may read. Their carefully 
concealed plots shall come fully to light in the history of the future, just 
as the quiet and self-denying labors of the Christ follower shall be fully 
manifested by those same historic developments in which right, pitted 
against wrong, proves its might by its conquest. Therefore he says, "Fear 
not." God and his claims only are to be regarded by the Christian, and 
he who cares for the sparrows will much more care for human beings. 
The numbering of the hairs of the head signifies the greatest possible 
concern. And so he enjoins upon the disciples the greatest fidelity, and 
here again assures them that while the accusations made against him 
personally may be lightly regarded, that those who persist in going 
counter to the work done under the administration of the Holy Spirit, 
and so wilfully and inexcusably close their hearts against the truth, have 
made themselves its avowed enemy, and need not hope for its favor in this 
life or any other. The closing language of this theme is simply a guard 
against the Christian worker wasting time in studying out defensive 
speeches. A simple statement of the facts should be sufficient. 

Lu. 12:13-21. — The warning against covetousness grew naturally out 
of this ill-timed request of one of the hearers of Jesus. Not only was it 
not the place of Jesus to be a divider of property, but this hearer's interest 



GOSPEL. 823 

in that rather than in the truth which Jesus taught was a pure index of 
his character. To illustrate how that a man's life does not consist in 
having abundance of earthly riches, Jesus here gives the parable of the 
rich fool, and warns, so is he that heaps up earthly riches and neglects 
his duty toward God. 

Lu. 12 : 2 2-31. — Now he turns to the disciples and warns them in the 
same strain. He means, do not be over-anxious about temporal matters. 
Do not let these things be a worry to you. Turning to the birds and lilies, 
Jesus uses them as object lessons to show how God cares for the lower 
order of intelligence and inanimate things, urging this as all necessary 
evidence that he will care for the human family. So that if they would 
make the proper contrast between themselves and the unregenerate world 
Christians should seek first to discharge fully their duties toward God, 
confident that all needed temporal blessings will follow. A comforting 
point in this theme is that our Father is acquainted with our needs ; and 
a suggestive point is that the beauties of the material world far exceed 
our powers to describe or comprehend them. 

Lu. 12 : 3 2-40. — The exhortation to the faithful naturally follows the 
warning to them. Not only be not anxious about temporal things, but 
have no fear about the ultimate triumph of your cause. You shall have 
the standing of conquerors at the last. Therefore you can afford to turn 
your earthly treasures into treasures of the skies, especially since that 
will fix your attention and your affections the more closely on things 
unfailing. The figure of girding the loins suggests constant preparation 
to run in his service, and the following verse suggests such conduct as 
will impress onlookers with the fact that the Christian believes in and 
looks for his Lord's return, and so holds himself in constant readiness. 
Such, he declares, shall be specially honored of the Master. To show 
the value of watchfulness he suggests how that, properly applied, watch- 
fulness would save great loss, the application being that it will do so in 
spiritual matters as well. 

Lu. 12:41-48. — The question of Peter was well answered in the 
language which follows it. The foregoing suggestions were addressed 
to every wise person who is set over the affairs of the Lord's household. 
But to be unwise, and to atempt to lord it over the heritage of God, is 
simply to display that unfaithfulness and hypocrisy which in justice must 
ultimately end in the removal and punishment of such servant. And 
as a matter of course the punishment will depend in degree upon whether 
the offense was committed knowingly or unknowingly. The degree of 
responsibility is always in proportion to the endowment. 



824 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Lu. 12:49-53. — An effect of the ministry of Jesus is here mentioned 
in the exhortation to the faithful. He enjoins them not to think that 
victory may be gained for right without a struggle. Jesus tells them that 
he shall cast fire on the earth, and that if what he has already done has 
kindled that fire, what may be expected before his work is finally accom- 
plished? The next verse probably refers to the coming death which he 
felt was near at hand because of his settled purpose to thunder against 
evil at the expense of peace. Subsequent history has fully confirmed 
these words. The history of the battle between right and sin has been 
so terrible as to be in a large degree indescribable, and it has divided the 
nearest relatives and dearest friends. 

Lu. 12:54-59. — Jesus reminds them that they are able to foretell* an 
ordinary coming event, such as the character of the weather, but are too 
stupid to see from the signs of the times what is about to be. The 
remainder of this theme, using the illustration of a common transaction, 
is an exhortation to the one going counter to God to make his peace with 
right before it is too late. Otherwise he shall have to pay the uttermost 
penalty. And the whole trend of the logic argues that men have sufficient 
light and will be held strictly responsible for knowing and doing. 

Lu. 13:1-5. — It appears that we are left to guess -at the facts of the 
events to which reference is here made. But while we have no knowledge 
of the historic facts, the meaning of these references is plain. What may 
seem to be a special dispensation of God's wrath may after all be far 
from being so. But no mathematics is surer than that unrepentant sinners 
are to suffer destruction for their sins. And so Jesus here impresses his 
disciples, and the multitude which followed, with the significant fact 
that repentance must be preached as the only remedy for sin which will 
otherwise destroy soul and body. 

Lu. 13 :6-9. — It was fitting that he should close this talk to his disciples 
and the multitude with this suggestion from the fig-tree. When it 
showed itself barren it was ordered to be destroyed. Its cultivator 
pleaded for a little time to experiment that he might see what he could 
do to redeem it. The lesson is that Jesus does just that for his disciples 
and the world. And he rightly expects of those who become his disciples 
that they shall bear fruit, and of course that those who -are not disciples 
shall become so, and render to God what is due him for his mercies. All 
these themes seem to have been called out by this question of the young 
man about the property. 

Lu. 13 :10-17.— On Sabbath, as Jesus taught in the synagogue, this 
unfortunate woman was healed. The miserable formalist who ruled over 



GOSPEL. 825 

the synagogue had been so long accustomed to substitute forms and 
ceremonies of religion for the real spirit of sympathy and helpfulness 
which God desires, that he could see nothing but evil in this gracious act, 
because it conflicted with their man-made concepts about keeping the 
Sabbath. No common man among the Jews would have raised any such 
objection. But these rulers had been accustomed to lord it over God's 
heritage and have their word taken without question, never admitting 
that they could be wrong in any sense. And the answer of Jesus indicated 
that they were here following what they knew to be an inconsistent course 
of reasoning and contrary to their own practice, simply that they might 
belittle the authority and work of Jesus. Their shamefaced silence before 
his answer demonstrated the strength of his position. A chief difficulty 
with them in the case of Jesus was the fact that he went about his 
business with an independence and air of certainty which was a constant 
source of irritation to these leaders, who wanted to be solicited constantly 
for their opinions and approval in all religious matters. Jesus showed 
that they were more often wrong than the common people. 

Lu. 13:18-21. — At this point the parables of the mustard seed and 
leaven were pertinent. The kingdom of God being the embodiment of 
truth, all progress tends toward its development. So it will grow like the 
mustard seed, and like the yeast plant in the dough, until the entire mass 
is permeated. The mustard and the leaven were chosen no doubt because 
they increased more, according to their original bulk, than any other 
plant. And the same is the case with the truth, no matter how deceptive 
sometimes are appearances. 

Lu. 13:22-30. — These verses (22-30) show that Jesus was touring 
among the villages of Judea and making his way to Jerusalem, where he 
expected to be at the time of the Passover feast. This question as to 
the number who should be saved calls up the question of earnestness on 
the part of the seeker. Success in the way of life requires striving, and 
the way itself is narrow in the sense that many things are excluded from 
it. The talk of Jesus in this connection teaches conclusively that many 
will lose their opportunity to enter God's kingdom — those who have had 
the best of opportunity ; and that on the other hand multitudes who are 
strangers to Judaism shall share in that kingdom because they are 
children of faith. So it shall come to be that many who were last in point 
of opportunity shall be first in preferment. The wasted opportunities 
of those who are rejected only adds to their condemnation. Hence for 
such to say that we have eaten and drank in the King's presence and he 
has taught in our streets (as these Jews might truly say of themselves) 



826 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

only calls out the response, "Depart, ye workers of iniquity." For if they 
were not workers of iniquity they would have received the truth at the 
first opportunity, and would not now be outside knocking. It is evident 
by this passage that the saved are those who enter in by way of faith 
which Jesus has opened. 

Lu. 13 :31-33. — The old enemies of Jesus now are either trying to array 
Herod against him, or else are lying to the Master in order to try to 
frighten him. But Jesus had no fears. It is thought by some that when 
this message was brought Jesus was east of the Jordan in the dominions 
of Herod. The answer expresses the calm determination of the Master 
to go right on with his work, and its closing expression is a bit of irony 
that ought to have appalled the rulers of Judaism. It was equivalent to 
Jesus saying, I have no fears, for nobody kills God's prophets but the 
leaders of the Jews. 

Lu. 13 :34, 35. — Jerusalem stood for the center of Hebrew national life. 
Hence this lamentation over it was really a lamentation over the decay 
of that life from the purity of the Mosaic dispensation. The suggestion 
of a hen gathering her brood is a fair picture of what Jesus would have 
done for this nation had those who were his own not rejected and 
despitefully used him. Who can know what the history of the world 
might have been had Jesus been received and -accorded his proper place 
among his own, had been allowed, for instance, to die a natural death to 
pay sin's purchase price, and then rise again to resume his proper place 
in the human family. The very prospect thrills the human concept, and 
stretches away into immensity. But as it was, Jesus says, After these 
next few days I shall no more be seen by these until I am seen coming in 
the clouds of heaven (the way in which they originally expected him to 
appear), and when they shall be forced to say, "Blessed is the one coming 
in the name of the Lord." 

Lu. 14 :l-6. — Again Jesus is invited to a dinner by a pharisee that they 
might pick flaws in his conduct. When this man with the dropsy was put 
before him, he asked of the company of his enemies a question as to the 
lawfulness of Sabbath healing. That question had been the source of so 
much controversy in the case of Jesus that they were afraid to open it 
here, and so wisely held their peace. Jesus healed him, and then showed 
by their own common customs that they habitually did on the Sabbath 
work far less important. They were effectually silenced. 

Lu. 14:7-11. — The eye of Jesus, quick to observe what was going on 
about him, saw that a lesson was much needed among the guests. It is 
possible that verses 7-11 do not contain the parable which he used on 



GOSPEL. 827 

that occasion, but are simply the lesson drawn from that parable. He 
teaches that true spirit of humility which must always go before exalta- 
tion. Whoever rises by observing the rule here given rises permanently, 
but whoever gets himself up by selfish means is sure, sooner or later, to 
come to grief. The way to become lord of all is first to become servant 
of all. 

Lu. 14:12-15. — Jesus now turns to the host with an exhortation to 
him. Here follows one of the most famous exhortations ever given. At 
the table of an influential enemy, having enjoined humility upon the rich 
guests, he tells his host not to make feasts for such guests as those here 
assembled so much as for the helpless and needy of the earth. What a 
contrast was this picture which he here draws with the selfish formalism 
of these very pharisees ; and yet so vivid was the picture that at least one 
of the company had his heart warmed and cried out, "Blessed is he that 
shall eat bread in the kingdom of God," that kingdom about which Jesus 
had been speaking. 

Lu. 14:16-24. — Jesus now concludes with the parable of the great 
supper, a lesson that was meant to condemn the course of the self- 
righteous formalists. This supper was a picture of the gospel feast which 
God had spread for men, and the invited guests were the Hebrews, of 
whom these pharisees were the chief representatives. The three great 
representative excuses here cited were no doubt represented over and 
over in that company. Eeal estate, chattels and social relations were 
keeping these leading Hebrews out of the kingdom of God. Their 
treasures were upon the earth, and so their hearts were there. The lesson 
shows that God has no patience with such excuses, and that the humblest 
poor of earth shall be preferred before the people who make them. These 
pharisees could see a reflection of themselves in this parable in that the 
leaders of the Jews had so abused the prophets which had from time to 
time been sent them, just as they were now abusing Jesus, but they 
were unable to argue with him, and so wisely held their peace. 

Lu. 14:25-35. — As Jesus traveled on great multitudes flock after him. 
This talk on the conditions of discipleship was very opportune at this 
time. There must have been many who were glorying in the ability of 
Jesus to stop the mouths of these Jewish leaders, and for this reason 
his cause was becoming popular, and because it was becoming popular 
they wanted to follow him. Jesus says in substance, If you do not join 
yourself to me with the full determination to serve my purpose, even at 
the cost of giving up home and loved ones, or even life itself if need be, 
for my sake, then you had better not follow me at all. Jesus knew the 



828 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

trouble into which he soon would come and into which his followers would 
come, so he gives timely warning, and says, Count the cost, just as one 
would in building or going to war. Further he adds, You cannot be an 
acceptable disciple and continue a course which makes you no better than 
the unsaved world. You would be like the salt ore with its salt properties 
washed out — good for nothing. 

Lu. 15:1-7. — When the scribes and pharisees murmured at Jesus 
because he encouraged the coming of those whom they looked upon as 
a lower class, he answered them with the parable of the lost sheep. In 
this Jesus does not argue that these leaders do not need salvation as much 
as the lower class, but says, If they are so low as you say, are they not 
the very lost sheep who ought to be sought and brought back? These 
objectors may have considered themselves righteous, but Jesus does not 
here admit it. 

Lu. 15 :8-10. — The parable of the silver was told to illustrate how men 
would seek for anything which was lost. The fact that this woman had 
other pieces of silver did not prevent her searching with concern for this. 
And so she rejoiced over her good fortune in rinding it. So much more 
there is said to be rejoicing in heaven when a sinner becomes reconciled 
to God. 

Lu. 15:11-32. — A third illustration in the answer of Jesus to the 
scribes and pharisees, who were carping because he associated with such 
as they considered beneath them, was this parable of the prodigal son. 
Perhaps the great lesson which Jesus meant to impress by this was, that 
a class which had been so highly favored and privileged as the leaders of 
Judaism ought not to cherish resentment when kindnesses are extended 
to a class less favored. The story presents a vivid picture of how God 
rejoices when a wanderer turns back to. him, and how uncalled for and 
foolish it is for those who possess every advantage to display their 
jealousy. There are many minor details in this parable in which likeness 
may be shown between the older son and the learned class who knew 
God's will; also between the younger son and the common people, not 
only within the Jewish nation, but in all nations. But let it be remem- 
bered from the context that the main intent of the story was to answer 
the criticism in regard to Jesus associating with sinners. 

Lu. 16:1-13. — Another parable on the same occasion and for the same 
purpose is this of the unjust steward. The story is told not to coun- 
tenance the wrong that the steward did, but to commend forethought. 
He displayed wisdom, even though it was not just wisdom. The lesson 
is, use your riches in such a way that by it. you ma.y make friends to 



GOSPEL. 829 

welcome yon into the life to come when yon leave this life. These critics 
had abundant wealth both of money and knowledge. This parable says 
to them, If yon use these resources, not to help those who need yonr help, 
but to be selfishly exclusive, you need not suppose that God can count 
you true servants of his, or give you the recognition and approval which 
constitutes the highest order of riches. You cannot serve God and at 
the same time be a slave of money. It was a pressing exhortation to them 
to go and themselves do as he had done. 

Lu. 16:14-18. — Of course the old misers would scoff at this idea. To 
their mind nothing could justify any separation of themselves from their 
money, and they openly expressed contempt for this teaching of Jesus. 
His reply to them did not in any sense spare their feelings. It was solid 
shot, aimed directly, and it hit its mark. . Now he declares that since 
the beginning of the preaching of Christ's kingdom the headstrong 
self-seekers had been trying to take formal possession of it and run it in 
their own way ; but be very sure that God will vindicate his expressed will. 
The reference to the violated law of marriage was possibly cited here to 
illustrate the point that these interpreters of the law were doing violence 
to it, for this law among the Jews at that time was notoriously lax, and 
probably a great per cent of the hearers on this occasion were violators 
of it. 

Lu. 16 : 19-31. — Their resentment of the statements about riches called 
out from Jesus this parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In it he gives 
a graphic picture of what those miserly scoffers might expect after this 
life. In showing their danger he shows also how those whom the rich 
despise and treat contemptuously in this life will be their judges in the 
life to come. The manner in which the rich man and Lazarus changed 
places was startling. The rich man could not recognize that Lazarus was 
richer even in this world in the true riches, and that shortly he would be 
a humble beggar to Lazarus from afar off. Another lesson which he here 
makes very plain is that the law with which they are taking so much 
liberty must be respected, and if they abuse that they need look for no 
other direction from God. The parable further shows that in process of 
time things will surely be evened up as they should be. 

Lu. 17:1-4. — The remark of Jesus to the disciples about stumbling 
grew naturally out of the talks he had just given. These carping critics 
of Jesus were stumbling blocks, keeping people out of the kingdom of 
God. One can read between the lines a feeling on the part of Jesus that 
it would be better for the whole tribe of the scribes, pharisees and lawvers 
to be in the bottom of the Dead Sea than that thev should be allowed to 



830 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

keep light from a single one of the humblest truth seekers. Then he 
charged them against that prejudice which he finds so deeply seated in 
these his enemies, and teaches them that even in the extremest case they 
should cherish the spirit of forgiveness. 

Lu. 17:5-10. — When the apostles, realizing from his teaching some- 
thing of their responsibility, asked Jesus to increase their faith, he 
answered in substance, That is your part. If you have the smallest 
amount of it yon will be able to overcome any difficulty whatever. But 
do not suppose, when by your works you have displayed such faith, that 
you are indispensable to the work of the kingdom, for when you have done 
your best you should realize that you have done only your plain duty, for 
you are servants. 

Lu. 17:11-19. — Just why an incident probably on the confines of 
Samaria and Galilee is mentioned here we do not know, but there are two 
explanations, either of which ought to be satisfactory: 1. This incident 
may have happened on the way down, and the cured leper not have found 
Jesus again for a few days ; in which case the original incident would not 
be mentioned expressly until this returned Samaritan called up the 
subject. Or, 2. For some reason Jesus may have in his tour gone up again 
out of Judea into the upper country. The first theory, however, is the 
one by far the more likely. The language here used does not preclude 
the idea that this Samaritan went to the priest, and had him pronounce 
over him, which, if true, would necessarily take some little time. Then 
he would hunt up Jesus and give him thanks for the healing. No doubt 
the object of this relating was to show that there is more gratitude shown 
often on the part of strangers than is shown by those from whom most 
ought to be expected. And it is ever so in life. 

Lu. 17 :20-37. — The question as to the coming of God's kingdom called 
out an answer like this: Your class need not expect to see the coming 
of that kingdom, for it will not be manifest to such eyes as yours. Then 
to the disciples he said, There is a sorrowful time coming when you shall 
greatly long for the presence of your Lord, but long in vain. And there 
will be those who will try to seduce you from me, but be not deceived, for 
when he comes again all will understand clearly who he is. But before 
that day (how long before is not pertinent to this logic) there is to be a 
great tragedy (the betrayal, trial and crucifixion) . And after that, just 
as in the days of Noah and Lot, so in that day this sinful nation will not 
believe until calamity comes upon it. Authorities think that the language 
here used refers particularly to the destruction of Jerusalem which took 
place in 70 A. D., about thirty-five years after Jesus spoke these words. 



GOSPEL. 831 

If it be so, the language relating to gaining and losing the life probably 
refers to the fact that those who neglected to flee promptly, even though 
it meant the giving up of all their earthly possessions, should lose life 
itself, and those who should forsake all and flee should save their lives. 
In those terrible days of calamity there were drawn sharp lines oi dis- 
tinction, and the Jews were singled out for particular vengeance. All 
this language, however, is capable of much wider application than to that 
historic event alone, and I think was so intended. "The days of the son 
of man" here mentioned refer I think to the whole period of time during 
which Christ's kingdom is being established, and so what was in a 
measure verified at the destruction of Jerusalem has been, is, and shall 
be verified in much greater measure between that time and the end of 
the Christian dispensation which precedes the resurrection of the just. 
The closing sentence confirms this view. The answer as to where these 
things shall be was, wherever the conditions are such as to call them out, 
just as a carcass will inevitably bring together the birds of prey. 

Lu. 18 :l-8. — This talk would bring to mind the necessity of steadfast 
importunity on the part of God's people. This parable was used to 
impress the lesson. As the widow's importunity gained her point, Jesus 
here teaches that the importunity of God's children shall much more be 
regarded, even though God may severely test them by long withholding 
their request. But the question naturally aroseln the mind of Jesus, How 
much of such overcoming faith will I find when I return ? 

Lu. 18:9-14. — Self-righteousness received a stinging rebuke in the 
parable of the pharisee and publican. Whether or not this theme is 
connected with what goes before may be a matter of opinion, and yet it 
might well be connected. If God's people are to be overcomers they 
must stand together and regard one another. Hence the spirit of the 
pharisee must be crucified, and the humility of the publican everywhere 
and always characterize our attitude toward God and our fellow man. In 
this parable it becomes plain that it requires more than conformity to 
ceremonies and high ecclesiastical standing to make one acceptable to 
God. Such humility as Jesus taught is the only road to true exaltation. 

Matt 19:3-12; Ma. 10:2-12.— Two of the evangelists record here that 
the pharisees lay a snare in which they attempt to entrap Jesus in order 
that they might use some of his words to bring him into disfavor with at 
least a part of the people. He gives them the original and correct law of 
marriage, and when they referred him to the law of Moses he showed 
that such a regulation was necessary only because of the headstrong per- 
versity of the people, and then reiterates that divorcing a wife without 



832 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

just cause and marrying another was a violation of the seventh command- 
ment. Doubtless they had laid this trap in order to get even with Jesus 
for the insinuation he had thrown out in his reply to scoffers just shortly 
before. It seems quite clear that the reference to the woman "who is 
put away" means one who has been divorced without a sufficient cause. 
She is driven by force of external conditions into illegal relations. The 
recognition of such a danger called up the following questions in the 
minds of the disciples, and Jesus replied in substance, that while some 
can forbear to marry others cannot, and so such as can forbear (like Paul) 
may do so if they like. 

Matt. 19:13-15; Ma. 10:13-16; Lu. 18:15-17.— Three of the writers 
make mention of the incident of babes being brought to Jesus for his 
blessing. Just why the disciples rebuked those who brought them is not 
clear. But if they had politely objected simply because they thought 
Jesus did not want to be bothered by the children, he would not have had 
indignation. The fact that he had, showed that they must have been 
overbearing in their orders to these mothers. His answer showed that 
the children were already members of God's kingdom, and had a right 
to be, and that older people who would be acceptable must be as guileless 
and as teachable as they. Incidentally we are here taught the proper 
relation of children to the church. 

Matt 19:16-22; Ma. 10:17-22; Lu. 18:18-23.— This conversation of 
Jesus with the rich young man disclosed the vast difference between -a 
vague desire to be an aggressive child of light and that of being willing 
to pay the actual cost. The question of Jesus as to why the young man 
called him good suggests that to call Jesus good, and mean it, was 
equivalent to admitting his claim as to his unity with the Father, and 
owning him as a proper object of worship ; for since Jesus claimed that 
it was either true, or else he was not by any means good, for if not true 
it was the rankest blasphemy. It was no doubt with a feeling of just 
pride that the young man said of the commandments, "I have kept all 
these from my youth/' "Jesus loved him." That expression conveys a 
world of suggestiveness. Had he followed the direction of Jesus he 
might have been another "John the beloved." This advice in this par- 
ticular case does not argue that every disciple is to part with all his 
earthly possessions, but it is a singular fact that Jesus chose for his 
twelve apostles men who were not trammeled by riches, probablv that 
they might give their undivided attention to his work, and doubtless 
this young man might, if he would, have had the apostolic office of Judas, 
who was soon to leave. 



GOSPEL. 833 

Matt. 19 :23-26 ; Ma. 10 :23-27 ; Lu. 18 :24-2?.— The discourse on riches 
grew out of observation of this case. This very promising young man had 
gone sorrowfully away from the opportunity which could never return in 
the history of his existence. It was not because he could not, but because 
he was not willing to pay the price. Had he taken the advice of Jesus 
not only would he have been numbered among the apostles, but every 
dollar of his riches might have been transplanted among the immortal 
flowers of paradise. As he departed Jesus said, "It is hard for a rich man 
to enter the kingdom of God." The account by Mark explains the 
reference to the needle's e}*e. It is evident that much was said in 
explanation by Jesus which is not here recorded, but according to Mark 
he said "to trust in riches" makes it impossible for a man to enter God's 
kingdom. Such a one has no hope of gaining entrance only b}^ changing 
from trust in riches to trust in God. So it appears that riches are often 
a snare, and this particular case is an illustration of the fact. 

Matt. 19:27-30; Ma. 10:28-31; Lu. 18:28-30.— A second phase of this 
discourse is brought out in answer to a question of Peter. "We have left 
all we had to follow thee." Jesus replies that they shall get vastly more 
even in this life by following him than that which they left, to say 
nothing of the glory which they shall share, and honor of being associate 
justices with Christ in his judgment. It was true that these apostles had 
left the only means of their support (however humble those means) in 
order to follow Jesus, and he honored them for it. The closing expression 
of the first two writers on this theme indicates that many who hold them- 
selves least and who possibly are esteemed least from the standpoint of 
this life, shall, because of their great faith and activity, be given the 
greatest place hereafter; and many who have had in this life the first 
place and best opportunities shall come down from the high honors they 
have enjoyed to their proper level. 

Matt. 20:1-16. — The parable of the vineyard laborers (Matthew only) 
was given to explain that last expression. Those who were hired early 
in the morning were given the full value of their day's work, as agreed 
upon. The others were given the value of a day's work because they had 
worked faithfully all the time they had opportunity to work. So the 
master assumed to treat them all alike as to opportunity, and gave them 
each a day's work. And those who objected to his generosity in this 
regard showed lack of respect for themselves, and lack of charity for 
others, and were really unworthy of the employment with which they 
had been furnished. The first hour was 6 a.m.; third hour, 9 a.m.; sixth 
hour, 12 M. ; ninth hour, 3 p. m. ; eleventh hour, 5 p. m. Those who had 



834 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

gone willingly and confidently, late in the day, without a definite contract, 
had shown more faith in the master than these grumblers who had worked 
all day for a stipulated price. 

Matt 20:17-19; Ma. 10:32-34; Lu. 18 :3 1-34.— Jesus now tells the 
disciples what he himself could clearly foresee regarding his treatment by 
the Jewish leaders. Their lack of comprehension in the matter may have 
been partly due to the fact that they could not comprehend the depth of 
the rage of those leaders against so inoffensive a person as Jesus, and 
therefore could not understand that they would treat him so basely. Then 
their minds were still occupied with the idea of a temporal kingdom over 
which they believed that Jesus would assert his kingly power, and so 
they were in no condition to comprehend, even though Jesus told them, 
of his coming terrible passion and death, and of the resurrection which 
should follow. 

Matt 20:20-28; Ma. 10:35-45.— A proof that his believers generally 
were persuaded that Jesus would assume the rule of an earthly kingdom 
was in the fact that such a request as this should come from the mother 
of two of the disciples. The version of Mark put by that of Matthew 
shows that James and John made the request, using their mother as an 
agent by whom to approach Jesus. Little did they know what they were 
asking. And when they answered, "We can drink and be baptized," they 
had no idea what their answer implied. Jesus told them that they would 
have opportunity to test their declarations, but the granting of their 
request was out of the question, considering the nature of his kingdom. 
Of course such a request would stir the animosity of the other disciples, 
but Jesus curbed their outburst of indignation by showing that those who 
should be greatest in the kingdom would be such as excelled in self- 
denying service. Such a statement as that would remove at once all the 
resentment from the hearts of the ten apostles. It was a system of 
promotion which made every man solely responsible for the station which, 
he would occupy, and left no room for jealousy. And Jesus mentioned 
himself as a chief example in this respect. 

Matt 20:29-34; Ma. 10:46-52; Lu. 18:35-43.— As the company went 
through and out of Jericho, Bartimeus, a blind beggar, heard the 
commotion. Matthew tells that there was another blind man with him. 
When they heard that the far-famed Jesus of Nazareth was passing they 
disregarded all conventional rules and matters of decorum, and cried out 
in spite of the people's protest, for Jesus to help them. Well they might, 
for they were having their last chance, though they did not know it. 
When Jesus noticed them the people ceased their protest, and these two 



GOSPEL. 835 

men came hastily to find their eyes opened to the blessed light of day. 
Then they turned in with the praising multitude and followed Jesus in 
the way. * 

Lu. 19 :1-10.— Zaccheus, the rich publican (tax collector), had tried 
to get sight of Jesus as he was passing through Jericho, but failing to do 
so hurried out past the blind beggars (probably dropping them some coins 
on the way), and somewhere on the way between Jericho and his home 
had climbed a sycamore tree under which he knew Jesus must pass. 
Jesus invited him down, and invited himself to the house of Zaccheus, 
a thing which that dignitary was exceedingly glad to hear. While the 
people, who all hated the tax collectors for the Eoman government, called 
Zaccheus a sinner, he vindicated himself most beautifully, and Jesus 
commended his position by declaring that salvation had come to his house 
because he was a true son of Abraham; that is, he was a child of faith, 
and showed his faith by his works. 

Jo. 12:1-9. — It was now six days before the Passover. A supper is 
made for him at the home of Lazarus, and it was on this occasion that 
Mary, sister of Lazarus, anointed the feet of Jesus with a pound of 
costly spikenard ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair. It was on 
this occasion that Judas objected, pleading that the ointment might have 
been sold for much and the proceeds given to the poor, but said this 
because he wanted a chance to steal what was put into the treasury of the 
company of Jesus. This was the second anointing of Jesus by a woman 
at a feast, the first having taken place in Galilee at the feast of Simon the 
pharisee long before. (Luke 7:36-50.) Jesus commended this act also, 
as he did the other, and his reference to his burial was to the effect that 
this costly outpouring of one of his true friends was to be considered 
her part of the anointing of his body for burial, although in her own 
mind it was only a spontaneous expression of her regard. The presence 
of Jesus at the home of Lazarus brought together many who desired to 
see both. 

Jo. 12 :10, 11. — Here occurs another event which shows to what degrad- 
ing depths of villainy the chief priests of the Jews could descend. They 
plotted the death of resurrected Lazarus, for no other reason than that 
the fact of his resurrection led people to believe on Jesus, who had raised 
him from the dead. Language can scarcely express the extent of punish- 
ment which their contemptible conduct deserved. 

Lu. 19:11-27. — The parable of the pounds was set to correct the false 
notion that Jesus was about to enter the rulership of a visible kingdom. 



836 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

By this parable he showed that his kingdom was not to assert a world 
sway until he had gone into a far conntry to complete there arrangements 
supplemental to those he had made 8n earth. Meanwhile his servants 
were to occupy until his return with such talents as were entrusted to 
them, and the reward which each should get would be in proportion to 
his faithful use of his opportunities. The parable also shows that to those 
faithful ones shall be given finally what would have gone to others had 
others been faithful like they. In other words, the righteous shall inherit 
the earth, and there shall be no place or opportunity left for the slothful 
who had opportunities which he would not improve. This time of 
probation shall also sort out such as despise and defy the rule of Jesus, 
and at the proper time they shall be properly dealt with. 

Matt. 21:1-11; Ma. 11:1-10; Lu. 19:28-44; Jo. 12:12-19.— At this 
point occurs one of the main incidents of the life of Jesus. After all this 
diverse experience in regard to his treatment by the Jewish nation, Jesus 
here demonstrates how easily he might have turned the tide of popular 
favor so as to carry him to the height of worldly power despite the plots 
of the Jewish leaders, and had he been so inclined he might by this means 
alone have awed his enemies into complete submission to him. As he 
nears the city where he was to celebrate his last Passover feast he feels 
that the royal office which he filled and which was so belittled by the 
national leaders should for once receive just recognition at the hands of 
the righteous element of the people. The ass was the royal beast which 
kings rode. It is probable that the owner of this particular beast was a 
friend of Jesus and had an understanding with him to send it whenever 
the Master called for it. The prophecy referred to by Matthew may or 
may not have been uttered in view of this particular incident ; the prophet 
may have used that language simply to indicate the sure coming and royal 
attributes of the Messiah, but at any rate the act which Jesus here per- 
formed literally fulfilled those words. The spreading of garments and 
the carrying of branches were acts of loyalty performed by loving subjects 
before their King, and never had earth known so royal a king, so mighty 
a kingdom or such loyal subjects as these disciples, who cried, "Blessed is 
the King that cometh in the name of the Lord." All Jerusalem was 
stirred, and the envious leaders wanted Jesus to stop the tide of praise, 
but he gives them to understand that for once the truth must have right 
of way. As he came near to the city this mighty moving prophecy of 
what might and ought to have been, brought to the mind of Jesus the 
sharp contrast between such triumph and the cup of sorrow which he 
was about to drink because of their ingratitude, and giving way to his 



GOSPEL. 837 

feelings he wept over the sacred place, and prophesied its terrible military 
overthrow which took place about thirty years later. 

Matt. 21:12, 13; Lu. 19:45, 46. — Directly upon his entrance into the 
city Jesus went to the temple, which should have been the headquarters 
of his spiritual kingdom. By referring to Jno. 2 :13-22 it will be seen 
that this was the second time that Jesus cleared the temple of those who 
were polluting it under pretense of making temple worship easy. With 
these money changers it was all pretense. They cared nothing for 
religious worship. They cared only to make money out of the needs of 
the worshipers. Hence Jesus had utter contempt for their belongings 
and for them, and boldly called them the robbers which they were. The 
force of that charge would be easily understood by considering the 
extortion practised by these money changers in the name of religion. 

Matt. 21 :14. — The true use of God's house was betokened by these acts 
of bodily healing which Jesus practised, which were mere pictures of the 
greater spiritual healing for which the temple stood. Hence it was 
eminently fitting that Jesus should practice in his "Father's house" his 
beneficent art of healing as a proof and advertisement of his still greater 
power to save and heal spiritually. 

Matt. 21:15, 16. — The old grumblers still poured in their objections. 
The miracles of Jesus in the temple and the answering cry of the praising 
multitudes grated harshly on the ears of those self-seekers, who felt that 
their prestige was slipping from them. Jesus cited them to the law 
to indicate the propriety of these expressions of praise. 

Matt. 21:17; Ma. 11:11. — In the evening Jesus went out to Bethany, 
possibly to the home of Lazarus. It was not likely that all the twelve 
lodged at that house, but no doubt arrangements had been made for 
their accommodation out at Bethany during this thronged week. Appar- 
ently none realized that it was to be the last week of the ministry of their 
Lord and Master. 

Matt. 21:18-22; Ma. 11 :12-14.— In the morning as they walked in 
from Bethany to Jerusalem the incident of the fig-tree occurred. The 
account in Mark shows that Jesus was hungry. The fact mentioned that 
the time for the new crops not yet having arrived, indicates that the old 
crop hung onto the trees (after the manner of oranges, sometimes the 
apple), and was eatable long past the time of its maturity. The fact that 
it was a barren fig-tree induced Jesus to put an anathema upon it. The 
lesson which this incident was intended to teach was this — either do the 
work for which you were placed in the world, or get out of it and give 



838 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

room to your betters. What a startling suggestion is that to those who 
find nothing to do but entertain and be entertained. 

Ma. 11 :15-18. — The temple cleansing mentioned by Mark was doubtless 
a continuation of the work he began when he first entered the city the 
day before, as indicated by Matthew and Luke. jSTo doubt the money 
hogs were very obstinate, and had to be repeatedly chased out. As a 
temple teacher he had the authority to do so, but the entire drove would 
have united and charged upon him with hoofs and tusks had they not 
been afraid of their lives, as indicated by the last verse of this theme. 

y Ma. 11 :19-26. — That evening they went again out of the city to lodge, 
and as they came in next morning they noticed the fig-tree upon which 
the Master twenty-four hours before had pronounced a curse. The 
remarks of Jesus on faith (which Matthew noted in connection with the 
first statement of the incident) simply mean that anything whatever 
which stands in the way of accomplishing results for God shall be 
removed before the one who has sufficient faith to move against it. And 
the "moving against" whatever opposes itself to God's kingdom implies 
that condition of spirit which is willing to forgive all trespassers who 
seek forgiveness. 

Lu. 19 :47, 48. — Day by day, as indicated in these two verses from 
Luke, the leaders of Judaism were plotting to destroy Jesus. But so 
great was the crowd which had come to Jerusalem for the feast, and so 
attentive were they to the teachings of Jesus, that these leaders knew 
that any violence shown toward him would be disastrous to themselves. 
And so, sneaks and cowards that they were, they arranged to take him in 
such a manner that they might by night surround him with the night 
rabble and hurry him to his death before the better element realized what 
was being done. 

Jo. 12:20-36. — At this feast were certain Greeks who were probably 
converts to the Jewish faith, seeing that they went up to attend this, 
religious feast. When the word was brought to Jesus that these Gentiles 
wished to see him (they were not allowed to go into the temple), his mind 
immediately turned to the great tragedy which he knew was to be the 
means of uniting Jew and Gentile into one common family, and bringing 
all men to a knowledge of the truth as it was embodied in Jesus the Savior 
of all men. The distinction of nationalities was soon to be broken down 
forever, and all people might come to him without hindrance. Just what 
he answered directly to their request is not recorded, but this discourse 
teaches that out of his death there was to grow that new order of things 
that should not only link the world to him, but make others willing to 



GOSPEL. 839 

give up their lives for the sake of the truth to which he is shortly to 
become a martyr. In this discourse about the redemption of the world 
God gave him an audible answer, as he had done at the baptism and the 
transfiguration. When he thought of a violent death, no wonder that his 
soul was troubled, and yet he said, I have come into the world to perfect 
the plan of salvation, and cannot shrink now. Even if I be put to death by 
crucifixion, yet I shall draw all men to me. No doubt he had heard 
from his enemies how they proposed to kill him. The people said, We 
have understood that the Christ was to stay with us continually. Jesus 
answered, He is to be with you only for a little while. Believe in him 
while you have opportunity. 

Jo. 12:37-43. — After this Jesus hid from the unbelieving crowd. It 
must have been a relief to him to get away from their impudent and 
resentful stare. These quotations from the prophecies are only another 
way of saying that the determination of these enemies not to be ruled 
by him was but a fulfillment of what the prophets said they would do, 
which prophecies were made simply because the prophets foresaw the 
character, and so the free-will actions, of the people. It is interesting to 
note, however, that many of the rulers did believe on him, but were too 
cowardly to own it. One would think that Jesus would want to hide 
especially from such as those. 

Jo. 12 :44-50. — This next message was likely prompted by the fact that 
Jesus was conscious of two classes before him. He assures the believers 
that believing on him was believing on God, and shall be rewarded 
accordingly. But those who do not believe on him he will not now judge, 
but they shall be judged by and by with these very words they are now 
rejecting as a standard. And that was true simply because the words 
he spoke were the words of God, and so were the truth, and the truth was 
bound to triumph in the end. 

Matt. 21:23-27; Ma. 11:27-33; Lu. 20:1-8.— The cleansing of the 
temple which Jesus had so well performed in the last day or two gave rise 
to this question as to the authority of Jesus. His enemies raised the 
question of his right to teach and exercise authority in the temple. He 
was not a Levite, and these enemies now thought to speedily put him to 
confusion and silence. In answer to their question Jesus asked them one 
which did actually put them to both confusion and silence. By reference 
to Num. 8:7 the point to Jesus' question will readily appear. John by 
his baptism had legally consecrated Jesus to his priestly office. Eefer 
now to Heb. 7, especially verses 11-18, and you have the completion of 
the argument. Jesus was the Melchizedek high priest, to whom John the 



840 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Baptist as the last of the Aaronic priesthood before him, had formally 
transferred all the authority, and so John had said, "He must increase, I 
must decrease." They recognized John's authority, and were silenced 
forever on that point. 

Matt. 21 :28-32. — Now Jesus continues his parables. This one of the 
two sons applied especially to those obstinate Jewish leaders. The two 
sons in this case were the Jews and Gentiles. The Jews had ever}' 
opportunity and expressed their willingness to serve God, but they did 
not do so. The Gentiles had never expressed such willingness, but yet 
they came crowding into the kingdom of God with greater readiness than 
this chosen people. Jesus here chides these leaders with not believing in 
John, although they were convinced by the multitudes who heard and 
were baptized that John was a prophet indeed. 

Matt. 21 :33-46 ; Ma. 12 :1-12 ; Lu. 20 :9-18.— The parable of the wicked 
husbandman was set to illustrate this same truth. This chosen family, 
the Jews, was the company of husbandmen to whom this spiritual vine- 
yard had been let out. They had been beating, killing and stoning the 
prophets which God had sent to them. Now that the Son had come, they 
conspired to kill him. Changing the figure somewhat, Jesus was the chief 
stone in this great spiritual building, and the lesson of the parable is that 
God was to take from the Jewish nation the peculiar favor which he had 
granted to it, and give the position to people who had faith and decency." 
He further states that whoso opposes the progress of this kingdom shall 
do so to his own sorrow, and whoever so conducts himself as to call down 
its wrath upon him shall be ground to powder. The leaders of Judaism 
were not slow to see at whom that parable was aimed, and while they 
would gladly have killed Jesus, they were afraid of the people, who 
admired him. 

Matt. 22:1-14. — The third parable, that of the king's marriage feast, 
was the last part of Jesus' reply to those who questioned his authority. 
The expression, "kingdom of heaven," refers to the kingdom which 
Jesus came to establish in the world. The guests who had been invited 
were the Jews, and their treatment of God and his messengers was just 
such as is here described. The turning from the originally invited guests 
to those in the highways and hedges was a picture of the kingdom of 
Christ coming to the Gentiles. But at the close he introduces another 
very important thought. At this feast each individual guest is to be 
inspected. Each invited one is furnished with white garments, and if 
he refuses to put them on he shall be promptly and forcibly put out from 
association with the guests of that feast when the King comes. Everyone 



GOSPEL. 841 

found was invited, but each was required to prepare; and so while the 
many were called, there were chosen only the comparatively few who were 
willing to so prepare. 

Matt. 22:15-22; Ma. 12:13-17; Lu. 20 :19-26.— At this point occurs 
an incident which further illustrates the deceitful nature of these enemies 
of Jesus. Although the pharisees hated the Herodians, yet they were 
willing to join with them in an unholy alliance to do evil to Jesus. So 
after first pouring flattery upon him, they asked a question which they 
confidently expect will get him into trouble whichever way he answers. 
After all, how little did they know him. First, he names them hypocrites, 
which they surely were, for in speaking to Jesus they had told the truth 
about him as they had seen and known it, and yet so rank was their 
hypocrisy that they were willing to kill him rather than do as well as they 
knew, though they were all the while claiming to represent the best 
religious thought of all the centuries. Jesus called for a penny, and in 
showing it to him they admitted that they lived under Caesar's rule, and 
handled money whose value was based on Caesar's authority. Then, said 
Jesus, give Caesar credit for the good he does you, and be decent enough 
to give God due recognition for the good you have from him. No wonder 
they marveled at that answer, and still less wonder that after it they kept 
quiet. 

Matt. 22:23-33; Ma. 12:18-27; Lu. 20 :27-40.— The pharisees having 
so signally failed to trap Jesus, the Sadducees try their wisdom against 
him. No doubt the object of this question was to make the idea of a 
resurrection ridiculous by the difficulty of the case they cited. But Jesus 
quickly points out the error in their logic by showing that earthly 
relations do not prevail in the next life ; but that the idea of a resurrection 
was correct he established by God's testimony concerning men whom they 
called dead. And so the Sadducees were silenced. 

Matt. 22:34-40; Ma. 12 :28-34.— The pharisees, who had already been 
taught caution in argument with Jesus, were pleased that the Sadducees 
had been worsted by him. Now they make another effort to trap him by 
trying to -induce Jesus to make unjust discrimination in favor of some 
particular part of the law. Jesus summed up the entire law in a way 
that was probably familiar to the Hebrew students, as is evidenced by 
the remark of the scribe. So correct was the scribe's putting of the 
essence of the case that Jesus said, If you continue in that spirit you will 
find the kingdom of God very near to you. After this interview both 
parties concluded it wiser to keep their distance from Jesus in argument. 

Matt. 22:41-46; Ma. 12:35-37; Lu. 20 :41-44.— But Jesus considers 



842 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that it is now his turn to ask questions, and he begins on the pharisees. 
His question was a very simple one, yet the answer involved an acknowl- 
edgment of the correctness of Jesus' claims regarding the Messiah. He 
was to be a descendant of David, and yet was to have delivered to him all 
power, so that David's salvation depended upon him. Why those 
pharisees, learned as were many of them in the law, expected the Messiah 
to come from the clouds of heaven, is inexplicable. Xow that they begin 
to comprehend his power of penetration they are careful to avoid any 
conflict of ideas with him. 

Matt 23 :1-12 ; Ma. 12 :38-40 ; Lu. 20 :45-47.— But Jesus is thoroughly 
disgusted with this selfish and corrupt clan. He warns his friends that 
while at that time these rulers were set to represent government, and in 
that capacity must receive loyal regard, yet in private character they were 
repulsive, wolfish, contemptible hypocrites, and he warns his followers 
especially to avoid everything which savors of them. Christians are here 
told not to designate any of their number by titles which indicate superior 
power or station, but to regard one another as brethren, and to remember 
that humilit}^ is the road to true exaltation. 

Matt 23 :13-36. — And now occurs one of the most remarkable incidents 
of Christ's life. He has a great opportunity, and will not fail to improve 
it. These hypocritical wretches had been long hunting his life, and he 
knew that eventually they would take it, but he proposes here and now 
to hold up a mirror in which they might see themselves as God saw them 
before they committed the final tragedy for which their name and race 
was to become the hiss and curse of the ages. This was indeed a bitter 
dose of medicine, but well for them if they had swallowed it manfully 
and profited by it to their moral and spiritual health. He files against 
them a procession of charges: 1. So hedging up the way of religion by 
senseless forms and ceremonies, and standing in the way of the truth, 
that they neither receive the truth themselves nor allow others to receive 
it peaceably. 2. Meanly proselyting, only to make their converts worse 
than they were before. 3. Laying stress upon the feature of worship 
which brings them gain, and treating with neglect and contempt the 
sacred environments which alone are able to nurture reverence and 
spiritual worship. 4. Clamoring about the observance of ceremonies 
while, the more important matters of law, as well as justice and mercy, 
are left undone. (The incongruity of such a course he illustrated by the 
picture of one who strains to expel a gnat from his throat and then 
deliberately swallows a dromedary.) 5. Making an outward show of 
religion while the private life is full of the rankest and basest inconsis- 



GOSPEL. 843 

teneies and moral rottenness. (In the first part of the illustration of this 
principle he uses the figure of a cup and saucer whose dirty contents keep 
the outside of them defiled. In the second part he illustrates by a white- 
washed tomb, beautiful without, but stinking within.) 6. Professing 
great veneration for the murdered prophets, and professing horror at 
their ill treatment, while with similar acts of violence they were demon- 
strating that they were worthy sons of those old murderers. For all 
these things he tells them that they are worthy of hell, and because he 
sees that they will persist in this course, he foretells the like crimes which 
they will later commit, and ends by saying that all truth's martyrs from 
Adam to that present day should be charged against them (seeing they 
had the admonition of all this history and refused to profit by it) . 

Matt. 23 :37-39. — Finally, Jesus gives vent to his soul's regret that 
beloved Jerusalem should so treat him. He says, I would have gathered 
her children and protected them, but had to respect their free moral 
agency. Because they rejected him, the calamity that followed as a 
consequence should practically put the city out of history until Christ's 
kingdom should prevail and bring in the conditions favorable to the 
Lord's return, when all should see him and be forced to say, "Blessed 
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." 

Ma. 11:41-44; Lu. 21:1-4. — Just what induced Jesus to sit down at 
that place and at that time is not known, but the context would indicate 
that because the multitudes were putting their offerings into the treasury 
he found it a good place to study human nature. There can be little 
doubt that then, as now, the rich put in their offerings with great display. 
There would therefore be little difficulty in knowing just how much they 
offered, and while the Master was thinking over these things he saw a poor 
woman put in all her living, small though it was. Calling his disciples, 
he made special note of the case, and declared that her gift was greater 
than the combined gifts of the others, and assigns the reason. The 
philosophy of this case teaches the very important lesson that it is not 
so much the amount we give, as the spirit in which we give, that grants 
us credit in the book of life. 

Matt. 24:1, 2; Ma. 13:1, 2; Lu. 21:5, 6.— On the way out from the 
temple, probably as the day's work was done, the disciples called special 
attention to the grandeur of the building. The answer of Jesus disclosed 
to them the fact that the terrible days soon to come upon that nation 
would not leave one stone upon another. Probably he had a double reason 
for thus dwelling upon coming calamity — first, though the building was 
inherently grand, they were not to dwell upon its grandeur so long as 



844 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that idea was dwelt upon at the expense of truth. The Jewish leaders 
laid great stress upon the strength and solidity of their institutions. 
Jesus says these are fighting the truth and shall therefore be brought to 
the dust. Second, he wanted his disciples to catch the inspiration of the 
movement which they represented, and understand that their cause, even 
though it had a humble origin, towered above Judaism with all its 
display. Here was the building every stone of which should be thrown 
to the ground ; theirs was the kingdom that should never be destroyed. 

Matt. 24:3-14; Ma. 13:3-13; Lu. 21 :7-19.— The preceding theme 
would naturally call up the signs that should precede his coming. The 
disciples asked for information concerning these things. Without giving 
a direct answer, Jesus warns them against certain imminent blunders. In 
the troubles that were sure to come many would be led to conclude that 
the end of all things was at hand. He warns them that these would only 
be the beginning of sorrows, and that when violent hands should be laid 
upon his followers themselves, and when the truth would be in every sense 
unpopular, and when their friends would turn away from them or against 
them, that they must not be discouraged. Neither must they make 
studied defenses of the truth they represent, but when they are brought to 
the place of trial, give direct, simple testimony of the facts. These should 
prove their best defense and should be the means of sending the truth to 
the ends of the earth, to which it must go before the end comes. This 
spectacle of nations in commotion on account of the truth might or might 
not have been hard for the disciples to understand according as they were 
familiar with Old Testament history, but the student of history today 
knows how all this has been verified. Every struggle between nations 
after its settlement leaves the truth in greater prominence. 

Matt 24:15-28; Ma. 13:14-23; Lu. 21 :20-24,— But, he continues, 
when you see the "abomination of desolation," referring to the Eoman 
armies, which should destroy the Jewish nation, then let the Christians 
forsake this place with all speed, not tarrying to rescue even their personal 
belongings. Because of the acute distress which Jesus here declares 
should be, and which history shows us was, at the time of this invasion, 
he utters a special note of pity for such as should be at that time 
distressed with the responsibility of child bearing or child rearing, and 
suggests that they may well pray that the climax shall not come either 
at a time when Jewish prejudice would forbid their self-defence, or in 
the inconvenient winter season. So dreadful should be the distress that 
he declares it is indeed well that it shall be of short duration. He warns 
them against false prophets who will arise at that time, and contrasts 



GOSPEL. 845 

with their declarations the statement that when the true Christ shall 
come again no one will have any doubt as to his identity. The statement 
of the carcass and the birds of prey, as formerly noticed, was another way 
of saying these events would occur whenever the conditions were ripe to 
bring them. 

Matt. 24:29-31; Ma. 13:24-27; Lu. 21 :25-28.— His next theme sweeps 
the entire future. The word "immediately/' as it occurs in Matthew, has 
a tendency to mislead the mind. Many would suppose from that that he 
refers to the briefest possible space of time, whereas the thought is, that 
at once, after the destruction of the Jewish nation, shall begin the era of 
prosperity to Christianity which shall end in its conquest of the earth. 
Sun, moon and stars are set to represent earth powers, and the language 
of all three of the writers here indicates that nations shall be in contin- 
uous commotion, and earth's powers shall be overturned and overturned, 
until out of it all shall be evolved the coming of him whose right it is to 
reign. The latter part of the theme represents the triumph of the truth, 
and covers the whole ground from the point where truth begins to 
triumph, to, and embracing the ultimate destruction of evil. 

Matt. 24 :32-51 ; Ma. 13 :28-37 ; Lu. 21 :29-36.— Now he draws an illus- 
tration from nature. As the budding branch indicates the return of the 
spring season, so the beginning of these things foretold should be the 
proof of the truth of this prophecy. "That generation" did not pass 
away until Jerusalem had been destroyed and Christ's prophecies set in 
course of fulfillment. But as to the completion of their fulfillment, the 
time when he should reappear, he declares that no man, no angel, and not 
even himself, knew. It is easy to see why — it all depended upon human 
agency. In regard to the fulfillment of what related to the destruction 
of Jerusalem, as well as what related to the preparation of the earth for 
his coming again, it was to be just as in the days of Noah. Men would 
be asleep as to the conditions until calamity came upon them. It was so 
in the destruction of Jerusalem, it is so in individual life, it will be so in 
the consummation of history before the reappearance of the Christ. 
Hence the pertinence of his one word, "Watch." He further warns 
them that it is only the watchful, wise servant who will be worthy 
ultimately to have authority. The tyrannical, selfish overseer shall be 
deprived of his place and power. 

Matt. 25:1-13. — The parable of the virgins grows naturally out of the 
preceding for the reasons just stated. Christ's kingdom was, and is, 
fairly pictured by these virgins. All took lamps. These were the outward 
promises of light, but the lamps were valueless for light without oil. 



846 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

When the time came to use the lamps some were unprepared, and to get 
the oil required time. The outward semblances of Christianity mean 
nothing without the spirit of it within. The supplying of one's self with 
that spirit requires time, and it must be acquired with one's self — it 
cannot be borrowed from another. To waste the time and opportunities 
given in this life for its acquirement is to miss the ultimate end in 
view, for when he comes again there will be no time for preparation. 

Matt. 25 : 14-30. — In further corroboration of this point he uses the 
parable of the talents. The teaching is, that each will be held responsible 
for the opportunities that are put within his reach. Those who by the 
proper use of these opportunities make and improve new opportunities 
will by that means show themselves worthy to have the delegated 
authority of the future from the great head of the church. The meaning 
of "reaping where I sowed not" and "gathering where I did not scatter" 
is, that the individual is expected by the use of that which is given him to 
produce and increase. And those who refuse to observe this rule will in 
future be considered unworthy to have any longer delegated to them even 
the few talents which they possess in this life; they will pass to such as 
will make use of them. 

Matt. 25 :31-46. — Here comes a beautiful picture of the judgment. 
For the full understanding of this language we should have to go to the 
corresponding part of the book of Eevelation. There we should be taught 
that the two phases of the picture, here set side by side for the sake of 
contrast, shall really occur one thousand years apart, which of course 
makes no difference with this line of argument. He shows here that to 
minister to humanity is to minister to Jesus, and to neglect or mistreat 
humanity is to neglect or mistreat Jesus, although it is clear from the 
context that men do not ordinarily recognize that fact in dealing with 
their fellow beings, and will probably not be conscious of the real 
condition till they meet it in judgment. 

Lu. 21 : 3 7-3 8. — We are shown here that Jesus taught day by day in the 
temple, and that each evening he went out of the city to lodge. So 
popular was his teaching that it seemed to become the leading attraction 
of this Passover season. 

Matt. 26:1-5; Ma. 14:1, 2; Lu. 22:1, 2. — But every golden cloud has 
its shadow. The very popularity of Jesus was kindling conflagrations of 
wrath in his adversaries. The chief priests and scribes again plotted his 
death, and this time they gathered at the court of the high priest to 
perfect their scheme. They are growing desperately in earnest. 

Matt. 26 :6-13 ; Ma. 14 :3-9. — This is now two days before the Passover. 



GOSPEL. 847 

Four days before this he had been anointed by Mary in her own home 
as he sat at meat with his resurrected friend Lazarus. Xow he is eating 
in the house of Simon, the leper, possibly one who had by his power been 
healed of leprosy. For the third time he is anointed by a woman. Who 
this woman was we are not told, but she was doubtless one of the many 
who loved him for his noble character and the deeds of mercy which he 
had done for them. It was probably the grasping thief, Judas, who 
started the objection about a waste, just as he had done on former 
occasions, but in this case also Jesus commends the woman, and notes 
the fact that this ceremony stood to him in place of the precious and 
costly ointments that were used to honor the body in burial. It was a 
suggestion and rather beautiful way of saying, "Let the deeds of kindness 
be done in life, and not wait until the one who can most appreciate it has 
gone beyond its influence." His closing declaration about it has been 
wondrously fulfilled. The act has been told in all the world wherever the 
Gospel has been preached. 

Matt. 26:14-16; Ma. 14:10, 11; Lu. 22:3-6.— The third anointing of 
Jesus just mentioned was his last in life. It is recorded the last two 
times that Judas was present, and that he was very much wrought upon 
by what he called the waste. After this second anointing of Jesus in his 
presence the evil spirit entered into him, and he seemed to have resolved 
that he would sell his Master and get back something of what he had lost 
in these two transactions, for it had already been announced that he was 
a thief, and was carrying what was put into the treasury of the company. 
It is not impossible that Judas thought that his Master would escape 
from the Jews as he had often done, and that Judas would get their 
money without their doing any violence to Jesus. This view is cor- 
roborated by the fact that when Judas saw his Master was certain to be 
put to death he took back the silver, relenting, and committed suicide. 
This barter to betray Jesus, while it was Satanic in its design and execu- 
tion, probably in the mind of Judas was only a wild desire to get even 
with his "extravagant Master," as he put it. 

Matt 26:17-20; Ma. 14:12-17; Lu. 22:7-14.— The season had now 
arrived when the Passover was to be celebrated. Jesus sent two of his 
disciples to the house of a friend in Jerusalem to make ready for the 
feast. The language of Mark here would indicate that Jesus had an 
understanding with this householder. I think that this was on Wednes- 
day, the 13th, probably near noon, and Jesus doubtless stayed in Bethany 
until near six o'clock, which time the supper was to begin. The disciples 
went ahead, killed the lamb and made ready the meal. 



848 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jo. 13 :1-11. — At this point John names two incidents not given by the 
other writeis. It is really a part of the history of the supper. Jesus 
knew before he came to this meal that the incidents of the supper would 
lead up to his death, hence this language of John. The Master was 
conscious that he was sitting down to his last Passover on earth. Some- 
time in the midst of this supper Jesus takes the opportunity to teach the 
disciples the lesson of service and humility. He knew as they sat down 
to supper what Judas had determined to do, and conscious of that fact, 
takes the basin and the towel and begins to bathe the feet of his disciples 
and wipe them. Perhaps they were dumb in amazement and astonish- 
ment until, Jesus coming to Peter, he found voice and asked what this 
meant. Jesus replied, You shall know presently. Peter objected to the 
proceedings until Jesus told him he must submit or have no part with his 
Master. Then he said, "Not my feet only, but my hands and my head," 
which probably meant, Give me the sign of a cleansing which not only 
stands for my goings, but my doings and my thinkings. The answer of 
Jesus to him, however, indicates that this act of Jesus was simply to 
teach him humility and service, which could best be taught by this menial 
act of a servant. Hence the language Jesus uses, indicating that if they 
are joined to him it is not cleansing which they need, but the spirit of 
service. 

Jo. 13 :12-20. — After the washing of the disciples' feet Jesus again 
takes his place at the table with an exhortation. Xow, he says in sub- 
stance, I am ready to answer your question as to what I have done. You 
rightly call me Master and Lord. And you see that I have not hesitated 
to perform for you the act of a servant. So you shall do to one another. 
For this reason I have given you this example, and so you must not 
hesitate to do as }'ou have seen me do, for you as servants are not greater 
than your Master. Just here he takes occasion to say that he excepts one 
of the company, declaring that the Scripture foretold that one who ate 
with him would prove an enemy. Eating stood for the closest of 
association, and this was another way of saying that one who should have 
been a nearest friend of Jesus, in an inexcusable way came to be an enemy. 
I tell you these things beforehand that you may clearly understand them 
when they come to pass. Finally he emphasizes the status of his servant 
by declaring that he bears all the authority of his Master. 

Matt. 26:21-30; Ma. 14:18-26; Lu. 22:15-23; Jo. 13:21-30.— At what 
stage of the supper this incident of the feet washing and subsequent exhor- 
tation occurred is not clear, and it is immaterial. Later as they sat down again 
and were eating Jesus declares, "One of you shall betray me." Just how 



GOSPEL. 849 

this statement affected Judas we are not told, but John tells us that 
Simon Peter, with his characteristic inquisitiveness, motioned to John, 
who was leaning on the breast of Jesus, to find out from the Master 
who it was. Jesus answered him, no doubt so that none of the others 
could hear, "It is the one to whom I shall give this bread," and seconded 
his word by the act of giving the bread to Judas. How long this took 
we are left to guess, but it is probable that by this time the supper was 
ended, and the remarks of Jesus to him about doing quickly what he 
determined to do, though not understood by the other disciples, sent 
Judas out into the night. It is possible that the institution of the Lord's 
Supper took place after Judas Iscariot had gone, but it is by no means 
certain. The account of Matthew says, "As they were eating." This, 
however, would not prove that they had not finished the Passover supper. 
Only the first three writers give an account of this institution. And 
Luke's declaration after this account of the Lord's Supper that the hand 
of the betrayer is on the table, makes it likely that Judas was present at 
the Lord's Supper. The language, "This is my body and my blood," is 
another way of saying, "My bodily powers and my life are given for your 
redemption, and as often as you shall repeat this sacrament you will bear 
witness to that fact." 

Jo. 13 :31-35. — After the events just mentioned Judas left the scene. 
Jesus mentions his departure which is now at hand in language which 
indicates that the understanding between himself and his Father is 
perfect and the details fully arranged and settled. He declares "straight- 
way" shall he be glorified. He tells his disciples he is going where they 
cannot at once come, and charges them to love one another with such 
fervor that all shall know hy this that they are his disciples. This was 
the first point in his exhortation at the close of the meal. 

Lu. 22 :24-30. — It is evident that they caught something of the idea 
of his proposed departure, for Luke tells us that they began to argue the 
question of their relative authority in the new kingdom. They had not, 
at least as yet, caught the idea that the kingdom was to be a spiritual one, 
hence he draws contrast to them between the kingdom of the nations and 
his kingdom, -and lays for a rule an apparent paradox. Then he completes 
the direction and guards against all possible future dissatisfaction by 
showing that he himself, the head of them all, had made himself their 
humblest servant. Finally he assures them how that because they have 
been faithful to him he will set them at his. table as his most honored 
guests in his Father's kingdom, and shall make them his chief justices 
in his future work of judging the world. 



850 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Matt 26:31-35; Ma. 14:27-31; Lu. 22:31-34; Jo. 13 : 3 6-38. —But the 
Master sees another side of the question, and tries to forearm them by 
forewarning them, telling them that before the morning the}' should all 
stumble because of what they would be called to endure ; he cited prophecy 
to the effect that the Shepherd should be smitten and the sheep scattered, 
but he promises that after he is risen he will appear to them and go before 
them into Galilee. Peter protested that he would not allow himself to 
be put to confusion on account of Jesus, and would be willing to go with 
him unto the death; but Jesus warns him that Satan would sift Simon 
as wheat, and declares that he has made him a special object of prayer, 
and charges him that when he has turned again he shall help to establish 
his brethren. Despite his protests that he would not deny Jesus, the 
Master declares that he will do so thrice before the cock crows. 

Lu. 22 :35-38. — Jesus now takes a very wise precaution against violence 
to his followers. He reminded them that he had sent them out before 
without anything on which to subsist, and that they Jiad been provided 
for. Now he says, Take sure precaution to carry along the sword. The 
thought is, You will no doubt need it in case the Jews attempt violence 
against you, for violence is sure to be manifested against me, as the 
prophets have foretold. Afterward he said, speaking of them to their 
enemies, "If it be me you seek let these go their way unharmed." So 
that after all the swords were not needed and not used, though probably 
the fact that they were on hand prevented any call for their use. 

Jo. 14:1-31. — Here follows the exhortation to good cheer and the 
promise of the Comforter. Jesus knew there would be much to trouble 
them later, and so the burden of this first remark is, Do not lose faith in 
me, no matter what comes to pass. I am going away, it is true, but going 
to prepare for you greater things than any of which you have ever 
dreamed, and after that I shall come back for you. The burden of his 
remark to Thomas was that the way to go where Jesus was going was to 
imitate his life, and by this means to come into unity with the Father. 
He reiterates this very thought to Philip when he suggests that Jesus 
show to them the Father. Then Jesus adds, The proof of this shall be 
in the fact that you shall accomplish in my name even greater results 
than you have seen me accomplish, and prayer shall prove the key to the 
situation. Here he declares that the proper kind of love to him will 
manifest itself in obedience, and furthermore that Jesus will send in his 
stead to his own another personage, a Comforter who should abide with 
them continuously. This indwelling manifestation of Cod and counter- 
part of Jesus Christ will enable his believers constantly to behold their 



GOSPEL. 851 

Savior, and so to have a consciousness that they are not forsaken. His 
answer to one of the disciples was to the effect that such manifestations 
were to be made only to such as would be obedient. He further declares 
that another office of the spirit when he comes should be that of a teacher. 
Hence, he concludes, with all these advantages you ought to have 
peace and not be fearful, and then he adds, It ought to be a matter of 
rejoicing with you that I go to my Father, because he, being greater than 
I, will perfect my plans. I have told you these things beforehand that 
when they come to pass their fulfillment may be to you a confirmation of 
my words. 

Jo. 15:1-16. — The last sentence shows that Jesus was about to depart 
with his disciples from the place of the supper. Had they gone at the 
time herein indicated we should not have had chapters 15, 16 and 17. 
We cannot know what influence caused him to stop and utter the thoughts 
contained in these chapters named. Possibly the disciples, realizing that 
he was about to depart, strongly urged him to continue his discourse. 
Here he uses the figure of a vine, and calls all those belonging to him 
branches. Failure to accomplish what is expected of a believer is here set 
as a just cause for the removal of such a member. The actual accom- 
plishing of results is here shown to call forth from the vine tender that 
purging process which makes the vine all the more fruitful. The 
significance of the word "clean" is that compliance with the word has 
produced the effect desired in the believer, and that all that is required 
of such a one is to continue in that relation. The natural conditions of 
a vine are so well understood that most of the terms here used readily 
explain themselves. The matter of bearing fruit in this connection 
presupposes the remaining in that attitude in which the believer draws 
constantly supplies of life-giving vitality which forms itself into active 
employment; the promise concerning "asking what you will" means 
that when one is in line with these providential plans there shall nothing 
stand in the way of complete success. Jesus here emphasizes the fact 
that love to him means obedience, and that where there is such obedience 
it will always manifest itself in love to one aother. He suggests that 
they love one another with that strength of love which he has shown 
toward them, and that strength was measured by the fact that he gave 
his life for their sakes. He further emphasizes the fact that he has taken 
them into very intimate relations with himself, as indicated by his 
revelation to them of his plans, and further indicates that he will grant 
them readily whatever they may ask. 

Jo. 15 :17-27. — After this statement of his relation to his disciples he 



852 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

gives to them a command. What he had so strongly enjoined in the 
previous statement he herein makes very imperative. You will be hated, 
he declares, but do not be discouraged. I was hated before you, and the 
very fact that you show life and character different from the rest of the 
world is the reason why hate will be shown toward you. You should be 
content to be as your Master, and when disrespect is shown you will not 
regard it as undue hardship. What you suffer will be for my sake, and 
they will answer to my Father; for the disrespect shown toward you is 
in reality to me, and likewise that shown toward me is in reality toward 
my Father. All this hostility has been foretold in the law, but not only 
you who have been with me from the beginning, but also the spirit whom 
I shall send shall be a constant witness to me. 

Jo. 16:1-6. — I have told you of these things specially that you may 
not when they come to pass be discouraged, for I foresee that you will 
be called upon to endure most every imaginable indignity for my sake, 
and your enemies will think to do a commendable thing by killing you. 
This is accounted for solely on the ground of their godless character. 
Hence I have told you of these things before, and the reason that 1 have 
not sooner told you is because I have been with you, but now I am about 
to depart, and I see that the telling of these things to you has filled you 
with sorrow. 

Jo. 16 :7-15. — But I tell you truly that it is best that I should go, for 
then will be sent to you the Comforter in my stead, who will silently and 
mightily convict men of sin, righteousness and judgment — of sin because 
of their unbelief, of righteousness because the reception of Jesus by his 
Father vindicated his claim to Messiahship, and of judgment because 
the contention which he set into progress between right and wrong shall 
culminate in the complete overthrow of iniquity. The tremendous 
magnitude of that thought led him to add, "I have much more to say on 
that line which it would be useless to add now, but the spirit, whom 
I shall send, will gradually lead you into possession of all this knowledge." 

Jo. 16:16-24. — This leads him to say, In a very little while I shall be 
gone, and also shortly after you shall see me again. The disciples failed 
to understand that statement, and they inquired among themselves its 
meaning. Jesus explained, When I go away from you (as he was soon 
to do by the violent death of the cross) the world shall rejoice, but the 
disciples should be very sorrowful. Nevertheless, joy should soon take 
the place of that sorrow. Here he used as an illustration the figure of a 
woman bringing forth a child, at the joy of whose birth all her anguish 
is turned into unspeakable gladness. Then Jesus adds, So shall gladness 



GOSPEL 853 

come upon you when you realize my victory over death and your con- 
sequent deliverance. Added to that shall be the fact that you shall be 
able to obtain for yourselves whatever you may ask in my name. 

Jo. 16:25-33. — Here he refers to the character of the future teaching 
of his followers. It seems from these verses that it would be easier for the 
spirit of truth to declare the truth to the disciples than for Jesus to do 
so. This was probably owing to the changed conditions that should 
prevail after his departure. He declares to them that they shall make 
their requests directly to the Father, who loves them for his sake. He 
declares that he came from the Father, and that he is now to return to 
him. His disciples here profess that such an utterance indicates his 
divine origin, and that therefore they believe him. He warns them that 
in the dark days to come they shall be scattered and leave him alone to 
his fate, yet he declares his Father shall be with him. All this seems to 
have been said to remind them that they should have trouble for his sake. 
But he says, Be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world, and therefore 
you may do so. 

Jo. 17 :l-26. — Here follows one of the most remarkable bits of literature 
in the book ; this prayer in John 17 might with propriety be termed the 
Lord's Prayer. That which is usually styled the Lord's Prayer was a 
mere model over which to build prayers. Here is in fact the Lord's 
Prayer. It should be noticed that in it Jesus prays especially for his 
disciples. His ministry in the world among the unrepentant has been 
finished. He now sees himself solely as the champion for the next life 
of those who have committed their case into his hands. First he makes a 
plea for knowledge, and this suggests that the zeal of a disciple should 
be according to knowledge. In declaring his accomplishment of his work 
and asking for reinstatement of the glory which he had known with the 
Father, he mentions especially the disciples which have received the truth 
from him, and asks that in his absence from them the Father will keep 
them just as Jesus had kept them, mentioning that none were lost except 
Judas, and with reference to his case quotes fulfillment of prophecy. 
Whetheror not the prophecy mentioned singled out and referred to Judas 
especially makes no difference. The thought was, there will be those who 
will sell their Master for a mess of pottage, and Judas wonderfully 
fulfilled this prophecy. But he declares with reference to his followers, 
I have given them thy word, and so the world hates them ; and I pray not 
for their removal from the world, but that they should be kept from the 
evil one. Verse 17 declares, "Set them apart by thy truth." The thought 
was that with the head and heart filled with the word, the disciples will 



854 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

be qualified for the duties before them. He further includes in this 
petition all who shall in the future believe on him, and declares that he 
has given to be theirs all the glory which the Father has given him, and, 
finally, he says, I desire their home to be where mine shall be, that they 
may behold all with which the Father has arrayed me, that all the love 
which the Father has shown me may be manifested to them. 

Matt 26:36-46; Ma. 14. 32-42; Lu. 22 :39-46.— Now the company 
leave the hall of the feast and go to Gethsemane, and Jesus leaves the 
most of the company and takes Peter, James and John, and among the 
trees of the garden begins to pour out the heaviness of his soul. He sees 
death just before him, for he knows just what Judas is doing. The 
statement here made by the Master was to the effect that the sorrow was 
crushing out his life. The truth of it is shown in the fact that his death 
was ultimately of grief — a broken heart. Sleep had overcome the three 
disciples whom Jesus had left to watch with him, and though he asked 
them if they could not keep awake and watch with him, he three times 
found that sleep had overpowered them. Luke tells us that he was in 
such agony that the sweat dropped from him as if it had been blood 
gushing from wounds. The statement often made that Jesus sweat 
blood is entirely unfounded. When he returned the third time and found 
the disciples sleeping, he said, Sleep on and take your rest, for the hour of 
the betrayal is at hand. Shortly after he called them to arise and go. 

Matt 26:47-56; Ma. 14:43-50; Lu. 22:47-53; Jo. 18:1-11.— At this 
point comes the story of the betrayal. Judas appeared at the head of 
a mob sent out by the chief priests of the Jews and greeted Jesus with a 
deceitful kiss in order to point him out to the mob. John here informs 
us concerning some details of which none of the other writers speak. The 
mob saw something in Jesus which brought them to the earth. About 
this time doubtless the disciples were reminded of their swords, and 
thought of resistance. Jesus had already said, If ye seek me, let those 
disciples go unharmed. And when he saw that they were willing to do 
so he stopped the aggressive attitude which Peter assumed, and, as 
Matthew tells us, reminded him that the taking of the sword made the 
chances infinitely greater of perishing with the sword. He reminds 
Peter that personally Jesus did not need protection of that kind, because 
the angels were subject to his call. The disciples fled away into the night, 
and Jesus was taken by the mob. 

Ma. 14:51, 52. — At this point Mark makes mention of a remarkable 
event. A certain young man, whom we are not told, was following 
Jesus, and for some reason the company attempted to take him also. 



GOSPEL. 855 

He had about him only a linen cloth, which, having been grasped by the 
mob, he left and fled naked. It would seem that he must have anticipated 
possible seizure, though what his object was in following Jesus is wholly 
conjecture. The personage appears upon the scene like the flash of a 
meteor, and as rapidly and permanently disappears. 

Jo. 18:12-14. — Jesus was secured by the officers of the Jews, bound, 
and taken first to Annas, father-in-law of the high priest. The explana- 
tion of this probably consists in the fact that Annas, having filled that 
office and being chief adviser of the present incumbent, was, naturally, 
the one before whom Jesus would first be taken for advice as to what 
course should be pursued with the prisoner. 

Matt. 26:57-68; Ma. 14:53-65. — After the appearance before Annas, 
Jesus was led away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the leaders of the 
Jewish people were assembled to receive him. It is here mentioned 
incidentally that Peter followed at a considerable distance, but entered 
with the officers to see what would be done. The character of the plot 
and of the crowd to whom Jesus had been betrayed was shown by the fact 
that they had to find witnesses against him who would lie sufficiently to 
warrant them in putting Jesus to death on some false accusation. At 
first they failed so signally, and the testimony was so outrageously bad, 
that even these desperate enemies did not dare to condemn him on the 
strength of it. At last two were found who claimed to have heard him 
threaten to destroy the temple and in three days build it without hands. 
After this nonsensical testimony the high priest called on Jesus for an 
answer, but he would not give any. Then he asked Jesus if he was the 
Christ, and on getting an affirmative answer called on the company to 
declare that he was worthy of death, and the mob began to heap upon him 
indignities and abuse. 

Matt. 26 :69-75 ; Ma. 14 :66-72 ; Lu. 22 :54-62 ; Jo. 18 :15-18.— The four 
writers bring out the many sides of the facts connected with Peter's denial 
of Jesus. What Matthew has already mentioned in the preceding topic 
(viz., the entrance of Peter with the officers) is explained here by John, 
in that John, being known to the high priest, entered with the company, 
and afterward went out and brought in Peter. The maid mentioned, a 
young woman, was a door keeper, and probably the fact that John, who 
was known to be a disciple, brought in Peter, led her to ask if he was a 
disciple of Jesus. It was probably a second maid who accused him as 
he sat by the fire in the court where he denied Jesus the second time. 
When he went out into the porch he was again accused, and the third 
time he denied with an oath. The maid had told those who stood by 



856 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that lie was one of them, and this third denial was made to a man. 
After they had consulted together about the matter they strongly accused 
him, at which Peter begins to curse and swear along with his fourth 
denial. The cock crew for daybreak, and Luke tells us that "Jesus turned 
and looked at Peter," and that silent reminder of the prophecy Jesus had 
made concerning his denial called Peter to himself, and, conscious of the 
situation, he broke away from the crowd to shed bitter tears of repentance. 

Lu. 22 :63-65. — Under the head of "Mockery of Jesus," Luke here 
mentions what Matthew and Mark have already noticed, that the officers 
(Jews) who held Jesus began to maltreat him, and because he would not 
protect himself began to vent upon him their devilish rage and vilest 
epithets. 

Lu. 22:66-71; Jo. 18 :19-27.— When daylight came Jesus was taken 
before the assembled chief priest, scribes and elders, an assembly called 
the Jewish council. It was probably in the presence of this council that 
the incident occurred of the smiting of Jesus by a bystander because he 
gave an unanswerable rejoinder to the high priest, who asked him the 
fool question, Who are your followers, and what do you teach? When 
Jesus was struck, he shot at his smiter another unanswerable bit of logic. 
John's mention of the sending of Jesus by Annas to Caiaphas at this 
point was probably nothing more than a formal turning over of the 
judgment of the case from the ex-high priest to the legally constituted 
high priest, and it is not unlikely that this point was prompted by Jesus 
raising the question of the legality of these proceedings. There can be 
little doubt that both these men were present at these scenes. That view 
is further confirmed by the fact that John, who wrote last of all, and 
doubtless was familiar with all these other writings when he wrote, does 
not mention the denials of Peter after he came inside until he tells the 
story of "Jesus before the council." It is altogether likely that verses 
66-71 of Luke come in just after the incident of the smiting of Jesus, and 
after he had been formally turned over to the daylight assembly under 
Caiaphas. 

Matt. 27:1, 2; Ma. 15:1; Lu. 23-1-7; Jo. 18 :28-38.— The council 
speedily vote to put Jesus to death, but now they are confronted with the 
very annoying fact that it is not in their power to put him to death 
legally, their nation being under the protectorate of Rome, and the 
Roman government reserved to its own courts the right of life or death 
of its subjects. So they took Jesus away to the palace of the Roman 
governor, Pilate, and, as John informs us, the Jews refuse to enter the 
palace because the law was that if they entered the house of a Gentile 



GOSPEL. 867 

they would be ceremonially unclean and unfit to observe the Passover 
ceremonies. The Passover was to be eaten that (Thursday) evening at 
six o'clock. (Jesus, anticipating his arrest, had eaten the Passover with 
his disciples the evening before.) So the Jewish authorities desired to 
crucify Jesus and get him off the cross before six o'clock Thursday 
evening, at which time the Passover day began. Pilate humored them 
sufficiently to go out to them and ask for a statement of their accusation. 
At first they had none formulated, but wanted Pilate to condemn and 
execute him on the mere fact that the Jewish leaders had arrested him. 
Then they accuse him of being a traitor to the Roman government and 
exciting insurrection (a most colossal falsehood), and give color to the 
statement by quoting the words of Jesus that he was a king. When Pilate 
asked him of that statement Jesus explained what he had said to Pilate's 
entire satisfaction. The saying of Jesus that he bore witness to the truth 
arid that all its seekers were attracted to him led Pilate to ask the very 
indefinite question, "What is truth?" Pilate wanted to set Jesus at 
liberty, but the leaders of the Jews protested so clamorously that he was 
afraid to do so, and when they incidentally mentioned Galilee he caught 
at the suggestion, and sent Jesus to Herod, ruler of that province, who 
was then at Jerusalem. 

Lu. 23 :8-12.— The crafty Herod, "that fox" about which Jesus had 
spoken in Luke 13 :31-33, was glad to see Jesus, but after long questioning 
he failed so utterly to get from Jesus any display to gratify his morbid 
curiosity that in sheer despair and despite he set his bodyguard to mock 
and taunt Jesus concerning his claim to be a king, and seeing that there 
was no accusation against him worthy of note sent him back to Pilate 
clothed in apparel meant to overwhelm Jesus with public contempt. For 
some reason Herod and Pilate were at enmity, and this mutual exchange 
of prisoners healed the breach, though neither was willing to own that 
the real reason why he sent the prisoner to the other was because the 
difficulty in the case was too hard for him to solve. Neither could make 
even a show of justice and satisfy the clamoring Jews, hence each tried 
to throw 'the responsibility on the other, and by that strange process 
they became friends. 

Matt. 27 :3-10. — At this point Matthew records that Judas repented of 
his act when he saw that Jesus was condemned, and brought back the 
silver to the Jews. Their cold indifference drove him to self-destruction. 
Their hypocrisy was shown in the fact that although they were willing 
to barter with Judas to destroy Jesus, they were unwilling to put into 
their religions treasury those same pieces of silver which they gave to him. 



858 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

In becoming guilty of this dastardly bit of crime they unconsciously 
fulfilled prophecy. 

Matt. 27:11-14; Ma. 15:2-5. — Jesus is now stood again before Pilate, 
and when asked again if he was king of the Jews, answered, "Thou sayest" 
(rightly). But to the contemptible and lying accusations of the Jews 
he answered not a word, for they were beneath his notice. It is noted 
here that Pilate was greatly puzzled over the affair, and doubtless the 
worst of his dilemma was the question, how to do justice in the case and 
at the same time satisfy these bloodthirsty Jewish leaders. 

Matt. 27:15-26; Ma. 15:6-15; Lu. 23:13-25; Jo. 18:39, 40.— Pilate 
thinks he sees a way out of the difficulty by appealing to the multitude. 
The custom of releasing and pardoning some Jewish prisoner from 
Roman custody at the Passover season had become established, and the 
governor thinks the people will ask for the release of Jesus. Just at this 
point Pilate's wife warns him not to make himself guilty by condemning 
Jesus, but the miserable Jewish leaders persuaded the rabble to cry out 
for the release of Barabbas rather than Jesus. John declares that 
Barabbas was a robber, but Luke tells that he was in prison for raising 
an insurrection. The mob cry out for a crucifixion of Jesus (a Roman 
mode of punishment), and when Pilate asked why, they burst into a 
tempest of unreasoning persistence for the death of Jesus by the most 
frightful and ignominious method known to that age. Pilate washed 
his hands before the crowd to publicly disclaim any responsibility for his 
death. But the fact that he did not release and protect Jesus was a 
public declaration of his weakness and complicity, and so greedily did 
the enemies of Jesus grasp at this voiceless promise of the death of Jesus 
that they quickly and gladly promised to take upon themselves all the 
responsibility for his death. Little did they realize what that meant 
as to the future of the Jewish nation. Pilate then gave order that Jesus 
should be publicly whipped and then crucified. 

Matt. 27:27-31; Ma. 15:16-20; Jo. 19 :l-5.— The soldiers who were to 
carry out these orders took occasion to make for themselves sport at the 
expense of Jesus. They clothed him in robes of mock royalty, and for 
a crown they put on his brow the suggestive thorn, for they believed that 
the sort of a kingdom over which he ruled was a kingdom of thorns. 
They little guessed how soon instead of the thorn should come up the 
fir-tree in its everlasting verdure. The reed which they put in his hand 
as the emblem of his power they used to torture him, thus unconsciously 
conveying the idea that the strength of his might as a ruler became the 
means of his bodily discomfort, all of which was true, seeing that he 



GOSPEL. 859 

volunteered to endure all this for the ultimate triumph of the truth. 
While thus arrayed Pilate brought him out again, declared him innocent, 
and cried, "Look at the man !" No doubt the patience and unrevengeful 
spirit with which Jesus endured all this was a wonder to Pilate. 

Jo. 19 :6-16. — As soon as the leaders of the Jews saw Jesus they 
renewed the wail for his crucifixion. Pilate says, Do it yourself. Their 
answer was that by Jewish law Jesus ought to die for blasphemy, 
because he had claimed to be the Son of God. That statement, coupled 
with what he had seen of Jesus, roused fears in Pilate that the claim of 
Jesus was true. He went back into the palace and attempted to question 
him, but Jesus would not reply, for Pilate was too much of a coward to 
follow the light which he already had. When he twitted Jesus with the 
power he had over him as a prisoner, Jesus quickly replied, You would 
have no power but for the forbearance of my Father, who holds your life 
in his hand, and for that reason the high priest, who should know God's 
will, and who through envy has delivered me to you demanding my death, 
has all the more to answer for. Pilate sought every means to release 
Jesus except the honrable one of simply exercising his legal authority, 
but to please the red-handed Jewish leaders and possibly because of fear 
that they would tell some of Pilate's meanness, he gives order that Jesus 
shall be crucified. 

Matt 27:32-44; Ma. 15:21-32; Lu. 23:26-38; Jo. 19:17-22.— As the 
soldiers leave the city with Jesus for the place of the crucifixion they are 
followed not only by the friends of Jesus, but by a great, profane rabble. 
It is noticed by Luke that Jesus speaks to his weeping friends of the 
calamity which shall soon come upon Jerusalem, which shall make people 
say, Happy are those who have no children to suffer, and make them 
desire to flee away to the rocks and mountains for shelter, for, adds Jesus, 
if such doings as these are allowed in the name of law, what scenes will 
be enacted when law is set aside and war and pillage reign supreme? 
Just where Golgotha was situated cannot now be told. Simon, of Cyrene, 
was probably a disciple, as were his two sons doubtless. He was probably 
taken along to carry the cross after Jesus could carry it no longer. At 
the place of execution they offered Jesus wine mingled with gall to stupefy 
him, but he would not drink it. As they nailed him to the cross Jesus 
prayed for the forgiveness of the executioners, declaring they were not 
conscious of what they did. According to custom the clothing of the one 
executed was distributed among the executioners. A thief was crucified 
on either side to lend ignominy to the scene, and the villainous rulers 
of the Jews mocked publicly the dying body of Jesus, taunted him on his 



860 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

helplessness, and dared him to come down from the cross. Pilate's label 
which he put on the cross of Jesus greatly offended the Jewish leaders, 
but he would not change it, and so unconsciously declared the exact truth. 

Jo. 19 :23, 24. — The gambling of the soldiers for the seamless garment 
beneath the cross was another unconscious fulfillment of prophecy. The 
prophet had long ago foretold that the Messiah when he came would be 
delivered into the hands of just such nameless specimens of humanity. 

Lu. 23 :39-43. — A silver lining to the dark cloud is shown in the 
penitence of one of the thieves when he faced death. It may be that 
when he uttered this appeal to Jesus and received the reply that the thief 
had not yet been nailed to the cross. We can hardly conceive that they 
would be taunting Jesus after the agonies of their crucifixion. As to the 
identity of these thieves we have absolutely no light. This one believed 
Jesus, and got an immediate reward for his improvement of his first 
opportunity of salvation. Even those condemned thieves knew that Jesus 
was being unjustly treated. 

Jo. 19:25-27. — The third utterance which Jesus made while on the 
cross was to commit his mother to the care of John the beloved. John 
was very intimate with Jesus, and no doubt in their former associations 
Mary had been a mother to John. It is likely that at this time Joseph 
was dead. 

Matt. 27 :45-56 ; Ma. 15 :33-41 ; Lu. 23 :44-49 ; Jo. 19 :28-30.— The sixth 
hour was noon. The ninth would be three o'clock in the afternoon, the 
hour of the evening sacrifice offered daily by the Jewish high priest. For 
three hours Jesus had been hanging there, and in his unbearable agony 
felt that he had been left to bear the burden alone, hence his fourth 
utterance, one of passionate appeal for sympathy. His fifth utterance 
was, "I thirst." After this he said, "It is finished," and the seventh and 
last utterance was, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." The 
"loud voice" which the first three writers mention was probably a great 
wail of anguish which preceded that last utterance, and which accom- 
panied the rupture of the heart from which Jesus immediately died. Just 
as the darkness over the land was indication of the agitation of nature, 
so the rending of the temple veil was divine indication that the Levitical 
dispensation was at an end, and that no longer an earthly priest was to 
stand between God and the people. Matthew in his account here antici- 
pates a little, and mentions at this point some things which did not 
take place until after the resurrection of Jesus, namely, the resurrection 
of some of the believers. The centurion who had command of the soldiers 



GOSPEL. 861 

was convinced by what he saw that the claim of Jesus to be the Son of 
God was correct. 

Jo. 19 :31-37. — As indicated, the coming Sabbath at this Passover 
season was to be a "high day." The Jewish leaders did not want the 
season denied, so they asked that these crucified might be killed by break- 
ing their legs so they could be hurried off the crosses and buried before six 
o'clock, when the Jewish Passover began. The soldiers, finding Jesus 
already dead, did not break his legs, but one pierced his side, and blood 
and water came out, showing that the heart had been ruptured, and so 
explaining why Jesus had died before the others. 

Matt 27:57-61; Ma. 15:42-47; Lu. 23:50-56; Jo. 19 :38-42.— The 
crime of all the ages has been climaxed. The world's Eedeemer is dead. 
His enemies are greatly rejoicing, and although heaven stands aghast 
at the crime, yet as they begin to understand that by death Jesus is to 
conquer death they also begin to rejoice with unspeakable joy. This man 
Joseph was rich, and a secret disciple, and Luke gives us to understand 
that in the council, to which he belonged, he had opposed the conspiracy 
against Jesus. Now he goes to Pilate and asks for the body of Jesus, 
and Pilate, having called the centurion who had charge of the execution, 
to find out whether or not Jesus is dead, gives the body to Joseph. John 
tells us at this point that Mcodemus, that ruler who came to Jesus by 
night, joined himself to Joseph and brought a great weight of very 
precious spices with which to prepare the body of Jesus for burial. It is 
very evident that both of these two men were believers, and that they, at 
least secretly, took the part of Jesus. This incident shows that Jesus 
was surely dead, for the centurion had so pronounced, Pilate had deliv- 
ered the body, and the friends of Jasus had prepared it for burial. It 
was put in Joseph's new tomb. This was on the evening of what is our 
Thursday, just before six o'clock, for it was at that time that the Jewish 
Passover commenced. 

Matt. 27 : 62-6 6. — Xow occurs a phase of the history which, like the 
testimony to the death of Jesus, is very valuable. A guard is put about 
this tomb. The leaders of the Jews asked for it. They said, "That 
deceiver" claimed he would rise again. At their request Pilate sent a 
guard of soldiers to seal the tomb and guard it against any attempt to 
steal the body of Jesus. The great rock which Joseph had rolled to the 
door of the sepuleher was sealed with the government seal, which it was 
death to break, and the sriiard set to watch the tomb clay and night. 

Matt 28:1-7; Ma. 16:1-8; Lu. 24:1-12; Jo. 20:1-10.— Xow occurs the 
most important event in the entire story of humanity. About six o'clock 



862 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

p. m. on the Jewish Sabbath, at which time the Sabbath ended and the 
first day of the week began, two Marys came to see the sepulcher. The other 
three writers indicate that these women arrived at the tomb about sunrise. 
Whether they had come and gone the evening before, or whether 
Matthew simply relates the beginning of a journey which did not end 
until after sunrise next morning, the reader must judge for himself. It 
is clear, however, that in the morning of what is the Christian Sabbath, 
very early, an angel descended, broke the seal, rolled away the stone, and 
Jesus came forth alive. It was at this point that many of the sleeping 
saints also arose. We are told by Matthew that the guards around the 
tomb became helpless as dead men. The women had been discussing 
whom they could have roll away the stone for them. Little did they 
think that an angel had already done that work. Comparing the accounts 
of Luke and Mark, it would seem that there first met the women two 
angels, who told them that he had risen. After that they probably 
entered into the tomb, as Mark declares, where they saw one sitting in a 
white robe. He, as well as the other two, declared that Jesus had risen, 
and these women were sent to tell the disciples and to declare that he 
would go before them into Galilee. From Luke's account it is evident 
that these two women were reinforced by a number of others either at the 
tomb or very shortly afterwards, and that they all carried the news of the 
resurrection. John tells us here that it was Mary Magdalene who brought 
the news to Peter and John, who seemed 'to have been together. Her 
language would indicate that she must either have been very much 
excited or else she had failed to catch the meaning of the angel's 
declaration that he was risen. Possibly she had thought the angels to be 
but men, or possibly she had gone away in breathless haste before they 
completed the information to her. At all events these two disciples started 
on a foot race to the sepulcher, and John outran Peter, but he did not 
have the courage to go into the tomb, but Peter did, as soon as he came 
up, and John followed him in. By this time most of the other women 
had gone home, and these two disciples now go also. 

Matt. 28:8-10; Ma. 16:9-11; Jo. 20 :11-18.— John's account, coupled 
with the others, on the first appearance of Jesus, indicates that Mary 
Magdalene must have returned to the sepulcher after she had announced 
to John and Peter the fact that the body of Jesus was not in the tomb* 
As she stood there weeping and looking into the tomb she saw two angels 
sitting there. Her answer to their question confirms the belief that she 
had not previously understood that Jesus had been resurrected. She 
turned away from the sepulcher and meets Jesus and talks with him, 



GOSPEL. 863 

and, as Mark tells us, this was the first appearance of Jesus after the 
resurrection. K"ow she hurries away to tell the others, and after this 
occurs what Matthew mentions in verses 8-10 of chapter 28 ; namely, that 
Jesus appears not only to Mary Magdalene, but also to two other women, 
who probably were coming to or going from the sepulcher later. 

Matt. 28 :11-15. — Here Matthew gives the account that the guard, 
having gone into the city and reported to the Jewish leaders the events 
of the resurrection, the Jewish assembly was speedily called, and after 
counseling together they thought it best to bribe the soldiers to lie, and 
declare that the disciples stole his body while the soldiers slept. It was 
death to a soldier to be found asleep on guard, and the story endangered 
their lives, but the Jewish leaders pledged themselves to stand between 
the soldiers and any danger which would result if Pilate should hear of 
the matter. It is very evident that these Jewish leaders had some kind 
of a sword over the head of Pilate by which he was kept in fear of 
opposing them. 

Ma. 16 :12, 13 ; Lu. 24:13-32. — The third recorded appearance of Jesus 
was to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. One of these was Cleopas 
and the other was probably Luke. The answer of Cleopas to Jesus as he 
asked why they were sad meant about this : You seem to be the only man 
in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened there in the last few 
days. In answer to his question, "What things ?" they tell him all about 
Jesus of Xazareth, and about the reports that certain of the women had 
seen a vision of angels, and that Jesus was alive. Then he spoke of the 
apostles (probably Peter and John) who had been to see the empty tomb. 
Jesus (whom they did not recognize) then began a discourse to them to 
show how the Scriptures had foretold these very things concerning 
himself. Still they did not know him, but they had become so interested 
in his talk that they pressed him to turn in with them at their journey's 
end. He did so, and when at the table he blessed and broke the bread 
for them this familiar action opened their eyes, as he intended, and, no 
doubt, without stopping to eat, he immediately got up and left. Perhaps 
they ate, but it was a hurried, excited repast, and with their hearts and 
minds full of a new light they hurried back immediately after the meal 
to Jerusalem. 

Lu. 24 :33-35. — When they arrived at Jerusalem they found the eleven 
apostles assembled, and learned that in the meantime Jesus had appeared 
to Peter, the fourth recorded appearance (though it is not impossible 
that this one and the one to the two disciples should change places). 



864 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

These two added their testimony to what had happened on the way to 
Emmaus and at the supper table. 

Jo. 20:19-23. — The situation was now growing exciting. It was now 
night of that memorable resurrection day, henceforth to be the Christian 
Sabbath, and for the same reason Thomas, who seemed to have been 
present when the eleven were assembled to hear the report of the appear- 
ance to Peter and to the two who walked to Emmaus, could not be 
present at that night gathering. But Jesus appeared at that secret 
meeting, John tells us, and breathed upon them the Holy Ghost. At 
this point he recited also the commission which was to characterize all 
their future activity. 

Matt 28:16-20; Ma. 16:14-18; Lu. 24:36-49; Jo. 20:24-29.— Eight 
days later the eleven were assembled in Galilee, this time Thomas being 
with them. They had told him of the previous appearance, but he would 
not believe them, and said, "I will not believe except I see for myself/' 
Upon this appearance Jesus appeals directly to doubting Thomas, and 
says, "Come here and satisfy yourself." This seems to have been at a 
feast, for it is recorded by Mark that they were sitting at a feast. Luke 
also tells us that they had been talking of Jesus, but they did not seem 
to have been expecting him at this stage, for they were affrighted. 
Here again Jesus repeats the great commission, "Go ye into all the world," 
etc. He also declares to them how they shall be exempted from all 
manner of evil, and gives a special list of signs which shall follow to 
encourage and convince the new church of the divinity of its mission. 
He gives them special instruction in regard to the Scriptures concerning 
himself, and enjoins them to preach him and his mission to all the world. 
He commands them to tarry in Jerusalem until they have a conscious 
clothing with power. Another very important thing which he did was 
to eat before them, thus proving his physical identity. He declares that 
he is not a spirit, but that he has flesh and bones. 

Jo. 20 :30, 31. — John here declares that Jesus did many other signs 
before his disciples which are not here recorded, and tells that the purpose 
was that no doubt should be left in their minds concerning his identity. 
The importance of their having no doubt of his identity is manifest in 
the fact which will be plain to all, that their entire future work of 
evangelization would depend upon their having never a question of this 
fact. The faith of future generations was in a large degree built upon it. 

Jo. 21 :l-8. — The seventh appearance of Jesus, being the third to the 
body of his disciples, was at Tiberias, in Galilee. Seven of the disciples 
went fishing. All night they toiled until the day was breaking and 



GOSPEL. 865 

caught nothing. In the morning Jesus was standing on the shore, but 
they did not know him, and when he asked, "Have you anything to eat ?" 
they said, "We have caught nothing/' He instructed them to cast the 
net on the other side of the vessel, and when it enclosed such a multitude 
of fishes that they could not draw it, John said, "It is the Lord standing 
on the shore/' Upon this Peter jumped into the sea, and the other 
disciples brought the net full of fishes to land. 

Jo. 21 :9-14. — When they came upon the shore they found a fire, and 
a fish laid upon it. Evidently Jesus had also been fishing. He invited 
them to bring their fish to the fire, and asked them to come and break 
their fast. Xo doubt they begin their feast with the fish and the bread 
which they found in possession of Jesus. 

Jo. 21 : 15-1 9. — After breakfast Jesus had that memorable discourse 
with Peter. Thrice Peter had denied him, thrice he here makes him 
reiterate his love. So emphatic were the words of Jesus that Peter was 
grieved at the third question, forgetting no doubt how he had three times 
denied his Master. Once he said, "Feed my lambs," twice he said, "Feed 
my sheep," and then he tells what should happen to this impulsive 
apostle when he became aged, showing what he should have to endure 
for his Master's sake, but finally and firmly enjoining, "Follow me." 

Jo. 21 :20-24.— We are told here that Peter asks Jesus, "What shall 
John do?" The answer to that question was, "What is that to thee?" 
We are told that the utterance of Jesus, "If I will that he tarry till I 
come," led some of the dsiciples to assume, wrongly, that John was not 
to see death. 

Jo. 21 :25. — The closing statement of John, that if all the things which 
Jesus did had been written the world would not contain the books, is 
simply another way of saying that had a minute account been given of all 
the things which Jesus did, literature would have been multiplied so 
indefinitely that there would have been no opportunity for readers to have 
fathomed its bulk or grasped its spirit. 

Ma. 16:19, 20; Lu. 24:50-53.— Finally Mark and Luke declare that 
after these 'things Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, gave them a 
parting blessing, and was carried out of their sight. They returned 
joyfully and continued their work with diligence and gladness. Hence- 
forth there was no doubt in their minds of the reality of that to which 
they bore witness, and constantly the witness was being strengthened by 
the signs which followed their work. 



ACTS 



INTRODUCTION. 

Acts (doings) of the apostles. Written in Greek. By Luke, the Gospel 
writer. About A. D. 64, probably written at Borne. 

Early translations : 1. The Italic, a Latin translation made in North 
Africa, about fifty years after the death of St. John. This was revised by 
Jerome about 381 A. D., which revise was called the Vulgate (the 
standard version of Christendom for one thousand years). 2. The 
Peshito, a syriac version made near the same time as the Italic, in the 
language of Palestine at that time. 

The book shows how Christianity was founded in the world by Christ's 
chosen apostles and preachers. 

Luke saw many things here recorded, being with Paul at Philippi, 
also on his last journey to Jerusalem and his trip to Eome. He heard 
accounts from Paul, James, the church at Jerusalem, the church at 
Caesarea, Philip the evangelist, and perhaps Cornelius. 

The Gospel gives a history from the coming of Jesus into the world to 
the ascension. Acts begins here and writes a history of the church to 
the death of the apostles, and Eevelation takes it there, describing the 
church's work to the end of time. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-11 Eeference to the Gospel. 

1-5 Origin of revival work. 

6 Question of the disciples. 
7, 8 Reply of Jesus. 
9 Ascension. 
10, 11 His return promised. 
12-14 The disciples' prayer meeting. 
15-26 Choice of an apostle in place of Judas. 



ACTS. 867 



Chapter 2. 

1-4 The baptism of the spirit. 
5-13 Amazement of the multitude. 
14-36 Peter's Pentecostal sermon. 

14, 15 Denial of drunkenness. 
16-21 Explanation by prophecy. 
22, 23 Jesus the fulfillment. 
24-28 His resurrection proved by prophecy. 
29-31 Appeal to their credulity. 
32-36 Evidence that Jesus is the Christ. 
37-42 Eesult of the sermon. 

37 Conviction and inquiry. 
38-40 Instruction. 
41, 42 Conversion. 

41 Baptism. 

42 Indoctrination. 
43-47 The new social condition. 

Chapter 3. 

1-8 Lame man healed at the beautiful gate. 
9-11 Wonder of the people. 
12-26 Peter's sermon at Solomon's porch. 

12-16 The miracle ascribed to faith in Jesus. 
17, 18 Jewish ignorance. 
19-21 Eepentance exhorted. 
22, 23 Testimony of Moses. 

24 Testimony of other prophets. 
25, 26 E elation of the Jews to the covenant. 

Chapter 4. 
1-22 Enmity of the Sadducees. 

1-4 Arrest of the apostles. 
5-7 Their arraignment. 
8-12 Their defense. 
13, 14 Conviction of the Sadducees. 
15-18 Their stubborn demand. 
19-22 The apostles' refusal. 
23-31 The Christians' prayer meeting. 
32-37 Social effect of their conversion. 



868 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 5. 

1-11 Hypocrisy of Ananias and his wife. 
12-16 Sick folks healed. 
17-42 Sadducees persecute the Christians. 
17, 18 Imprisonment of the apostles. 
19, 20 Let out by an angel. 

21 The Jewish council assembled. 
22-28 Arraignment of the apostles. 
29-32 Defense of the apostles. 

33 Murderous passion of the Sadducees. 
34-39 Speech of Gamaliel to the council. 

40 The apostles beaten and discharged. 
41, 42 Their rejoicing and labor. 

Chapter 6. 

1-6 Deacons elected and ordained. 
7 Church's progress. 
8-15 Persecution of Stephen. 
8, 9 Reason. 
10-15 Nature of the persecution. 

Chapter 7. 
1-53 Stephen's speech before the council. 
1-8 Abraham. 
1-3 Call. 

4-8 Entrance to promised land and test of faith. 
8 Isaac and Jacob. 
9-16 Joseph. 

9 Sold into Egypt. 
10 Made ruler of Egypt. 
11-16 Jacob and family taken to Egypt. 
17-19 Affliction in Egypt. 
20-38 Moses. 

20 Birth. 
21,22 Education. 
23-28 Interference in behalf of his people. 

29 Flight from Egypt. 

30 Burning bush. 
.31-35 Talk with God. 

36 Leads the Exodus. 
37,38 Prophesies. 



ACTS. 869 



39-41 Idolatry of Israel in the wilderness, 
42, 43 God's attitude toward them. 
44-46 The wilderness tabernacle. 
47-50 Solomon's temple. 
51-53 Israel reproached. 
54-60 Martyrdom of Stephen. 

54 Page of his enemies. 
55, 56 Stephen's vision. 
57-60 Hi& murder. 

Chapter 8. 

1-4 Persecution of the church. 
5-13 Preaching of Philip in Samaria. 
5-8 His miracles. 
9-13 Simon believes. 
14-17 Holy Ghost sent. 
18-25 Peter rebukes Simon. 
26-40 Preaching of Philip to the eunuch 

Chapter 9. 
1-19 Conversion of Saul. 
1-9 Saul stricken. 
10-19 Saul receives his sight. 
20-22 Preaching of Saul. 
23-25 Plot to kill Saul. 
26-30 Introduction to the church. 

31 Peace. 
32-35 Healing of Aeneas. 
36-43 Dorcas raised to life. 

Chapter 10. 

1-8 Vision of Cornelius. 

9-16 Vision of Peter. The great sheet. 

17-23 Servants of Cornelius call for Peter. 

24-29 Peter goes to the home of Cornelius. 

30-33 Cornelius relates his vision. 

34-43 Peter's sermon to Cornelius' house. 

44-48 Baptism of the spirit. 

Chapter 11. 

1-3 The Jews contend with Peter, 
4-18 Peter's defense. 



870 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

19-26 Foundation of the church at Antioch. 
27-30 Antioch's missionary collection. 

Chapter 12. 
1-19 Persecution by Herod. 

1, 2 Murder of James. 
3-5 Imprisonment of Peter. 
6-11 Liberation by an angel. 
12-17 His report at the prayer meeting. 
18, 19 Death of the guards. 
20-23 Miserable death of Herod. 
24-13-3 Ordination of Barnabas and Saul. 
4-12 Bar-jesus struck with blindness. 
13 Mark's return. 
14-41 Paul's sermon at Antioch. 

14-20 The Exodus and judges. 
21, 22 The kingdom. 

23 Jesus descended from David. 
24, 25 John's testimony. 
26-29 Why they crucified Jesus. 
30-37 Eesurrection of Jesus. Witnesses. Prophecy. 
38, 39 Office of Jesus. 
40, 41 Warning. 
42, 43 Eequest for the sermon's repetition. 
44-52 Paul's second service at Antioch. 
44, 45 Jealousy of the Jews. 
46-49 Paul turns to the Gentiles. 
50-52 Jewish persecution. 

Chapter 14. 

1-7 Paul and Barnabas at Iconium. 
1 Many believe. 
2-4 Jewish opposition. 
5-7 Jewish plot. 
8-20 Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 
8-10 The cripple healed. 
11-13 Attempt to worship the apostles. 
14-18 Their speech in restraint. 
19, 20 Paul stoned. 
21-28 Preaching at Derbe and return to Antioch. 



ACTS. 871 



Chapter 15. 
1-21 Council at Jerusalem. 

1, 2 Delegation from Antioch. 
3 Their preaching en route. 
4, 5 Their experience related. 
6, 7 Discussion in council. 
7-11 Speech of Peter. 

12 Testimony of Paul and Barnabas. 
13-21 Decision rendered by James. 

22-29 Judas and Silas carry the decision to Antioch. 
30-35 The decision read at Antioch. 
36-39 Disagreement of Barnabas and Paul. 
40-16-5 Paul starts on his second missionary tour. 
40-16-1 Silas chosen. 

1-3 Timothy circumcised at Lystra. 
4, 5 The council decree delivered. 
6-10 Paul's vision at Troas. 
11-15 Conversion of Lydia at Philippi. 
16-18 Evil spirit cast out of a damsel. 
19-24 Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned. 
25-34 Conversion of the jailer and family. 
35-40 Paul and Silas brought out of prison. 
Chapter 17. 

1-9 Paul and Silas at Thessalonica. 

1-4 Paul preaching in the synagogue. 
5-9 The Jewish mob. 
10-13 Paul and Silas at Berea. 

10-12 Character of the Bereans. 

13 Trouble from the Thessalonians. 
14-34 Paul at Athens. 

14, 15 Paul sent from Berea. 
16-18 His contest with the philosophers. 
19-21 They ask Paul to preach. 
22-31 Paul's sermon on Mars Hill. 
32-34 Its effect. 
Chapter 18: 
1-17 Paul at Corinth. 

1-6 His stay with Aquilla. 

7 His stay with Titus Justus. 

8 Crispus believes. 



872 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

9-11 Paul's vision and stay at Corinth. 
12-17 Incident of Gallic 
18-22 Paul returns via Ephesus and Caesarea to Antioch. 

23 Paul's third missionary tour begun. 
24-28 Apollos at Ephesus. 
Chapter 19. 

1-7 Paul christens Apollos' Ephesian disciples. 
8-41 Paul's ministry in Ephesus. 
8 In the synagogue. 
9, 10 In the school of Tyrannus. 
11, 12 Paul's miracles. 
13-16 Presumption of the exorcists. 
17-20 Eesult. 

21, 22 Erastus and Timothy sent to Macedonia. 
23-27 Speech of Demetrius. 
28, 29 Anger of his hearers against Paul. 
30-34 Paul restrained from the theater. 
35-41 Speech of the town clerk. 
Chapter 20. 

1-6 Paul's trip through Macedonia and Greece. 
7-12 Paul's sermon and miracle at Troas. 
13-16 Assos, Mitylene, Samos, Miletus. 
17-38 Paul's speech to the Ephesian elders. 
17-21 His past record. 
22-27 His future prospects. 
28-31 Counsel to the elders. 
32-35 His example to them. 
36-38 The adieu. 
Chapter 21. 

1-3 Cos, Ehodes, Patara, Tyre. 
4-6 The prayer meeting on the beach. 
7-14 Ptolemais and Caesarea. Prophecy of Agabus. 
15-17 Arrival at Jerusalem. 
18-23-22 Paul at Jerusalem. 

18, 19 His work described. 
20-25 Advice of James and the elders to Paul. 

26 Paul's obedience. 
27-30 Mobbed by Asiatic Jews. 
31-36 Eescued by the chief captain. 
37-40 Paul's interview with him. 



ACTS. 873 



Chapter 22. 

1-21 Paul's defense to the Jews. 

1-5 Birth and former history. 
6-16 Conversion. 
17-21 God's message to him in the temple. 
22^24 Eage of the Jewish mob. 
25-29 Paul asserts his Eoman citizenship. 
30-23-9 His speech before the Jewish council. 
10, 11 Paul put in the castle for safety. 
12-15 Conspiracy of the Jews against Paul. 
16-22 The chief captain informed of the plot. 
23-35 Paul sent to Csesarea. 

23, 24 The military guard. 
25-30 Letter of the captain to Governor Felix. 
31-35 The departure by night. 
Chapter 24. 
1-23 Paul's trial before Felix. 
1 The accusers. 
2-9 Speech of Tertullus. 
10-21 Paul's answer. 
22, 23 Decision deferred. 
24-27 Desire of Felix to be bribed. 
Chapter 25. 
1-12 Paul's trial before Festus. 

1-3 Eequest of the Jews. 
4, 5 Answer of Festus. 
6, 7 The Jews accuse Paul. 

8 Paul's answer. 

9 Temporizing of Festus. 
10-12 Paul's appeal to Caesar. 

13-22 Festus tells Agrippa of Paul's case. 
23-27 Speech of Festus on bringing Paul before Agrippa. 
Chapter 26. 
1-32 Paul's defense before Agrippa. 
1-3 Preface. 
4-11 Paul's manner of religion as a Jew. 
12-18 His conversion to Christianity. 
19-23 His work as a Christian minister. 
24-29 Conclusion (to Festus and Agrippa). 
30-32 Decision of Agrippa. 



874 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 27. 

1-28-15 Paul's journey to Home. 

1-8 Sidon, Myra (transferred), Fair Haven. 
9-13 Paul's advice to winter unheeded. 

14-20 The tempest. 

21-26 Paul's reproof and encouragement. 

27-29 The vessel anchored near Malta. 

30-32 Sailors restrained from deserting. 

33-38 Paul encourages them to eat. 

39-41 The shipwreck. 

42-44 Their escape. . 

Chapter 28. 

1-6 Paul's adventure with a viper. 
7-10 His miracles in Malta. 
11-15 Syracuse, Rhegium, Puteoli, Rome. 
16-31 Paul at Rome. 

16-22 Conference with the Jews. 
23-29 His sermon to them. 
30, 31 His stay there. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1:1-11. — In his reference to the Gospel, "the former treatise" 
refers to the Gospel writing by Luke, which had been, as was this letter, 
directed to Theophilus. The writer notes that Jesus began, in the Gospel 
dispensation, to do and teach what had never been done or taught before, 
and what he began, his disciples were to continue after his ascension. 
After his resurrection he appeared a number of times to his disciples 
to properly substantiate their faith, and give them specific directions as 
to waiting at Jerusalem for a spirit baptism which should formally usher 
in the spirit dispensation, just as John's baptism formally ushered in the 
dispensation of repentance and faith in the Messiah. Their question as 
to whether he would speedily restore the supremacy of Israel showed that 
they had not caught the idea either as to who was the true Israel or how 
Jesus was to subdue error by a long battle. His answer warned them not 
to engage their minds with that question, but to concern themselves solely 
with spreading abroad the truth with which they were acquainted and 
leave the Father to work out the results in his own way. Having said 
these things he was translated before their eyes, and as they gazed after 



ACTS. 875 

him two shining visitors informed them that he should in like manner 
come again. (See Eev. 19.) 

12-14. — The prayer meeting which the disciples hold, as here men- 
tioned, is the first one on record among the company of Christ's followers. 
No doubt each one felt the need of prayer in that season of loneliness 
and time when they were beginning to realize their burden of respon- 
sibility. All the apostles were there, except Judas, and over one 
hundred other disciples, and their prayers were continuous and impor- 
tunate. 

15-2)5. — One very important result of this condition was to set the 
company to studying the Scriptures. Peter now begins to formulate for 
use the knowledge which he has been acquiring, and finds in it an 
argument which turns their despair into strength. These things had 
happened just as the Scriptures had foretold, and therefore it was evident 
that this company of disciples was to make important history in the 
divine scheme for the salvation of the world. Accordingly, after prayer 
for a knowledge of the divine will in the matter, they select to fill the 
place of Judas one who had been a believer and an eye-witness of the 
events of the life of Jesus since the baptism of John — Matthias. 

Ch. 2 :l-4. — Ten days after the ascension was Pentecost (the fiftieth 
day after the second day of the Passover feast), coming about the end of 
May. The disciples have manifested to them split tongues, resembling 
flame, prophetic of the profusion and consuming power of the messages 
which the Christians should bear. The phrase "other tongues" were 
better rendered "various tongues." 

5-13. — The discipfes were dwellers in that Jewish land to which the 
eyes of the nations were looking. The inhabitants had scattered from 
there to all the marts of the world, and back to it they came periodically 
for worship, and especially because it was there that they looked for the 
appearance of the promised Jewish Messiah. In this way these dwellers 
in the land, if observant, would form the acquaintance of many languages. 
Seeing that there was a cosmopolitan audience about them at Jerusalem, 
the disciples began to use these various languages, that the users of the 
different languages there represented might understand. The unanimity 
of their testimony about the wonderful works of God as represented in 
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Xazareth arrested attention 
and produced a sensation. Their enemies mockingly declared that they 
were drunk, but that view of the case did not satisfy the intelligent and 
unprejudiced portion of the company. 

14-36. — In his Pentecostal sermon Peter flatly denies the charge of 



876 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

intoxication and cites the hour, nine a. m., to show the absurdity of the 
charge. Even to this day that would be a most unlikely hour for a 
drunken revelry. But he does not delay to give explanation of the 
phenomenon. Again he draws upon his Scripture knowledge, and by an 
extensive quotation from Joel 2 shows that this also is in line with God's 
previously declared purpose. Then he touches the main issue of the 
question by citing evidence which not even the enemies could contradict, 
to show that Jesus fulfilled all the conditions of Messiahship, and declares 
that God had resurrected Jesus, quoting prophecy to verify that view. 
Here he appeals to their knowledge of David's history to gain their 
credence to the logic that David was prophesying of the Christ. And 
finally he concludes with the personal witness of the disciples that Jesus 
had been raised from the dead, and having been exalted to God's right 
hand, had thus poured out the spirit as all had witnessed. David, he 
shows, could not have been meant in that language, but it assuredly refers 
to Jesus, who was made both Lord and Christ. 

37-42. — The result of this sermon was such a conviction of the truth 
that the hearers became restless and sought the advice of the apostles. 
Their advice was the same as John the Baptist had given, "Kepent to 
the extent of quitting your sins," and the other part of the advice was, 
not to believe on one who should come, but on one who had come. Thus, 
he declares, you shall receive the Holy Ghost, for the promise extends to 
all who will accept. About three thousand did accept, and were baptized 
that day, and at once the disciples began the work of indoctrinating the 
new converts and leading them in the way of prayer. 

43-47. — The picture of the new social condition shows how genuine was 
this work of grace. It is at once evident that many of the converts were 
the humble poor. This kind of conversions which would lead the subject 
to part with his possessions and give them to the poor meant much. 
Hypocrisy had not yet had time to creep into the new religious company. 
Their minds were wholly occupied with the work of reaching after and 
rescuing souls. For this reason they were in favor with the people, and 
day by day the church was being increased. Miracles were being worked 
by the apostles to emphasize the truth which they preached. 

Ch. 3 :l-8. — At three p. m. one day, as Peter and John went up to the 
temple, this man, lame from birth, was healed at the beautiful gate. 
This public miracle drew tremendous pressure of attention to the new 
movement and to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 

9-11. — The reason for this miracle was instantly apparent. The people 
came rushing together under strong excitement. God had evidently been 



ACTS. 877 

working not in his usual way of healing through a process involving a 
length of time, but in the unusual process of instantaneous healing, for 
the purpose of arresting attention and centering interest — just as in the 
days of Moses he had developed the almond branch and fruit, not by his 
usual method, but by an unusual method, for the same reason. 

12-26. — Peter is not slow to seize the opportunity. At the porch of 
the temple this timid, shrinking disciple who had thrice denied his Lord, 
now made conscious by the presence of God's manifested spirit and the 
study of the Scriptures of the greatness of this cause, mightily preaches 
Jesus as the Christ, just as he had done on Pentecost. He ascribes this 
miracle to Jesus of Nazareth, and again directly charges the Jewish 
people with having murdered him, after having elected to save from death 
a murderer in his stead. He puts forward himself and his associates as 
witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus, and declares that faith in him has 
made this man strong. At this point he tempers the severity of the 
accusations by expressing his belief that the ignorance of the enemies 
of Jesus was accountable for the catastrophe. It should be noted, 
however, that he does not intimate that they were not responsible for 
that ignorance. On the other hand the whole history of the case shows 
that they were held responsible ; but he adds that the Christ in so suffering 
had fulfilled the predictions of the prophets concerning him. Then he 
exhorted the people to repent, have their sins blotted out, and experience 
that refreshing from the presence of the Lord which will make them 
ready for the return of Jesus, who is to come back again in the fullness 
of time, as all the prophets had foretold. Moses had foretold that one 
should be raised up from among this chosen family who should speak 
with authority, and obedience to whom should prove the only safety to 
the people. The other prophets had foretold similar things, and therefore 
he concludes, Seeing that you all belong to this very chosen family, God 
has first directed this message and these blessings to you by sending Jesus 
to turn you each from your iniquities. 

Ch. 4:1-22. — This sermon, as was to be expected, stirred up the old 
enemies of Jesus. The Sadducees did not believe in any resurrection, 
and because the high priest was of that sect and they were in power, they 
arrested and imprisoned the apostles over night. But they could not 
arrest the progress of the truth, for by this time two thousand more had 
joined themselves to the believers in Jesus, bringing the total up to about 
five thousand men, probably besides women and children. Next morning 
they were arraigned before the high priest and his advisers and questioned 
as to the power and authority by which they worked. Now they find to 



878 ^ BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

their astonishment that the shrinking Peter, who at the trial of Jesus had 
profanely denied his Master, had come to be a giant. He boldly answered, 
We do this in the name of Jesus, whom you murdered, and whom, though 
you builders set him at naught, God raised from the dead and made the 
chief corner-stone, and he is the only possible way by which men may 
be saved. These intellectually polished scions of the priesthood were 
mentally paralyzed at the display of irrefutable logic and confidence on 
the part of these apostles, whom they styled "unlearned and ignorant" 
because they did not belong to the learned professions, but they had by 
no means forgotten Jesus, and they noted with grief that these apostles 
were following in his train of calm and irresistible force of argument. 
What they had aimed to kill by the murder of Jesus seemed to be just 
rising into vigorous life. In desperation they conferred among them- 
selves, and seeing that they could not possibly deny the miracle, they 
resolved to peremptorily demand that the apostles cease to teach of Jesus. 
Then Peter and John rise to the occasion and make them judge for 
themselves t&at it is proper to obey Gcyd rather than these Jewish officials, 
and declare that they intend to continue to publish that of which they 
had knowledge. The Sadducees raved and threatened, but were afraid' 
to lay violent hands on the apostles for fear the people would rise in revolt 
and destroy the priests, and so they were obliged to release them. 

23-31. — When the apostles returned to the company of Christians and 
reported what had been done, the company joined in a mighty chorus of 
prayer, quoting David the prophet to show how both the Gentiles and the 
rulers of the Jews had conspired to do violence to Jesus and terrorize his 
followers. They asked especially for courage for themselves and the 
continuance of God's help, and their prayer was visibly answered. 

32-37. — This social effect of their conversion is accounted for by the 
fact that these early Christians were making it their sole business to 
evangelize the world, and had no conscious need of means other than for 
that purpose. Whether or not their concept of the time of Jesus' return 
was correct, yet it is certain that this method was indispensable to the 
accomplishment of the work which these first Christians were set to do, 
that the proper foundations might be laid for the permanent and world- 
wide spread of Christianity. And who can say that had this course been 
continued the world might not, centuries ago, have been actually prepared 
for his return ? The Levite, Barnabas, mentioned here was the one who 
later on brings Paul into prominence after his conversion. 

Ch. 5 :1-11. — But every good coin will sooner or later be counterfeited. 
It was a great compliment to the genuineness and success of this new 



ACTS. 879 

movement to find that it was so great that some people wanted to share 
the glory of it even though they lacked energy to honestly fulfill the 
conditions. There was no requirement, expressed or implied, that 
property should be thus brought. • It was a purely voluntary matter. The 
lie which Ananias here told was an extraordinarily aggravating one, since 
it embraced not only the sin of lying, but of doing so under personal 
conditions, self-arranged and purely voluntary. The new church was in 
imminent peril. If that hypocrisy should succeed it would be likely to 
so permeate the entire church that its whole usefulness would be per- 
manently impaired if not destro}^ed. Many would follow the example, 
and the Christian company would come at once into reproach. Hence 
this startling warning by a frightful example. 

12-16. — Miracles of healing continued to be worked by the apostles. 
Public attention was the more intensely arrested and centered in this 
great religious movement, and not only Jerusalem, but all the region 
round about was stirred. In furtherance of the plan for which these 
miracles were introduced, all who were brought were healed. 

17-42. — Now the rage of the Sadducees has had time to crystallize once 
more into action. The doctrine which they had committed the crime of 
the ages to suppress was growing daily, and threatened to swallow up the 
nation. Again they put the apostles in prison, and towards morning an 
angel let them out and commanded them to continue to give their 
message, so that at daybreak they were found again at the temple engaged 
in their work. When the Jewish council was called in the morning and 
these men were not found in the prison there was consternation among 
the Jewish leaders. They did not know what was likely to happen next. 
Again they sent to the temple and brought the apostles, but very gently 
this time, for they feared that the people might roughly handle the 
council. The question of the high priest was very suggestive. The old 
hypocrite tries to infer that the Jewish leaders had nothing to do with 
the death of Jesus. The apostles replied quickly and emphatically, You 
did murder Jesus, and God has resurrected and exalted him to save Israel 
from sin, 'and both ourselves and the Holy Spirit are witnesses of these 
things. This bold and cutting charge stung them to the quick, and they 
are drunken with murderous passion, and would have killed the apostles 
at once had they dared. The speech of Gamaliel, perhaps the most noted 
instructor of that day, was notorious for its good sense and reason, and 
his conclusion was so irresistible that they could not do otherwise than 
accept it. But their devilish passions required some kind of an outlet, 
and they could not forbear the temptation to abuse th^se followers of 



880 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Jesus, after which they let them go. But the apostles, far from being 
discouraged by this treatment, now rejoiced that they were accorded the 
honor to suffer for their Master's sake, and went gladly back to their work 
of teaching and preaching. 

Ch. 6 :l-6. — An evidence of the growth of this new church is here given 
in the fact of the election of deacons. Grecian Jews were Jews whose 
native place was Greece, and who returned to Jerusalem to worship. It 
is suggested that the seeming partiality was not intentional, but simply 
the effort of the resident Jews to have their own friends well cared for. 
The wisdom of the leaders was demonstrated by the fact that they chose 
men to look specially after this matter, that no trouble might grow out of 
it. Seven was a natural number, signifying completeness among the 
Jewish people. Stephen was one of these, and the wisdom which he soon 
afterward displayed showed that they had selected an ideal body of men. 

7. — It must have been a matter of extreme anxiety, on the part of the 
old enemies of Jesus and the disciples, to see the rapidity and stability 
of the church's growth. Even the Jewish priests were being converted to 
the faith, yet they were not wise enough to see that their murder of Jesus 
and persecution of his disciples had only added fuel to the flame. 

8-15. — And so they began anew their senseless persecution. Stephen, 
one of the seven, signalized himself as a leader in his work, and so made 
himself a target for these enemies. First of all they began a wordy 
dispute with him, but soon discovered that in argument he was more than 
a match for them. Next they resorted to their old tricks. They hired 
liars to slander him, and raised a mob and brought him before the Jewish 
council to face their false accusation. 

Ch. 7 :l-53. — The speech of Stephen before the council is one of the 
most remarkable defenses on record. He begins with the call of their 
common father Abraham, traces his movements to the land of promise, 
makes special note of his faith, when all the circumstances seemed to be 
against him, speaks of his descendants, tracing carefully the history of 
Joseph, from his boyhood to the time when, as ruler of Egypt, he cared 
for his father's family, and buried Jacob with honor in the promised 
land ; reminds them of the affliction in Egypt, calls them to witness the 
birth, education and life work of Moses, the leader of the Hebrew nation, 
and quotes specially the prophecy which Moses made near the close of his 
life regarding the rising up out of Judaism of a great prophet. Notwith- 
standing the prestige of Moses, the people whom he led turned against 
him and fell into idolatry. And for this Stephen shows that God through 
the prophets turned against Israel and foretold that they should be 



ACTS. 881 

carried into captivity to Babylon. He cites them to the building of the 
wilderness tabernacle, prepared nnder God's direction, and brought by the 
Hebrew nation into the promised land. He mentions the magnificent 
temple built by Solomon, but quotes the prophets to prove that God is 
too great to be confined within the precincts of even so great a house. 
And finally, he reproaches their stubborn resistance to the truth, likens 
their spirit to that of their fathers, who persecuted and killed the 
prophets, and charges them directly with now having become the betrayers 
and murderers of the Christ — a nation who had received God's law at 
the hands of angels and refused to keep it. The entire speech has for its 
object the demonstration of the magnificent possibilities of this chosen 
people, and how because of their stubborn disregard for God's expressed 
will they were rendering void all the noble plans which God had purposed 
to work out at their hands. The speech was logical and irresistible, and 
we would naturally expect that such a one would produce an ungovernable 
tumult of passion. 

54-60. — Their rage was so great that language failed them in the 
expression of their hatred. Stephen, on the other hand, looking into 
heaven, declared to them the vision that he saw. It requires no great 
stretch of the imagination to understand that one who was so soon to be 
received through the gates into the everlasting city should have shown 
to him a vision of the city whose gates were so soon to swing open to 
welcome him in. But his declaration only turned their impotent rage 
into murderous activity, and as they cast him out of the city and ham- 
mered him to death with stones, he cried with a loud voice that all might 
hear that forgiving supplication which he had learned from his blessed 
Master, "Lay not this sin to their charge." Little did he know how 
mighty a work he was accomplishing in his death, for there stood before 
him as referee one young Saul, and into his soul this object lesson burned 
its way forever. Out of the grave of Stephen, Saul was to arise to become 
the mightiest champion of the Christian faith. 

Ch. 8 :l-4. — A great concert of persecution began at once. The leaven 
of the spirit was working mightily in Saul, as was shown by the fact that 
he was foremost of all his countrymen in the persecution of Christians. 
Such as he would be obliged either to accept such a faith as Stephen had 
shown or to fight it with relentless fury. He begun to do the latter, and 
in so doing scattered firebrands which far and wide kindled unquenchable 
flames. 

5-13. — Philip, here mentioned, was another of the deacons. It is not 
improbable that this persecution was directed particularly at this body 



882 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

of deacons, because of the particular prominence and success which 
attended their administrations. At this point the Gospel is formally 
introduced to the Samaritan nation (half Jew and half Gentile), and the 
miracles which he did produced tremendous results as to the reception of 
the Gospel. The "Simon" mentioned here, having been by profession a 
trickster, had a great reputation among these primitive people. When 
he saw the success of Philip's work he joined the company, was baptized, 
and followed with Philip, thinking, no doubt, that he was about to 
receive new and advanced object lessons in trickery. 

14-17. — The sending of the Holy Ghost, here mentioned, introduces us 
to the fact that there were practically three distinct and open manifes- 
tations of the Holy Spirit from the standpoint of nationality. The first 
was for the Jewish race at Pentecost. The second was for this mixed 
race of Samaria, God, in this manner, publicly approving the carrying of 
the Gospel beyond the Jewish nation, guarding, however, the possibility 
of an early rupture of the church by making on this occasion the coming 
of the spirit to be manifested under the authority of the apostles. Later, 
in the same way, it will be discovered that the Gospel was, by God's 
approval, carried to the Gentiles, as witnessed by the case of Cornelius. 
A similar manifestation was still later given at Ephesus at Paul's hand, 
for a specific and definite purpose. 

18-25. — What had been previously said of Simon is here verified by his 
offer to buy the authority to do supernatural work. The rebuke which 
Peter here gives him was so pointed and galling that Simon repents of 
his attitude and desires the prayers of the apostles that the displeasure 
of God may be turned away from him. As Peter and John returned to 
Jerusalem they preached in many Samaritan villages, for they under- 
stand now clearly the motive of their great Master when he taught among 
Samaritans, and they know they, are following the lead of his directions. 

26-40. — But Philip travels south westwardly through the Palestine- 
country under the direction of an angel, that he might intercept a dis- 
tinguished traveler on the way from Jerusalem to Ethiopia. This eunuch 
was evidently a proselyte to Judaism. He had been to Jerusalem to the 
recent feast of Pentecost, and it is not impossible that he had attended the 
very Passover at which Jesus was crucified, though probably, if he had 
heard of the event at all, he had attached little significance to it. The 
passage which he was reading was one of Isaiah's prophesies of the Christ. 
The question of Philip at once arrested his attention and showed the 
teachableness of his mind. In answer to his questions, Philip showed 
how the prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. So clear was the 



ACTS. 883 

lesson that the eunuch himself asked for Christian baptism, after which 
he went rejoicing home to upper Egypt. Philip turned northward, 
preaching at Azotus (Ashdod), and on up the coast until he came to 
Cassarea. 

Ch. 9 :1-19. — Saul's rage still intensified. He had been very successful 
in crushing prominent Christian leaders about Jerusalem, and he now 
proposes to follow the believers to Damascus, about one hundred and 
thirty miles northeast. The one further event which was necessary to 
turn the scale of his mind in favor of Christianity was about to take 
place. He sees a light, he hears a voice calling his own name. The 
language of verse 8 indicates, especially in the light of PauPs later 
utterances, that this light permanently impaired Saul's eyesight, and his 
reference at the close of his letter to the Galatians indicates that he was 
then suffering from that thorn in the flesh, which elsewhere he declares 
that he had thrice besought God that it might depart from him. It is 
likely that because Saul refused to be convinced by the sufficient evidence 
which he had already received, and possibly had demanded of the 
Almighty a view of his glory as a condition of belief, that God gave it 
to him on this occasion, to Saul's lasting bodily discomfort. At least 
this vision filled up the measure of Saul's conviction and he yielded. For 
three days he was entirely without vision and took no nourishment. So 
far-reaching had become Saul's reputation that it required some argument 
with Ananias before he would believe that Saul was not pretending. 
Verse 16 suggests that God required of Saul something of the suffering 
which he had put upon the early Christians. 

19-22. — After his conversion he staid a few days in Damascus, and at 
once began to preach Jesus in the synagogue. This fact amazed all the 
hearers, and the significant statement is made that he confounded the 
Jews in argument, proving that Jesus is the Christ. This was due no 
doubt to the fact that Paul was thoroughly educated, and that when 
he did receive the true, light and brought to bear his disciplined mind 
against error he was irrefutable. 

23-25. — As soon as it became clearly apparent to the Jews that Paul 
had become a mighty Christian they at once began to plot his ruin. When 
they watched the gates day and night to kill him his Christian friends 
let him down over the wall secretly, thus enabling him to escape the plot. 
Saul was now beginning to taste something of the terror which he had 
lately put upon others. 

26-30. — When he comes to Jerusalem the Christians refuse to receive 
him, not knowing the certainty of his conversion. ISTo doubt that was 



884 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

a very discouraging moment to Saul, but it is likely that he blamed no 
one for it but himself. Barnabas, already mentioned as the Levite who 
sold his possession and gave it to the church, who in some way had learned 
the truth of the matter, brought Saul and introduced him to the apostles. 
This opened the way for him to come and go freely among the Christians 
at Jerusalem, and so effectively did he preach and argue against the 
Jews that they plotted at Jerusalem to kill him. And so the Christians 
brought him down to Caesarea and sent him to Tarsus, his native city. 

31. — Here it is recorded that the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria 
had peace, and that great numbers were added to it. Its most effective 
Jewish enemy had become its warmest friend. The Jewish people could 
not easily find another Saul of Tarsus to persecute the church. 

32-35. — Lydda was nothwest of Jerusalem, authorities say, about five 
miles from Joppa, which was on the coast. The healing of Eneas was 
an advertisement throughout all thtise regions of Christianity. The 
history of this event leads up to the very important story of the introduc- 
tion of the Gospel to the Gentiles. 

36-43. — From Lydda, Peter went to Joppa. He had been sent for in 
haste by the friends of a disciple named Dorcas, who had died. This is 
the first recorded instance in which a disciple of Jesus performed the 
miracle of raising to life the dead. Naturally the report would cause 
intense wonder and excitement, and would turn the minds of all the 
people not onty to the beloved woman, whom they all reverenced, but also 
to the new religion which was growing so rapidly into fame and power. 
Peter staid many days in that city with Simon the tanner. 

Ch. 10 :l-8. — While he was there Cornelius, a devout centurion of 
Cassarea, saw a vision of an angel coming to him and commending his 
righteous life. The angel told him to send to Joppa and bring Peter, 
who should give him instructions. He obeyed immediately. 

9-16. — At noon the next day, as Peter was on the house top, where he* 
had gone for prayer, and while he was waiting for dinner, he also saw 
a vision, in which he was commanded to slay and eat many creatures 
which the Jewish law declared unclean. Peter protested that he could 
not so violate the law, but God taught him by thrice presenting the vision 
and thrice giving him the command, not to call unclean what God 
pleased to call clean. 

17-23. — Peter was much perplexed about this vision, and while he sat 
pondering over it the three men sent by Cornelius appeared and inquired 
for him. The language of verse 19 indicates that the spirit used this 
vision as the means by which it was made clear to Peter that he should 



ACTS. 885 

immediately accompany these men as Cornelius had asked. According 
to the laws of Eastern hospitality he called them in and lodged them 
for the night. 

23-29. — On the morrow they set out for Caesarea. Cornelius had called 
together his friends in honor of his coming. It is evident from verse 25 
that he had not been much instructed in the religion of Judaism, for he 
began to worship the apostles. Peter's training at once forbade that, and 
he frankly said to Cornelius, "It is unlawful for us Jews to enter the 
dwelling places of Gentiles. But God has recently taught me a lesson, 
and so I am here to know your desires." 

30-33. — Cornelius simply relates his vision to Peter, and adds, "We 
are together here to hear what the Lord has commanded you to say." 

34-43. — Here Peter preaches a sermon which marks an epoch in the 
Christian movement. The first statement which he makes is that God 
accepts every man of every nationality who does righteously. He assumes 
(verses 36-38) that Cornelius knows something of the history of the 
Christian movement, which would indicate that it had been widely 
observed and talked about. He names himself and his co-workers as 
witnesses of the work, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, and adds 
finally that Jesus had charged them to preach him to the people as judge 
of living and dead, to whom all the prophets bore witness and by whom 
all believers should receive pardon. 

44-48. — The effect of this message was instantaneous. The Holy 
Ghost came upon the company to the astonishment of the Jews who 
had accompanied Peter. The manifestation was similar to Pentecost. 
It was, indeed, the Gentile Pentecost. And so plain was it that God 
had accepted them that Peter said, "These should be baptized." He so 
commanded, and then remained with them many days. 

Ch. 11 :l-3. — As was naturally to be expected, when the Jewish Chris- 
tians heard of Peter's going to the home of Cornelius they reproached 
him for violating Jewish law. They believed Christianity to be only a 
form of Judaism, and thought of it as for the Jews exclusively. They 
had neither thought nor desire that it should extend beyond the confines 
of their own country. 

4-18. — Peter's defense was a detailed statement of his experience, 
telling both his vision and that of Cornelius, and how the company in 
this Gentile house had been baptized with the Holy Ghost as the Jewish 
Christians on Pentecost. Hence he concludes, I did not feel myself at 
liberty to withstand God. And his hearers consented that God had 
granted this gospel of repentance also to the Gentiles. 



886 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

19-26. — Upon the persecution of Stephen the Christians were scattered 
from Jerusalem and went far and near preaching the Gospel only to the 
Jews. But there were certain men of Cyprus and Cyrene who went to 
Antioch and there preached the Gospel not only to the Jews, but probably 
to the Gentiles also. Antioch was on the coast north of Caesarea, and so 
strong did the organization become there that tidings of its work came 
to Jerusalem, and the mother church sent Barnabas to Antioch to encour- 
age and establish the new organization. He, in process of time, went to 
Tarsus and brought Saul to Antioch, and they two were pastors of that 
church for one year. It was here that the disciples were first called 
Christians. 

27-30. — It is recorded at this point that on one occasion certain 
prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and that one of them, 
named Agabus, foretold a famine which was to be almost universal. It 
is also recorded that on the occasion of the famine the church at Antioch 
took the first missionary collection on record and sent it to their brethren 
in the church at Jerusalem. The collection was carried by the pastors, 
Barnabas and Saul. 

Ch. 12:1-19. — Herod, the old fox about whom Jesus had spoken, now 
rises as an enemy of the Christian church. What particular thing roused 
his wrath we are not informed, but he thinks to stay the progress of the 
church by killing and imprisonment. He was evidently trying to please 
the Jews, and on their festal occasion had Peter put in prison, guarded 
by soldiers, and was to bring him forth to be the target of Jewish 
indignity after the feast. But he had not reckoned on divine interference 
with his well laid plans. It was highly necessary that the great apostle 
of Christianity should continue his work. Bolts, bars and soldier guards 
availed nothing against the divine messenger. Peter's chains fell off. 
The prison doors swung open and he walked out into the night behind his 
mysterious benefactor. When they were well away from the prison the 
angel departed and Peter was left to pursue his own course. He went 
to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. At that very place 
and time a prayer meeting was in progress, and at his knock the maid, 
Ehoda, answered, but as soon as she recognized Peter's voice lost her 
presence of mind and ran back to the crowd without waiting to let him in. 
Those praying Christians also thought that she had lost her mind when 
she declared that Peter was at the gate, but her reiteration of the truth 
of the matter and Peter's continuous knocking brought them to their 
senses, and they opened to him, paralyzed with astonishment as he told 
the story of his deliverance. After instructing them to tell James and' 



ACTS. 887 

the brethren he departs, probably without telling them where he was 
going, that he might hide from the authorities, who would soon be astir. 
When daylight came there was consternation at the prison. Two sleeping 
soldiers awakened and felt for their prisoner. They sat up and stared. 
They examined his discarded shackles and looked aghast. They carried 
the news to the guard without and horrified them. The authorities sent 
for Peter and the guards could make no excuse. There was no alternative 
for them. Death was the only penalty, i^fter this Herod went from 
Judea to Caesarea, the Eoman capital of the province. 

20-23. — To this miserable man punishment came swift and sure. He 
had been in antagonism with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and for the 
reason that they were dependent upon the king, they had confessed and 
made overtures for peace. This victory gratified the king, and their 
flattery roused his vanity until he was willing to accept from them the 
worship due to God, and immediately he was smitten and died miserably 
for his sacrilege. 

24-13-3. — Here it is recorded that after Barnabas and Saul had 
carried the collection to Jerusalem they performed their errand there 
and returned to Antioch, taking with them John Mark. There were at 
Antioch a great company of prophets and teachers, and in their worship 
it was revealed to them that they should set apart Barnabas and Saul for 
missionary work, so they laid their hands upon them, fasting and praying, 
and sent them away. 

4-12. — Here begins Paul's first missionary journey. They go to the 
sea coast, Seleucia, a little way from Antioch. From there they go to 
the isle of Cyprus and at Salamis, in the east end of the island, they 
preached in the synagogue. They go through the island, and when they 
come to Paphos in the west end they met the pro-consul of the island, 
Sergius Paulus, a man of much intelligence. At his request Paul and 
Barnabas preached to him, and Bar-jesus, a trickster, who was with the 
pro-consul, withstood them and contended against the teachings of the 
apostles. Here occurs the first miracle recorded at the hands of Saul. 
By his speech he scourges mercilessly this fraud, and then calls down upon 
him a season of blindness, all of which strengthened the purpose of the 
pro-consul to accept the faith. 

13. — Paul and his companion leave the island and sail north, striking 
the main land at Perga. Here John Mark leaves them and returns to 
Jerusalem. This simple statement without comment is vastly important, 
for later we learn that because of it Paul and Barnabas had a most severe 
disagreement, and it was years apparently before Saul again became 



888 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

reconciled to Mark, whom he considered on this occasion to be very 
blamable for not continuing with them on the journey. 

14-41. — From Perga the company went north to Antioch in Pisidia. 
They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and were invited by the 
ruler to speak. Paul began his sermon by rehearsing the history of the 
Exodus and of the judges, telling the stoy of the anointing of a king over 
the tribes and mentioning the character of David, from whom had 
descended Israel's Savior, Jesus the Christ. He refers to John's testi- 
mony concerning the Messiahship of Jesus, and declares that he brought 
salvation specially to this chosen people, but declares that the rulers of the 
Jews, because they were out of touch with the spirit of the prophets, had 
diabolically compassed the death of Jesus, and, after crucifying him, had 
put his body in the tomb. But Paul emphasizes the fact that God raised 
Jesus from the dead; that he had been seen after his resurrection, and 
that he and his followers were witnesses of the glad truth that God, in 
raising him from the dead, had fulfilled the promises made to the fathers. 
He quotes history to prove that these statements of the prophets could 
not have reference to David, but did refer to the Christ, who was resur- 
rected and saw no corruption. Through this one, he concludes, is 
preached that remission of sin, which the law of Moses could not accom- 
plish. And finally he concludes by exhorting them to beware, lest in 
their unwillingness to believe, they unconsciously fulfill the declaration 
of the prophets concerning the destruction of such as are unwilling to 
hear and heed the life-giving message. 

42, 43. — After the company dispersed many requests were made that 
the sermon might be repeated the next Sabbath. It is further noted 
that many Jews and devout converts to Judaism embraced this new 
faith. The apostles exhorted them to continuance and steadfastness. 

44-52. — Next Sabbath almost the whole city was present apparently, 
and so marked was the success of the apostles that the Jewish leaders 
became at once jealous and began violently to oppose the progress of the 
truth among the people. This led the apostles to say, "We brought the 
truth first to you, but when you thrust it away in this manner, we go with 
it to the Gentiles." This is the first instance in which we find Paul 
preaching to the Gentiles. They were delighted and received the word 
gladly. And so great was its progress among them that the Jews stirred 
up a conspiracy among the leaders of society for the persecution of the 
apostles ; at which they departed from Antioch to Iconium. 

Ch. 14:1-7. — At Iconium they went in the Jewish synagogue and so 
preached the word that many accepted it. But the unbelieving ones 



ACTS. 889 

stirred up the people against the apostles, and although they remained 
there through a long period, preaching and working miracles, the mul- 
titude was divided in their sentiments. Finally a great conspiracy was 
made to stone them, which, having learned, they fled away eastward to 
Lystra, Derbe, and the regions round about. 

8-20. — At Lystra Paul healed a man who had been a cripple from 
birth. So public and wonderful was this miracle that the inhabitants at 
once believed the apostles to be gods. The picture that is here given is 
worthy of special notice for the rapidity with which the scene passes from 
the ridiculous to the tragic. In this moment they are about to worship 
the apostles. The speech with which they were restrained is a sermon 
in itself. In it they embody (1) the character of the messengers, (2) 
character of the message, (3) character of earthly ambitions, (4) nature 
of the God whom we worship, and his character displayed in dealing with 
his creatures. Although the people were restrained from worshiping the 
apostles, they must have felt for them great admiration. But the pathetic 
part appears in that when those enemies came over from Antioch and 
Iconium they as easily persuaded this multitude to stone Paul and drag 
him out of the city for dead. However, he revived, and the next day 
went with Barnabas to Derbe. 

21-28. — So far as we can see, the preaching at Derbe was without 
special incident except that many disciples were made, and they retraced 
their steps to the starting point in the reverse order of their coming. 
Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch (in Pisidia), Perga, Attalia, and from 
that point sailed to- Antioch, their starting place, leaving Cyprus to their 
right. Here they gathered the church and rehearsed the events of their 
journey, telling especially how the Lord had opened the door of the 
church to the Gentiles. 

Ch. 15:1-21. — At this point rises a controversy which threatened to 
disrupt the new church. Certain Jewish disciples contended that the 
Mosaic rite of circumcision was a condition of the Christian faith. Paul 
and Barnabas contended that it was not, and after much discussion it 
was concluded to send a delegation to Jerusalem and have the matter 
settled. Paul and Barnabas were on this committee. Elsewhere he tells 
us that on this occasion he went up to Jerusalem by revelation, the 
thought being, no doubt, that he himself, by revelation, had suggested 
the method of procedure, and that it had been officially confirmed by the 
church. On the way to Jerusalem they preached the Gospel, announcing 
the reception of the Gentiles, causing great interest and great joy. Upon 
the relation at Jerusalem of their experience certain pharisees imme- 



890 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

diately took the ground that circumcision was a necessity, and that the 
law of Moses must be kept by the Christians. Of course the apostles 
announced that they had come up here to have that very matter officially 
settled. When the council was gathered and they had discussed the 
question at considerable length, Peter rehearsed his experience with the 
household of Cornelius, in which he showed that God had demonstrated 
circumcision to be uncalled for as-a religious ceremony among the Gentiles. 
Then the council listened to the official rehearsal of Paul and Barnabas 
as to their work among the Gentiles, after which James, who was the 
president of the council, made up its official decision, in which by both 
history and prophecy he logically concludes circumcision is not necessary, 
but four things only were required of them : Abstinance from ( 1 ) idols. 
(2) fornication, (3) things strangled, (4) from blood. 

22-29. — The parent church thought best to select men from their 
company and send them with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch, no doubt 
that when the decision was announced it should be known by the 
opposition to be authentic. Judas and Silas were sent. 

30-35. — When they came to Antioch the church was gathered together 
and the decision read. Judas and Silas being preachers, continued some 
time with the church, and after a while returned to their place. Paul 
and Barnabas continued their pastoral relations with the church at 
Antioch. 

36-39. — We have no data as to how long a time intervened between the 
first and second missionary journey of Paul. But who can say which was 
right in this controversy? Perhaps both — each from his standpoint, or 
maybe both were in a measure wrong. But Barnabas, the noble Levite, 
who had more perhaps than any other one helped Paul into prominence 
in the Christian work, wanted to take his nephew, Mark, along with him, 
possibly for Mark's own good as well as for other reasons. The Gospel 
written by Mark shows him to have been a valuable man, and even if he 
was to be blamed for his former turning back, Barnabas here thinks 
best to forgive and try him again. This incident shows how the l)est 
of men may disagree. 

40-16-5. — But Luke in writing this account follows the fortune of the 
great apostle to the Gentiles. Barnabas started over the old tour in 
the same order in which they had formerly proceeded. Paul chooses Silas, 
one of the messengers who had carried the circumcision decision from 
Jerusalem. If he returned to Jerusalem after his sojourn at Antioch 
on that occasion, he had come again to Antioch, on what occasion we are 
not told; but possibly Paul had sent for him on disagreeing with 



ACTS. 891 

Barnabas. These two go overland and strike the old tour at its farthest 
extremity. At Lustra, Timothy was found, and seeming to Paul to be 
a promising companion in travel, he was joined to the company. The 
circumcising of him was simply that the Jews might have no chance to 
find fault or make trouble with one of the preachers, knowing as Paul did 
that no principle was involved in the act, seeing that Timothy by birth 
was a Jew on the mother's side. So he would have Timothy able to say, 
as Paul himself could say, "I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews," and from 
that as a beginning might declare the purpose of God to all humanity 
as unfolded in the salvation plan wrought out in the Hebrew Messiah. 
And foreseeing the battle he would have to fight, Paul was diligent to 
publish the decree regarding the matter of circumcision, as published by 
the council at Jerusalem. This would come easy to Paul, as he had 
with him one of the messengers originally qualified to deliver that decree. 

6-10. — Paul did not visit all the points which he made in his first 
journey, but continued through Asia Minor in a northwesterly direction 
until he came down to Troas on the Hellespont, which separates Europe 
from Asia. It is neither impossible nor unlikely that this vision grew in 
a large measure out of Paul's desire to carry the Gospel into Europe. 
But for all that, the vision and its result was none the less from God. 
Macedonia is now a part of Turkey in Europe. 

11-15.— At that time Philippi was the chief city of that district in 
Macedonia. Lydia has the distinction of being the first convert to 
Christianity in Europe. And she took her entire household along with 
her. It seems likely that this woman was a proselyte to the Jewish faith, 
and probably her original home was in Asia Minor, as both her trade 
and the goods she sold seems to have been of Thyatira. Her entertain- 
ment of Paul and his company indicates that she was possessed of con- 
siderable means. 

16-18. — The damsel here mentioned was no doubt publicly making 
light of the work of Paul and his company — the same sort of boisterous 
diabolical taunt of which her kind are still guilty. There is no proof 
that her employers instigated her acts toward Paul, though it may have 
been so. Perhaps her own evil spirit prompted her meanness, but in an}'" 
event neither she nor her employers counted on her conversion to the 
cause she ridiculed. The language of verse 17 was probably the very 
language of Paul's company, which phrase she caught up as a taunt. We 
are not informed as to what became of her after she was clothed in her 
right mind. 

19-24. — But the loss of this girl to their fraudulent practice roused 



892 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

fury in her masters. They laid violent hands on Paul and Silas, and 
under a false accusation had them imprisoned. The fickle multitude 
babbled against them, and the authorities, despising them as Jews, had 
them scourged, possibly with a view of making them confess that with 
which they were charged. The jail of that day had a prison within a 
prison. The magistrates put them in the outer prison, and the jailer put 
them into the inner prison and fastened each of them in a wooden vise. 

25-34. — But the zeal of these servants of God could not be dampened. 
They prayed and sang amid their perplexity, and as if in mockery of 
human plans God turned their evil into famous triumph. The jailer 
brings them from the inner prison to the outer one, where he lived, and 
there within the prison these servants of God preached, and the jailer 
and all his house believed and busied themselves caring for these dis- 
tinguished wounded prisoners. The jailer and his family were baptized 
within his own house, and were entertained at the table of the jailer. 

35-40. — In the morning the authorities, probably knowing nothing of 
what had happened, sent the jailer word to dismiss the men, for they 
knew that there was no reasonable case against them. The answer that 
Paul sent back to them filled them with consternation. They had not 
suspicioned that Paul was a Eoman citizen, and they knew that they 
were liable to prosecution for their undue haste. They came with great 
humility, begging pardon, and took Paul and his company out of the 
prison into which they had thrust them. It is likely that they feared 
further trouble from the soothsayers' sympathizers in case Paul preached 
any longer in town, and so they asked him to go from the city to avoid 
further difficulty, which Paul no doubt promised to do after he had visited 
the converts. 

Ch. 17:1-9. — At Thessalonica converts were made to Christianity in 
the Jewish synagogue. The Jewish Scriptures were used to prove that the 
sufferings of the Christ, far from proving him an impostor, were in fact - 
the strongest proof of his divinity, seeing that the writers of old foretold . 
that the Christ would be so treated, and it was most natural that it should 
be so under the circumstances. Some converts were made, but, as usual, 
the unbelieving Jews raised a rabble and stormed the house where the 
company stopped, and took their host before the authorities, who took 
security of Jason aud turned him loose. 

10-13. — It was thought best to send away Paul and Silas to avoid 
trouble with this wretched lot, who would descend to such base practices 
to gain their end. When they came to Berea they found a class of people 
honest enough to investigate for themselves as to the Scriptural warrant 



ACTS. 893 

for believing in Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ. The result was that 
they concluded from a candid investigation of the Old Testament 
Scriptures that Paul and his company were right. The depravity of the 
Thessalonians was shown in that they followed up these Christian workers 
to Berea in order to make trouble for them there also. 

14-34. — To avoid any further clash Paul was sent to a remote distance. 
When he came to Athens he at once saw in the place large possibilities, 
for it was a cosmopolitan center. Having sent back word for Silas and 
Timothy to follow, he employed the time while he waited in looking 
about the city and examining into the religious conditions. He reasoned 
in the synagogue with the Jews, and in the public places with such 
persons as he could find. Those who prided themselves on their 
philosophical knowledge appeared to have profound contempt for Paul 
and his strange doctrine. But their curiosity got the best of them, and 
they brought Paul to Mars Hill, where he could conveniently address 
the multitude, and asked him to set forth his new and strange doctrine 
so that they might know what he meant. In his sermon the word 
"superstitious" should be rendered "religious/' the idea in Paul's mind 
being, that since I find altars to every known God, I conclude that you 
are very religious. But I find one altar reared to a God whom you own 
that you do not kuow. Him I preach to you now. He is the Creator. 
He dwells in immensity. He is the source of life, and he brought all 
nations from one common stock and made the laws of their growth and 
habitation, and has ordered all in such a way that the disposition of 
humanity is to seek to know God, who is much nearer to us than we 
conceive, seeing that he is the author of our being. Even your poets have 
said that we are the offspring of the gods, and taking that view, it is most 
absurd to suppose that God is like these lifeless images which I see all 
about your city. In times past God bore with such concepts as that, but 
now he commands repentance, because he has declared that in future he 
will judge the unrepentant world by this Savior (the Christ), who by 
most unimpeachable evidence has been slain and raised from the dead. 
The effect of this sermon was mockery on the part of some who did not 
believe in a resurrection, but some who wanted excuse to put off their 
convictions said, "We will hear you again," while others believed and 
attached themselves to the company. 

Ch. 18:1-17.— From Athens Paul went to Corinth. It is likely that 
under his ministry Aquila and his wife became Christians. Paul made 
their home his headquarters, and worked at their trade to support himself 
while he preached each Sabbath in the Jewish synagogue. It seems from 



894 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

this theme that Silas and Timothy did not catch up with Paul until they 
came to Corinth. There can be little doubt that their coming brought 
great encouragement to Paul, who must have felt like a stranger in a 
strange land. When he waxed bold in declaring Jesus to be the Christ, 
they as boldly opposed and blasphemed. He gave them the usual Jewish 
sign of clearing his skirts of their blood, and declared that he would go 
to the Gentiles. Perhaps his reason for leaving the house of Aquila, if 
he did, was that he might, in sight of the Jews and near the synagogue, 
join himself publicly to the Gentiles. It is not improbable that Titus 
was a Jewish proselyte, and Paul made his house a preaching place. 
Many converts were made, among them the ruler of the synagogue. The 
vision of Paul confirms the belief that he was having a lonely time in 
Corinth, and often feared for his personal safety. Finally his enemies 
did make a great conspiracy against him, and had him arrested. Gallio 
had sense enough to see the folly of their charge, and so readily did he 
dismiss the case that it reacted on the leader of the prosecution, and the 
mob gave him a public beating for his pains. 

18-22. — After some time Paul sailed from Corinth with Aquila and 
his wife and landed at Ephesus. Here he left them, and after preaching 
in the synagogue he sailed from Ephesus and landed at Csesarea, from 
which place it is believed he went to Jerusalem to fulfill a vow, and then 
went to Antioch, thus completing his second missionary tour. 

23. — After remaining some time at Antioch, Paul started on his third 
journey, going through Galatia and Phrygia. 

24-28. — Meanwhile Apollos had come to Ephesus. It must be noticed 
here that he did not know that Jesus had come and perfected the plan 
of salvation. He knew only what John had said of him. So far as he 
knew the facts he was irresistible. As soon as Aquila and his wife heard 
him they understood that he lacked the good tidings which Paul had 
brought to them, viz., that Jesus was the Christ, and that he had died and 
risen and ascended into heaven, and so redeemed humanity and delivered 
believers from sin. They made known to Apollos the facts, and shortly, 
when he went across the sea into Greece, they recommended him to the 
Christians over there, and Apollos with his superior Scripture knowledge 
was able to paralyze his opponents in argument. 

Ch. 19 :l-7. — But he had left behind him in Ephesus about a dozen 
disciples whom he had converted to John's baptism of repentance before 
he came in contact with Aquila and wife, and for some reason he did 
not afterward instruct them, probably because he immediately left for 
Greece. He would no doubt have prudential reasons for going imme- 



ACTS. 895 

diately. Paul found these men, and seeing at once something which 
led him to believe them strangers to the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, 
he said to them, "Received ye not the Holy Ghost, having believed ?" 
When they said not, and explained that they knew only John's baptism, 
Paul immediately perceived the situation, and instructed them in the 
religion of Jesus and had them christened. Then, that he might make 
clear the dispensation of the Holy Ghost of which he had been speaking, 
he gave a manifestation like Pentecost for their special benefit. 

8-41. — According to his custom, Paul went first to the Jews. The 
synagogue being the Jewish place of worship, that was the natural place 
to find them. But their hard-hearted and public opposition led Paul to 
take his disciples out of the range of their influence, and so for two years 
he was in the school of Tyrannus, in which time his fame and influence 
spread far and near. The miracles which Paul performed were a con- 
firmation of the power of the Gospel to the people of that age, to whom 
marvelous display stood for demonstration. As evidence of how this 
special feature took hold on the people we are here told how the sons of 
Sceva tried to imitate this part of the work. The result was so disastrous 
that all learned by their sorry experience not to deal lightly with sacred 
things. Naturally growing out of this came the destruction of their 
books by those who had been practising deception on the people under the 
name of the miraculous. The vast amount of such books that was 
destroyed was an index of the growth of the Gospel. Paul now, having 
determined to tour over the former ground through Macedonia and 
Greece, sent two of his co-laborers ahead of him into Macedonia. After 
they had gone occurs this incident of Demetrius. The old idol-monger 
was stirred up because his business was being made to suffer by Paul's 
success — a great compliment to the apostle's preaching. Having appealed 
to his fellow workmen on this most susceptible point, he easily raised 
a senseless mob. Their rage was very pronounced, but they did not know 
just what course to let it take. It is a matter of conjecture as to just why 
the Jews were trying to have Alexander speak — whether they wanted to 
clear themselves of blame (Paul and his co-workers being Jews), or 
whether they wanted the occasion to denounce Christianity, is a question. 
But the multitude of idolaters resented the attempt of an enemy of 
idolatry speaking, and drowned him out with their religious war cry. 
The speech of the town clerk shows that even in that day and in that 
sort of society there were cool heads and sound judgments, and the 
authority which he possessed made his voice to have a soothing effect on 
their wild passions. He taught them the observance of law as opposed 



896 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

to mob rule, and showed that Demetrius had no right to raise any 
disturbance outside of the properly constituted legal channels, and 
further, that the members of this mob had laid themselves liable to arrest 
and punishment for this wild demonstration. 

Ch. 20:1-6. — Paul now thinks it best for him to begin his proposed 
trip. Leaving Ephesus he goes over the ground covered in his second 
tour, visiting the old scenes and exhorting the Christians to continue in 
their most holy faith and activity. When he came to Greece and had 
spent three months there he was about to sail home to Syria, when he 
discovered a plot to kill him, so he retraces his steps northward over the 
route by which he had come. When he came to Philippi he sailed to 
Troas, where seven of the brethren were waiting for him. Here he 
remained a week. 

7-12. — On Sabbath while the Christian company was gathered together 
listening to the discourse of Paul, the young man fell from the window 
of the third story where they were gathered, for Paul had preached till 
midnight. When picked up he seemed to be dead. Paul immediately 
concerned himself with the case, and all were greatly comforted to find 
that he was only stunned, and not dead. After this accident the company 
ate, and Paul continued his discourse until daybreak. 

Verses 13-16 mark out the course over which Paul sailed. These points 
mentioned may be readily found on the maps of Asia Minor, at its western 
extremity. 

17-38. — At Miletus, which is not far from Ephesus, Paul sent for the 
Ephesian elders to meet him at Miletus. In his address to them he first 
recalls the humility, sorrow, trials and dangers under which he had 
boldly preached and taught to them repentance and faith in Christ. He 
believes from what he hears in the various cities that a great conspiracy 
is forming against his life. But he proposes to face it boldly and go on 
with his duties, even though he believes he will never see them again. He 
specially counsels the elders to care for the church, and warns them 
against despoilers from without and false teachers from within. He 
commends them to God, and charges them to remember that Paul in his 
ministry among them had supported himself while he did the work of a 
pastor. (It was there that he had worked with Aquila.) Thus he had 
taught them how to help those who need help, and so to imitate Christ, 
who denied himself for the sake of others. Finally he prayed with them, 
and they had a most sorrowful parting. 

Ch. 21 :l-3. — On leaving the Ephesian elders at Miletus, Paul sailed 
by Cos and Rhodes to Patara. Here he changed to a vessel going direct 



ACTS. 897 

to Tyre. So far as the record shows this was as near as Paul came to 
Antioch, from which he started, so that when he landed on the coast 
of Syria he had virtually completed his third missionary tour. 

4-6. — At Tyre the disciples warned Paul against going to Jerusalem. 
No doubt there were rumors everywhere of the great conspiracy which 
was forming against him. He had signalized himself among his country- 
men as a chief prosecutor of the Christians, and now that he had become 
a chief of the apostles the partisan Jews hated him inexpressibly. This 
company and prayer meeting on the beach showed how Paul was esteemed 
by the disciples of Jesus. 

7-14. — After the ship had unloaded her cargo at Tyre, Paul went aboard 
again and sailed to Ptolemais, which was probably as near to Jerusalem 
as he could get by water on this ship, and it is thought that Paul and his 
company went overland to Csesarea. Here while in the house of Philip, 
Agabus, who had come down from Jerusalem, tied his own hands and feet 
with Paul's girdle to emphasize his prophecy that the Jews would cause 
the arrest of Paul at Jerusalem. Upon this the company pleaded with 
Paul not to go, but he reproached them for discouraging him, and so 
they ceased. He was willing and even anxious to show his devotion to 
the Master, whose disciples he had once so pitilessly persecuted. 

15-17. — From this point they went up to Jerusalem. There were in 
the company not only Paul's traveling companions, but certain disciples 
of Caesarea and an early disciple of Cyprus, who was to provide lodging 
for the company through the festival season, seeing that he had appar- 
ently settled at Jerusalem. 

18-23-22. — James was pastor at Jerusalem. This was of course the 
mother church, and there Paul and his company first went, and recited in 
detail the things which he had wrought among the Gentiles. The decision 
which had been rendered there on the circumcision question was fresh in 
their minds, and they could not suggest circumcision for the Gentile 
converts; but the authorities of the Jerusalem church advised Paul to 
publicly observe a Jewish rite with four other men, and pay the charges 
for all, so that the Jewish Christians might attach no importance to the 
rumor that Paul was teaching men to forsake Judaism. The character 
of this vow will be explained in Num. 6. While Paul was doing as they 
had suggested, the Asiatic Jews who had come to the feast of Pentecost 
saw him in the temple, and gathering a mob, laid violent hands on him 
and raised an uproar. They jumped at the conclusion that he had 
brought into the temple Trophimus, the Ephesian, which was not true. 
Paul was dragged from the temple and the doors were shut, and the 



W8 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

whole city was in anarchy. Fortunately, before they could carry out 
their intentions to kill him the Eoman commander of the city heard of 
the confusion and took soldiers and rescued him from the mob. The 
brutal beating of Paul by these Jews and the persistent rage with which 
they followed him after he was in the hands of the authorities shows what 
wretched murderers they were at heart. As Paul was about to be put 
into the castle he asked of the Eoman commander the privilege of 
speaking to the people. When he learned that Paul was ^ Jew of Tarsus 
he gave him leave. In his defense to the Jews Paul first relates history 
with which they are all familiar, and the tongue in which he spoke being 
their sacred tongue they were at the first quieted. Not only did he refer 
to the former prosecution of the Christians, but he cites the witness of 
ihe high priest that he received from him letters of authority to do so. 
The story of his conversion has already been related in chapter 9. As 
to verse 9 here in chapter 22, and verse 7 there, it is clear that they heard 
the sound, but could not distinguish the words as Saul did. His story of 
God's message to him in the temple is not elsewhere related, but it records 
an event which took place on the occasion when, having been converted, 
Paul tried to join himself to the disciples, and found them all distrustful 
of him. When Jesus in that vision told Paul to depart from Jerusalem, 
because they would not receive his testimony, he tried to argue the case 
by referring to his former attitude and contending that they must of 
necessity know that a powerful change had taken place, but he said to 
Paul, "I will send you to the Gentiles." When Paul uttered this sentence 
the rage of the mob surged like billows on the shore of the sea, and as 
they threw off their garments and cast dust into the air the chief captain, 
who had not understood the speech, not being familiar with the language, 
thought there must be some reason why the people were so against him, 
and commanded him to be taken to the castle and flogged in order to 
extort from him a confession. After they had tied him ready for the 
whipping, Paul said to the centurion who was put in charge of that 
task, "Is it lawful to scourge a Eoman, uncondemned ?" That question 
was like fire in a haystack. The centurion trembled. He carried word 
to the chief captain, and he trembled and came in haste to Paul to learn 
the truth of the statement. When assured of it he immediately gave 
orders to omit the scourging. Next day, desiring to know the truth about 
the matter, he took Paul before the Jewish council. That was the 
highest authority in the Jewish church, and he thought if the truth could 
be discovered they would discover it, and there was great danger in 
punishing one who was a Eoman citizen without first legally condemning 



ACTS. 899 

him. When Paul declared that he had acted to the best of his light up 
to that time the high priest commanded some one to strike him on the 
mouth. FauPs answer to him was a crushing one, and what followed 
showed that Paul when he spoke did not know the identity of the person 
from whom the voice proceeded. Paul showed skillful diplomacy in 
handling that assembly when he set them to fighting among themselves 
on the question of the resurrection, and of course they did not agree on 
any accusation against Paul. But so great was the fury manifested that 
the chief captain took Paul from their midst and put him in the castle 
for safety. That night the Lord cheered this distinguished prisoner, and 
told him he should testify of him at Rome. At daybreak a great con- 
spiracy was made against Paul by more than forty men. The plan wa 3 
neatly laid, but they did not calculate on what followed, and so they must 
have become very hungry before they carried out their plans. Paul's 
nephew, mingling with the throng unknown, heard of these plans, and 
informed Paul, and Paul sent him to the chief captain with the news. 

23-35. — The chief captain kept his information secret, but acted 
promptly. He made up a military guard of four hundred and seventy 
men, and sent away Paul that night to Governor Felix, at Csesarea, down 
on the coast, which was the chief Roman city of the province. In his 
letter to Felix the chief captain (Claudius Lysias) made a clear statement 
of the case. When the letter was delivered and Paul presented to the 
governor, after a few questions Felix set his case to be heard when Paul's 
accusers came down. Meanwhile Paul was kept in Herod's palace. 

Ch. 24:1-23. — Five days later the high priest and his delegation came 
down. Their orator, Turtullus, began with a flattering speech to Felix, 
and when he came to the case of Paul he formulated four base lies against 
him in a single sentence. Paul was allowed to make answer, and with a 
manly and sweeping denial of these charges and a challenge to his 
accusers to prove them, he passes on to state his faith in God and the 
law and the prophets, and his belief that the prophets as well as himself 
looked for a resurrection both of the good and evil. Then he stated the 
facts regarding his work at the temple when arrested, showed that those 
who laid hands on him were not present to make accusation, and that 
these who were present could not show before the council any fault in 
him except that they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. (For 
the high priest and his party were Sadducees.) Felix put off his decision 
until Lysias should come down, and meanwhile kept Paul there, hut 
allowed him all the liberty possible with his retention. 

24-27. — We are not told when Lysias came, or whether or not he ever 



900 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

came, but his Jewish enemies evidently gave up their prosecution of the 
case as a bad job. Felix wanted to be bribed, and so did not set Paul 
at liberty, as he knew he ought to do, but first brought his wife to hear 
him and trembled under his preaching, yet he resisted the influence of 
the truth and put off his acceptation of it for the sake of gain. Again 
and again he had conference with Paul, and not gaining the reward he 
sought, he left an innocent man under the disrepute of a prisoner, to be 
dealt with by his successor. 

Ch. 25 :1-12. — When Festus took up the reins of government after 
Felix, the authorities of the Jews at once attempted to pledge him to 
send Paul to Jerusalem, so that he might be waylaid and murdered. It 
is probable from his answer that he had been informed of the true nature 
of the case, so that he refused their request, but gave them opportunity 
to legally appear before him at Cassarea. Immediately after his return 
there he had Paul brought to him, and the Jews who accused him were 
heaping up great charges out of their own imaginations. The history 
of these charges would make interesting reading in the study of depravity. 
Paul swept the whole case in a breath by totally denying any offense 
against the law of the Jews, against the temple or against Eoman 
authority. But the miserable Festus in his effort to curry favor with the 
Jews, though he knew Paul to be innocent, asked if he would go to 
Jerusalem to be tried. Paul's answer to that, and the appeal which he 
made to Caesar was language worthy of a man. He positively refused 
to be put under their hands.- There was but one answer for Festus to 
make. He was obliged to send Paul to Caesar. 

13-22. — Before Paul was sent to Eome, Agrippa, the new king of the 
territory, arrived, and on being informed of Paul's case, expressed a 
desire to hear him, which was readily and immediately granted. His 
statement of the case to the king shows that he knew far better than he 
acted. How he managed to excuse his course with Paul before the king 
is not clear. 

23-27. — The speech which he made on bringing Paul before Agrippa 
would also rise to condemn him in future. He evidently knew that there 
was no charge of worth against Paul, and so he ought to have set him 
free. This incident is itself a good index of how men will in future 
jn rlge themselves when they make a pretense of justice while they are 
consciously guilty of abusing justice. 

Ch. 26:1-32. — In Paul's defense before Agrippa he intimates that the 
king had some repute as to knowledge of Jewish customs.- He reviews 
his former history and shows that he is ; being judged and persecuted for 



ACTS. 901 

his belief in the resurrection, and recites how that before he became a 
Christian he maltreated the members of that belief most horribly. He 
then tells the circumstances of his conversion, and how at that time he 
had been commanded to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations, 
showing that for his carrying out of these orders he was violently assaulted 
by the Jews, although he preached nothing but what was in perfect accord 
with the Jewish Scriptures. So eloquent did he become over his subject 
that Festus charged him with being unbalanced by his close application 
to study, but he denies that, and asserts his perfect soberness and sound- 
ness of mind. He cites the fact that all these things have been done 
openly, and appeals to Agrippa to declare his belief in the prophets. 
Attention is called here to the revised rendering of Agrippa's answer. We 
may read between the lines that he was greatly impressed with Paul's 
speech, and saw that to acknowledge faith in the prophets would lead 
him inevitably to Paul's conclusion, hence he says in substance, "You 
want to make me a Christian on short notice," and Paul answers, I would 
that whether on short or long notice, you might be a Christian just as I 
am, but not a prisoner. After conferring with his advisers, Agrippa 
declared that had Paul not appealed to the emperor .he might now have 
his liberty. 

Ch. 27:1-28-15. — But the appeal had been made. When a ship left 
Caesarea which was to touch at certain points of Asia Minor, Paul and 
certain other prisoners were put aboard to be transferred to some ship 
going to Borne. This history indicates that a company of Christians 
accompanied Paul on this journey. The points here named should be 
traced by the student on the map. The journey was begun in the fall 
season, and winter set in with its storms before they had completed half 
the trip. Paul advised the owner and commander of the ship to winter 
at Fair Haven in the isle of Crete, but they attempted to make another 
harbor, and were driven west and shipwrecked on' the island of Malta, 
south of Sicily. In the midst of the terrible tempest in which they were 
driven, Paul, whose advice they seem to have valued, virtually rose from 
the position of a prisoner to that of commander of the ship. He reminds 
those in charge of the ship of what they were suffering for not heeding 
his advice, tells them what assurance God had given him concerning all 
those in the ship, and that they are to be cast on a certain island, losing 
the ship and only escaping with their lives. After two weeks of driving 
by the tempest they were driven onto the island of Malta, and by the 
vigilance of Paul the sailors were k°pt from deserting, and then under 
his encouragement and example the two hundred and seventy-six souls 



902 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

on board for the first time in two weeks sat down to eat. Paul's calmness 
and thanksgiving to God at such a time as that inspired hope in all the 
others. At daybreak they attempted to run the ship into a harbor, but 
ran aground and the beating of the waves began to break up the vessel. 
When the soldiers suggested killing the prisoners to prevent their escaping 
the commanding officer, on Paul's account, objected, and allowed all who 
could swim to get to shore, and helped the others on planks. Twice now 
the prisoners owed their lives to Paul, and once all* the people on the vessel 
were saved by Paul's vigilance. The story of this adventure with the viper 
shows that Paul was active in hurrying the arrangements for the comfort 
of the company. The torpid viper, chased out of its hiding by the heat, 
was most likely in no biting mood, but the effect of the incident on the 
beholders was about the same as if it had been. When the viper failed to 
kill Paul they changed their mind in toto, and concluded from his com- 
manding presence and wisdom that he was more than man. Paul's 
miracle of healing the father of Publius heightened the estimate of the 
whole compairy and the island concerning him, and the people of the 
island hurried to him all their sick, and for his sake took good care of the 
ship's company and gave them many gifts when they again embarked. 
That centurion learned that he had in Paul no common prisoner. Three 
months later they sailed from the island and thence up the coast of Italy, 
disembarking at Puteoli, and making a week's stay with brethren, thence 
by land to Rome, from which place the brethren, hearing of his coming, 
sent a delegation to meet him on the way. This act of appreciation 
greatly encouraged Paul. 

16-31. — The fame of the apostle had become great on this trip. All 
his fellow passengers and his commanders and the people with whom he 
had come in touch knew of his works, and when he entered Rome he was 
practically allowed to do as he pleased, they observing the formality of 
keeping a soldier with him under the name of a guard. Paul's first act 
was to call together the leaders of Israel and relate to them his story, and 
when they said they had heard nothing concerning him and desired to 
hear his preaching, a time was set and the Jews came in great numbers 
to his lodging place and listened to his preaching. The Jews, as usual, 
disagreed over the matter, and Paul cited them to Isaiah's prophecy 
concerning the stubbornness of the chosen people, and declared that he 
would turn to the Gentiles, who would hear and heed. For two years 
Paul lived in a rented house at Rome and preached to all who came to him. 



ROMANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Eomans was written by Paul, in Greek, at Corinth, about A. D. 59, and 
sent to Rome with Phcebe. It is uncertain when or by whom the Christian 
church was established in Eome. Possibly many Roman Jews had heard 
Jesus in Jerusalem, and very likely in the first persecutions of the church 
at Jerusalem some Christian Jews took refuge at Rome. It is unknown, 
however, by whom they were organized. 

The letter indicates that, in the first place, Paul meant to make clear 
the fact that all Christians must be justified by faith, a doctrine which 
some Jewish Christians were evidently opposing. 

The letter is well calculated to win to the truth those Jewish Christians 
who were not inclined to own the Gentiles as equals; also to put love in 
the heart of the enlightened Gentile convert who treated with scornful 
contempt the Jewish prejudice. The writer further names some of the 
duties and privileges of Christians, and discusses Christian principles 
in general. 

This piece of writing might properly be called the Gospel as written 
by Paul. It is a clear, logical statement of the principles of salvation 
as embodied in Jesus, the Christ. If the reader will account himself 
unevangelized and imagine this letter coming to him as the first message 
of salvation he has ever heard, he will see how clearly it states the essence 
of the matter which is of transcendant importance to the whole human 
race. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. / 

1-17 Introduction. 

1 Paul's office. 

2 The Gospel foretold by the prophets. 
3-6 Burden of the Gospel. 

7 To whom this letter is written. 

8 Thanksgiving for remarkable faith. 
9-13 Desire to come to them, and why. 

14-17 Paul's duty to preach, and why. 
18-2-16 Sinfulness of the world. 



904 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

18, 19 God's anger with the truth opposers. 

20 Their opportunity to know God. 
21-23 Their unthankful conduct when they knew God. 
24-32 Result. 

24, 2>5 Uncleanness. 

26, 27 Vile passions. 

28-32 Reprobate mind. 

Chapter 2. 

1-5 Judging a fellow sinner is self-condemnation. 

1 The judge is also guilty. 

2 He knows the end of his guilt. 

3 He knows he cannot escape. 

4 He despises God's long suffering. 

5 He treasures wrath and revelation of right judg- 

ment. 
6-11 God will render to all according to works. 
7 Eternal life to the right doer. 
8, 9 Wrath and anguish to the sinner. 
10, 11 Impartially. 
12-16 The law in the judgment. 

12 Transgression and death without law. 
Sin and death under law. 

13 Only the doers of the law are justified. 
14, 15 The lesson of a Gentile doer of the law. 

16 Relation of Gospel to law. 
17-29 Sinfulness of the Jews. 

17-23 Their self-condemnation. 
24 Result. 

•25 When circumcision profits. 
26-29 The Gentile claim to sonship. 

Chapter 3. 
1-20 Jews and Gentiles compared. 
1, 2 The Jews had the law. 

3, 4 Jewish lack of faith does not nullify God's faithfulness. 
5, 6 To reward the evil-doer is righteous. 
7, 8 Evil doing not the proper method of spreading truth. 
9-20 The world without God and with the law. 
21-31 Theory of the plan of salvation. 
21-23 An imputed justification. 



ROMANS. 905 

24-26 Grace allows. Jesus Christ manifests. Faith applies. 
27-30 Faith gives all men an equal chance. 
31 Faith honors law. 

Chapter 4. 
1-25 Illustration of the plan. 

1-3 Abraham's justification. 
4-8 Grace defined. 
9-25 Its universality argued. 

9, 10 Abraham's faith preceded his circumcision. 
11, 12 Object of his circumcision. 
13-18 Who are made his heirs and why. 
19-22 Measure of Abraham's faith. 
23-25 Why the record. 

Chapter 5. 
1-21 Union with Christ. 
1 Peace. 
2-5 Joy. 

6-8 Reconciliation by death. 
9-11 Salvation by life. 
12-19 Superabundance of grace. 
12-15 The statement. 
16-19 The argument. 
20, 21 Why the law. 

Chapter 6. 
1-23 Servants of Christ. 
1-11 By purchase. 
12-14 Exhortation to serve him. 
15-19 Supremacy of the will (free moral agency). 
20-23 The two services contrasted. 

Chapter 7.- 
1-25 Defects of the law supplied. 

1-3 The common law of marriage. 
4-6 Its application to Christianity. 
7-11 Relation of law to sin. 
12-17 Sin's use of the law. 
18-24 Satan's rule of his dominion. 

25 Transfer of the dominion from Satan to God 



906 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 8. 
1-39 Christian duty and privilege. 
1-3 The law silenced. 

4 Against whom it is silenced. 
5-9 Why these only. 
10, 11 Relation of the body to the new condition. 
12-14 Subjection of the body to spirit service. 
15-17 The Christian's relation to God. 
18-25 The discipline of suffering. 
26, 27 Office of the spirit. 
28-39 Grounds of the Christian's confidence. 

Chapter 9. 

1-10-11 Cause for rejecting a part of Abraham's descendants. 
1-5 Paul's sorrow for the Israelites. 
6-8 God's plan not a failure. 
9-13 Its faith character not a warrant for Jewish prejudice. 
14-18 God's right to select. 
19-21 Jewish impudence. 

22-24 God's endurance of it for the faithfuls' sake. 
25-29 Whence are the faithful. 
25, 26 From the Gentiles. 
27-29 Also a fragment of Jews. 
30-33 Why the Jews failed of adoption. 

Chapter 10. 

1 Reason for Paul's anxiety for Israel. 
2-5 Their concept of justification. 
6-11 God's plan contrasted. 
12-11-36 Equality of Jew and Gentile. 
12, 13 To whom salvation is sent. 
14, 15 A messenger implied. 
16-21 How the Israelites received the message. 
16, 17 Want of faith. 
18-21 Its explanation. 
Chapter 11. 

1-6 Part of the Israelite nation had faith. 
1 An instance. 
2-4 An illustration. 
5, 6 A conclusion. 
7-10 Blunder of the Jews. 



ROMANS. 907 



11, 12 Its result (working its own correction). 
13-36 Address to the Gentiles. 

13, 14 Paul's use of his Gentile apostleship. 
15, 16 His motive. 

17-24 Warning against despising the Jews. 
25-32 The great blunder overruled of God. 
33-36 Paul's burst of admiration. 
Chapter 12. 

1-15-33 Christian principles discussed. 
1 Sanctification. 
,2 Transformation. 
3-21 Self-estimation. 
3 The rule. 
4, 5 The illustration. 
6-21 The application. 
Chapter 13. 

1-7 The Christian as a citizen. 
8-10 The Christian as a neighbor. 
11-14 The Christian's motive. 

Chapter 14. 

1-15-13 The Christian as a fellow being. 
1-12 Mutual forbearance. 
13-23 Solicitude for others. 
Chapter 15. 

1, 2 Duty of burden bearing. 
3-13 An example. 
14-24 Paul's claim to their reverence. 
25-29 Paul's promise to go to Eome. 
30-33 Paul's request for prayer. 
Chapter 16. 

-23 Personal references. 
24-2? Benediction. 



LESSOX NOTE-. 

€h. 1 :1-17. — In his introduction to the Romans, Paul speaks of himself 
as a servant, sent forth and set apart (consecrated) to the good tidings 
of God, which had been promised in the Old Testament, by the prophets, 
concerning Jesus, David's fleshly descendant, the spiritual Son of God, 
and the one by whom we received God's favor, and to these spiritual 



908 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

children at Eome sends salutation. He mentions the fact that they have 
a faith which is remarked about, far and near, and voices his desire to 
visit them that he may help them and be helped by them, declaring that, 
had he not been hindered, he would long ago have been with them, 
because he desired to preach to them also this Gospel, seeing it was the 
power of God to save every believer, Jew and Gentile; for it points out 
God's plan of justification by faith. 

18-2-16. — The importance of the subject which Paul here mentions is 
emphasized in the second topic. The world is sinful, and must therefore 
have a Savior. Therefore he declares God's anger manifested toward the 
trampers on the truth, because it is plain that they ought to know better. 
His power and Godhead are proven by every visible thing in creation 
since the world was made. And not only so, but at the times when the 
whole human f amity did know God (at Eden and after the flood) their 
proud minds asserted an independence of God with the result that, God 
being left out of their thoughts, they quickly demonstrated that instead 
of being wise, they were fools, and their concept of God dropped down 
the scale, first to the likeness of men, then birds, then four-footed beasts, 
finally creeping things. The result was that the human family became 
quickly like the gods they worshiped — unclean, and instead of honoring 
the mortal body as the temple of God's indwelling spirit, they abused and 
disfigured it in worship of their degraded deities. A still further step in 
that downward scale implicated both women and men in discarding the 
legitimate and holy marital relations instituted of God, and substituting 
beastly and unnatural gratification of their base passions. The third 
step must naturally follow. They liked to do these things, and knowing 
that the practices were opposed to God, in continuing them they simply 
cultivated the qualities mentioned in verses 29-31, and by so doing they 
obliged themselves not only to do these things for which they deserved 
death, but lionize the practices. Under these conditions every sinner 
who judges another is by that judgment condemning himself, since his 
own attitude toward God is practically the same as that of the other. 
And seeing he knows how to judge another, it is plain that he anticipates 
how God will deal with his guilt. His own declaration regarding the 
other is to the effect that he himself cannot escape. Such trampling on 
God's indulgence is laying up wrath for one's self, because God is sure 
to render justly to every individual according to verses 7-10. It is a fact 
commonly recognized that they who trespass regarding a law of which 
they are ignorant must endure the consequences, although they are not 
judged by the law, but that they who trespass against known law, in 



ROMANS. 909 

addition to enduring the consequences, are held strictly accountable to 
the law they have broken, for it is only the doer of the law that is 
justified, and so one who does as the law demands without knowing the 
law shows that that which the law was intended to work out is already 
incorporated in his nature, his conscience approving, and his judgment 
deciding as to the wisdom or folly of any act involved. Verse 16 reveals 
the fact that the standard in judgment will be the principle of the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ. 

17-29. — Paul has in the above argument established the fact that the 
world is under condemnation through sin. But because the Jew exempted 
himself from that general description, he turns at this point to show by 
the law delivered especially to the Jews that, measured b}^ it, the Jews 
are also included in the foregoing description. Thus he argues the 
sinfulness of the Jews by trying them exclusively by their own law. The 
question of verses 21-23 are declarations, put in the form of interrogation 
for emphasis. The result of the character they displayed was that the 
God of the Jews was blasphemed among the nations. Under such 
circumstances the physical rite of circumcision availed them nothing, for 
God accepted as his child the one who kept his law (Jew or Gentile), and 
circumcision, rightly interpreted, referred to the character and not to 
the flesh. 

Ch. 3:1-20. — The objector would naturally say that, according to this 
argument, the Jew had no advantage over the Gentile. Paul anticipates 
that objection, and claims that the Jew had many ulterior advantages, 
the chief one being the possession of the Scriptures. It is true that some 
of the Jews did not acquiesce in that arrangement which God had 
provided for them, but their obstinacy did not make God's provision any 
the less benign nor God any the less faithful in carrying it out. And that 
remark called out this additional: It will be an act of justice on the 
part of God to visit wrath upon those who thus contrast their injustice 
with the justice of God. But he warns them here against the fatal error 
of the Antinomian who contended that degradation of character was the 
proper method of glorifying God, since it magnified his goodness by 
contrast. The claim by some that Paul taught that doctrine is here 
expressly repudiated and condemned. And so Paul sums up by quotation 
from the law that the Jew, as well as all the rest of the world, is under 
the condemnation of God's law, and that therefore no one can be justified 
by it. 

21-31. — This brings the writer to the great theme of his book. There 
is a plan provided from God by which the human family may be justified 



910 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

apart from the justification of law, and this plan is the one foretold both 
by the law and the prophets. This justification is by faith, which God's 
mind conceived and his favor permitted, and which he incarnated in 
Jesus Christ as the person by whom he was to carry it into execution, and 
made it applicable to everyone who has faith. By that method all men 
are put upon an equal footing and given an opportunity of justification 
regardless of nationality or previous conduct. Neither does this plan 
dishonor or strip the majesty from law, for if the majesty of law demands 
that omniscience lay out a way to preserve it and still justify the believer, 
then the very making of such a plan is a standing testimony to omnipotent 
regard of law. 

Ch. 4:1-25. — As proof of the statement that the law and the prophets 
foretold the faith plan, Paul illustrates the foregoing by the case of 
Abraham. In charter 4 the first verse simply asks the question, What 
shall we learn from the case of Abraham, our fleshly forefather (if the 
theory just mentioned be correct) ? If he were justified by works, he can 
boast that which cannot be said of other men, yet even then he would 
have done only his plain duty before God. But the Scripture declares 
that he was justified by faith. The grace which allowed such a plan is 
defined by showing that God's favor put the boon of justification within 
reach of every man without requiring him to render a labor value for it, 
which would have made it no longer a gift, but the simple payment of a 
debt. He argued the universality of the plan by showing that Abraham 
was justified before he was circumcised, and was then circumcised to 
indicate the faith by which he was justified. Thus he was styled the 
father of all who had faith like him, whether they were Jews or Gentiles. 
It was logical that xVbraham's seed, as mentioned in the Scripture, should 
refer to those of like faith with him, for if only his fleshly descendants 
were meant, faith would have no place in the plan. Law simply heaps up 
condemnation — its only object. But the faith plan makes salvation a 
gift to all men, Jews and Gentiles, and Abraham the father of all who 
have like faith. The measure of this faith is indexed by the historic 
fact that he believed in spite of all the probabilities being against him. 
And the record was made for Abraham not only, but for the encourage- 
ment of all who should afterward be called to exercise faith. 

Ch. 5:1-21. — The first result of such justification is oneness with 
Christ. In such relation comes first that indescribable flood of peace 
which is the experience of every new convert. A second and immediate 
characteristic of the union is that joy which follows in the life of the 
pardoned soul, such that will take no discouragement even in tribulation. 



ROMANS. 911 

What follows in verses 6-11 is a parenthetical explanation of the reason- 
ableness of the Christian's joy. Christ died for sinners, and so reconciled 
them to God. He lives, and because he lives the reconciled soul shall live 
also. The superabundance of God's grace is stated this way: One 
brought death into the world, and it became general because sin became 
general, but grace is to abound more than death. The argument is, that 
while cue sin generated the whole brood which followed with its train 
of condemnation, the one justification of Christ brings more abundant 
acquittal to those coming in contact with it, because it gives acquittal 
from an unlimited number of offenses. In both cases it is the result of 
contact, condemnation by contact with sin • justification by contact with 
Christ. And the law was given solely that the offense might be stacked 
up or shown to exist, in order that by this faith plan allowed by grace, 
men might be brought to seek justification by faith in Jesus Christ. 

Ch. 6:1-23. — The argument regarding the superabundance of grace 
called up a second result of "justification by faith," namely, that such 
justified ones become servants of Christ. The Antinomian contended that 
the Christian might well continue in sin that grace might abound over it, 
but Paul argues, We Christians die to sin, for the seal (baptism) of faith 
in Christ proclaimed us joined to him, and so, as members of him, in 
his death we suffered death. Being thus joined to his death we were both 
buried with him and resurrected with him, and thus being new creatures, 
we are no longer subject to the old condition. The "ancient man" (vers? 
6) refers to the condition previous to justification by faith. Terse 8 sums 
up this argument. To die (as the law demanded) is to have all claim of 
the law satisfied against one, and death being the purchase price which 
Jesus paid to buy back a ruined world, his dying therefore gave him a 
legal title to every believer, and such believer is therefore under obligation 
to serve him. Hence the exhortation, in which he lays emphasis on the 
fact that the child of faith is not under law, but under grace. But the 
Antinomian objector would seize upon that last statement to contend that 
the Christian might sin with impunity, and so Paul continues, voluntarily 
yielding yourself in obedience to sin makes you a servant of sin, just as 
yielding obedience to Christ made you his justified servant. The 
language of verses 19 and 20 is another way of saying that it is really a 
misnomer to speak of being a servant of justification, since from the 
very nature of things if a man behave so as to be justified by his works he 
has done only his plain duty. But the term is convenient in this argu- 
ment to make his point clear. He contrasts the two services by showing 
that as servants of sin they had no tangible results, but that now as 



912 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

servants of God the tangible result is consecration to his service, with a 
finality of everlasting life. It is noticed in verse 23 that death is wages, 
but eternal life is a gift (too costly to buy). 

Ch. 7 :l-25. — A third result of this plan of justification by faith is that 
what the law could not do, God did do through the atonement The state- 
ment concerning the common law of marriage explains itself. Its 
application is, that Christ having died to buy back from sin such as would 
have faith, all that are so joined to him are also dead to the requirements 
of the law, and can be legally joined to the Christ in life and labors. 
In verse 5 Paul speaks of the legal status of the individual life previous 
to justification by faith ; in verse 6 of the discharge from the law's claims. 
Now lest the hearers become confused and identify law with sin he shows 
that law is the medium b} r which sin is discerned, and illustrates by 
speaking of himself before and after the law was applied to his case. He 
emphasizes the fact that sin alone was responsible in that it merely 
prostituted the law to serve its own base purposes, and in these verses 
12-17 he describes accurately the experience of every unjustified person. 
Continuing, he shows how sin rules the individual who is not joined to 
Christ, in spite of his better judgment. In verses 22 and 23 he declares 
what is apparent to every thinker, that the judgment does not become 
delivered to Satan by sin, and so the "inner man" (judgment) always 
delights in rectitude. In answer to the question, "Who can deliver the 
individual from the power of the e other law ?' " he declares, verse 25,1 
am delivered by the justification by faith in Jesus Christ. Then sum- 
ming up the entire argument he declares, The mind is in accord with 
God, but the flesh is the source of constantly involving the individual 
in sin. 

Ch. 8 :l-39. — In chapter 8 he turns to describe the condition of justifi- 
cation. Here he states the privilege and duties of a Christian. The law 
is effectually silenced against such as follow God rather than any dispo- 
sition to do evil. It is plain that this is the only class against whom it 
could be silenced, because such as obey wrong impulses, by such acts make 
themselves servants of sin as already shown. Hence to silence the law 
against any except those who purpose to keep themselves in a justified 
condition would be clearly useless. In the justified state, the law being 
silenced against the individual, the body (standing for the flesh) is 
accounted dead, as the law demands, and the spirit is the dominant 
element of the new man, the body being made alive simply to serve the 
spirit. Hence (verses 12-14) the Christian is in duty bound to subject 
the body to spirit service. This is further apparent from the eternal 



ROMANS. 913 

fitness of things, seeing that the justified soul is a child of God and a 
joint heir with Jesus Christ, in such relation even suffering is to be 
made auxiliary to the interest of the heir. Verses 19 and on simply 
declare this in substance that the highest desire of the whole creation 
seemed to be that the estranged human family might be reconciled to 
God, and that God had made this life unsatisfying in hope that the 
human family might thus be inclined to seek him. The redemption of 
the body mentioned in verse 23 refers doubtless to the fact that the early 
Christians cherished the hope that even in their day death might be 
abolished, as it ultimately will be. In speaking of this longing and 
patient waiting the apostle mentions the fact that the spirit intercedes 
for the Christian better than the Christian can intercede for himself. 
And further, that the confidence of the Christian should be boundless, 
seeing that God, foreknowing that some would accept the faith plan, 
foreordained that all such should be conformed to the image of Christ, 
and of course, having done so, would call them, and justify them and 
glorify them according to his plan and promise. Therefore, if God is 
on their side it matters not who is against them. The question of verses 
32-34 are meant to be an emphatic way of making declarations. The 
thought is that God will not lay anything against his elect, seeing he 
gave his son, and justifies according to his own plan. Christ will not 
condemn, for he justifies, and intercedes for us. And notwithstanding all 
the tribulation a Christian shall have, he shall not only come out vic- 
torious, but come out stronger and better than when he went in, and so 
be more than a conqueror. Nothing outside of the individual is able to 
separate him from the love of God. 

Ch. 9 : 1-1 0-11. — Here Paul takes up a discussion of his personal 
interest in his own nationality. He had always carried the Gospel first 
to the Jew, and also to the Gentile. To express the force of his feelings 
he declares, I could wish myself anathematized from Christ if that would 
help my nation, the nation of historic glory. But he guards against 
leaving the impression that God's plan had been a failure, for he declares 
that the original promise to Abraham referred to those who should have 
faith like Abraham. This view is substantiated by showing that twice 
the physical descendants of Abraham were restricted to chosen individ- 
uals, so far as pertains to Jewish nationality, and that therefore the 
Hebrew nation itself acquiesced in God's right to select whom he would 
for that special national position. The word ff love" in verse 13, according 
to the usage of that day, has the force of the English word "pref er ;" and 
"hate" is its corresponding negative. Thus the recipients of this distin- 



914 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

guished honor were made to be the people of faith, and it is reasonable, 
continues the apostle, that God should have a right to so select the 
character of those whom he would honor (since the right is understood to 
attach to every person and every occasion), and he had declared he would 
exercise mercy according to his own plan, and he made the story of 
Pharaoh's life familiar through all history that God might receive the 
honor due him, and the hardening process referred to in verse 18 was a 
legitimate outgrowth of Pharaoh's personal attitude, for which the king 
was wholly and solely responsible. For the Jews to say then that God 
need not grumble, seeing he has had his own way, is impudent. The 
potter may make from the same lump of clay a dish for the table and a 
vessel for slop. The vessels are equally useful. Some of , God's creation 
fitted itself by obstinate disobedience for destruction ; God, to make known 
his displeasure with sin and show his power, endured with long suffering 
what deserved summary destruction, and did it for the sake of his cause 
and his people. These faithful, Paul declares, are from the .Gentiles, 
containing a fragment of believing Jews, and contends that the Jews as 
a people failed of adoption because they sought salvation by works and 
not by faith. Paul is anxious for the salvation of his people, and owns 
that they are zealous for God, but he sees them attempting to, ; .justify 
themselves instead of submitting themselves to God's plan. Christ 
answers every requirement of the law for every believer, and the faith 
plan believes the word, confesses him as Lord and professes his salvation. 

12-11-30. — This plan is for both Jew and Gentile. If so, then both 
must have the message, and that implies a messenger, sent of. God. But 
the Jews as a nation did not accept the message, and Paul here accounts 
for it on the ground, not that they did not hear, nor that they did not 
understand, but on the ground that they were saucy and disobedient. 

But Paul would not have it understood that he regards his nation as 
repudiated. Some of them had faith, of which fact he himself is a living 
witness. The faithful (and God foreknew there would be such) were not 
repudiated. To illustrate, he cites the case of Elijah, who at one time 
thought himself the only faithful believer remaining, but God told him 
that in the nation he had seven thousand faithful men left. Just so Paul 
declares that among his people there are many believers according to 
this faith plan. Israel, following their own concept of justification by 
forms and ceremonies, failed to obtain justification. The accepters of 
the faith plan (election) obtain justification, the rest were blinded by 
their brute contrariness. The table of verse 9 refers no doubt to the 
Christ on which the Israelite nation should have lived and developed 



ROMANS. 915 

the growth and characteristics which would have made them a blessing 
to all the earth. But Paul consoles himself with the fact that their 
attitude does not mean permanent national estrangement from God, but 
it shall be the means of carrying the Gospel immediately to the Gentiles 
and by their acceptance and enrichment through it, rouse the jealousy 
of the Israelite nation to the point of accepting the faith plan. To the 
-entile converts Paul now directs this special message. I am to so use 
my Gentile apostleship as to rouse my own people to emulation. For if 
their attitude toward the Christ is the means of reconciling to God the 
Gentile world, then their reclamation from that attitude will be equiv- 
alent to raising to life one dead. And further, dedicating the first fruits 
to God is equivalent to dedicating to him the whole crop. Consecration 
of the root is equivalent to consecrating the whole tree. The root of this 
salvation is Jesus Christ (a Jew). Some of the Jewish branches were 
broken off by their unbelief and some branches from the wild trees of 
the nations were grafted in by faith. Boast not against the unbelieving. 
Look well to your own faith. The severity of God is notable toward the 
disobedient, and his goodness is just as notable toward those who keep 
themselves in the way of faith. And this unfaithful nation, if they do not 
continue in their obstinacy, shall be grafted by faith again into their own 
olive tree. The writer declares that God means to use this great blunder 
of the Jews to bring in the Gentile world to the faith of Christ, after 
which, according to the prophecy which he quotes, the Jews as a nation 
•■hall be turned to Christ. Though they are now enemies of this Gospel, 
they are beloved for the sake of their faithful fathers, for God has no 
reason to repent of the great plan he has made for the salvation and 
Hirichment of the world. It is a remarkable coincidence that as the 
-isobedient Gentile world have been first brought into touch with God 
by the errors of the Jews, that they also have now become disobedient in 
order that the same mercy shown to you may be extended also to them. 
Thus both Gentile and Jew have been shut up in unbelief that God 
might be merciful alike to all. What depth of riches, he concludes, both 
in tactful operation and in knowledge. No human being has whispered 
this suggestion to God, but of him and through him and unto him are all 
things, and so to him be the glory forever. 

Ch. 12 :l-lo-33. — In view of this equality of all men under the faith 
regime, the writer urges every Christian to present the living body as a 
holy sacrifice to God, declaring that to be real spiritual worship. This 
relation to God demands transformation and reshaping of the trend of 
mind, so as to "prove by testing what is the will of God, that good, 



916 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

acceptable and perfect thing." Having been set apart for the service of 
God and transformed, a third injunction is in regard to careful self- 
estimation. The rule is not to he self-inflated, but to exercise sober and 
sound judgment regarding the individual relation and its value. For 
illustration, the human body is composed of many members, and each 
member has its individual office and is an indispensable member of the 
whole body. Therefore, he exhorts, exercise diligently your particular 
office, just as does each member of your body, with special reference to 
your relation to the whole. Here follows a list of things for which the 
Christian should have a special care, and the exercise of which differ- 
entiates him from the non-Christian. The thought of verse 17 is, to so 
live that men not only may, but must know, that you are honorable. 
Verse 18 implies that it is not always possible for the Christian ,to be at 
peace (a self-evident truth), and for the case where it is not possible this 
exhortation is given : Do not study vengeance, but allow the wrath of 
God to have sway, since God has promised to recompense justly. Hence 
the conclusion of verses 20 and 21. As a citizen the Chirstian is to 
render obedience to governmental powers. God himself ordains such 
powers for the protection of society, and so resistance of it simply calls 
condemnation upon the one resisting. The declaration of verses 3 and 
4 constitute a rule, which, while it has its exceptions, is generally true, 
and therefore the Christian is to support the government. As a neighbor 
the rule is to faithfully discharge all obligations toward every fellow man. 
The entire law relating to man's duty to man is summed up in the word 
— love. The motive underneath all this is the fact that time is flying 
and eternity is at hand. The future condition with which our faith is 
concerned is not far away, and therefore it behooves the Christian to be 
busily in earnest regarding matters of the life to come. As a fellow 
being the Christian is exhorted to forbearance. No one is to ridicule 
another's scruples, nor to judge him harshly for the liberties he may seem 
to take, for each will be held to account strictly for the proper observance 
of his own convictions. Each Christian, having his own individual 
reasons for his particular course of conduct, is supposed to be serving 
God and his fellow men to the best of his ability, and therefore none need 
constitute himself the judge of another, for every man shall bear his own 
accountability. The great source of solicitude should be to the end that 
no one may by his actions cause another to stumble. Paul here lays 
special stress on the thought that it is charitable for the Chritian to 
forego some acts which he might practice without harm to himself for 
the welfare of one who might be less informed, and so be harmed by his 



I CORINTHIANS. 917 

example. The entire gist of verses 22 and 23 is, that whatever one does 
he must have the approval of his judgment, otherwise his conscience rings 
in his ears the alarm of sin. It is the duty of the strong to bear the 
infirmities of the weak, and not to merely study his own pleasure. The 
great example is held up as a warrant for this statement. The record of 
Christ's character and his doings was made for the instruction and 
encouragement of his followers, hence Paul sends up the fervent prayer, 
"God grant you to be of the same purpose as was he." At this point Paul 
expresses his confidence in their enlightenment and goodness, but men- 
tions the fact that because of the office which God had called him to fill, 
he had written to remind them of these things, and that he found his 
chief glorying in the prosecution of the things pertaining to Christ's 
work. Here he mentions some of the work accomplished by him in 
entirely new fields, and cites it as a reason for his delay in coming to 
them. But he promises to come to them on his way to Spain after he 
had carried the collections of Macedonia and Greece to Jerusalem. 
Finally he asks their prayers that he may be delivered from his enemies, 
that the collection he carries may be acceptable to those to whom it is 
sent, and that he may reach them in safety. 

Ch. 16:1-23. — The closing chapter is concerned with personal refer- 
ences. He warns them against some which are causing divisions and 
stumblings, and shows what manner of persons they are. He commends 
their reputation for obedience, expresses faith in their triumph over evil, 
and finally commends them to God and his Son forever. 



I CORINTHIANS. 



INTRODUCTION". 

Written by Paul, from Ephesus, about Easter, A. D. 57, and sent to 
the church' at Corinth hy Stephanus, Fortunatus and Achaicus. In St. 
Paul's second missionary tour he sta}^ed eighteen months at Corinth, 
establishing a church there and in many neighboring cities. Corinth was 
the center of commerce between Rome and the East, and so was very 
wealthy and notoriously corrupt. The converts were mainly of the lower 
classes — some Jews, some Romans and some Greeks. After Paul left he 
was succeeded by the eloquent Apollos, who also made converts. The 
Jewish converts clung to the Jewish law. The Gentile converts construed 



918 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the liberty of Christians to mean license to have part in the mean things 
which the heathen did. They took part in heathen feasts, made a 
festival out of the Lord's Supper; women threw oil' the vail of modesty 
which the times required, and discussion on sacred subjects ran riot until 
Christian disputes were brought before heathen courts for settlement. 
The Greek craving for philosophy and rhetoric was rather pampered by 
the eloquent style of Apollos. Some spoke against Paul because he was 
not an eye witness of the Gospel facts — not being ou? of the twelve; 
others were for him, but exalted Paul rather than Christ. Some were for 
Peter, and still others discarded all apostolic authority and claimed to 
belong to Christ. This state of things called forth this letter. Chapter 
5 :9 implies that Paul had written them a letter before this, but that 
letter is now lost. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-9 Introduction. 

1-3 Greeting. 

4-9 Thanksgiving for their spirituality. 
10-4-21 Eeproof of factions. 

10, 11 Paul exhorts unity. 

12-16 Their fault specified and upbraided. 

17 Paul's first duty and method of its discharge. 
18, 19 His reason for the method. 
20-29 Proof of the above hypothesis. 
30, 31 Origin of the Christian life. 
Chapter 2, 

1-5 Paul's pursuance of his policy. 
6-9 The higher Christian knowledge. 
10-16 Method of imparting it. 
Chapter 3. 

1, 2 Why they had not the higher knowledge. 
3,4 Proof. 

5-9 The proper estimate of the ministry. 
10-15 The test of ministerial worth. 
16, 17 Completion of the above figure. 
18-23 Caution against glorying in men. 
Chapter 4. 

1-5 Paul's direction as to their estimate of him. 
6-13 Why these directions. 
14-21 Spirit of Paul's reproof. 



I CORINTHIANS. 919 

Chapter 5. 

1-6-20 Fleshly sins and lawsuits condemned. 
1, 2 A specification. 

3-8 Paul's judgment concerning the case. 
9-13 His past and present advice. 

Chapter 6. 

1-8 Lawsuits among Christians condemned. 

9-11 Eesult of sin. 

12-20 Christian duty regarding the body. 

Chapter 7. 
1-40 Discourse on marriage. 

1-9 Paul's advice about marriage. 
10, 11 God's command to the married. 
12-17 Paul's advice about an unbelieving consort. 
18-24 The wider application of this principle. 
25-40 Paul's personal opinion about marriage. 

Chapter 8. 

1-11-1 Heathen feasts or self-denial for another's sake. 

1-3 Ideal Christian knowledge. 

4-6 A fact stated. 
7-12 How truth without love may harm. 

13 A conclusion. Paul's principle. 

Chapter 9. 

1-14 His principle illustrated. 

1-6 Paul's individual right. 
7-12 Its warrant. 
12-14 He denies himself his right for another's sake. 
15-18 Nature of Paul's glorying. 
19-22 Example of his tact. 
23-37 His motive. 

Chapter 10. 

1-11 Israel's fall. 
12, 13 Its admonition. 
14-22 Import of sharing in a heathen feast. 
23-11-1 The philosophy of self-restraint. 
2-14-40 Discourse on public worship. 
2-16 Gradations of authority. 
17-34 Directions about observing the Lord's Supper. 



920 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 12. 

1-31 Unity of God's diverse gifts. 
1-11 The statement. 
12-31 The illustration. 
Chapter 13. 

1-13 The ideal spiritual grace. 

Chapter 14. 

1-25 Intelligence in public address. 
1-6 Its necessity. 
7, 8 An illustration. 
9-19 The application. 
20-25 Its philosophy. 
26-33 Order in public address. 
34-40 Women in the assembly. 

Chapter 15. 
1-58 Eesurrection from the dead. 

1-11 Paul's former teaching of the doctrine. 
12-19 What disbelief in the doctrine implies. 
20-34 The doctrine reaffirmed and argued. 
35-49 Objection noted and answered. 
50-58 The change embodied in death's destruction. 
Chapter 16. 
1-24 Conclusion. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-9. — It will be remembered that on his second missionary tour 
Paul founded the Christian church at Corinth. It was there that Crispus, 
ruler of the synagogue, became a Christian, and later Sosthenes, a 
successor of Crispus, was beaten because of his sectarian opposition to* 
Paul. Some think this to be the same man now converted to Christianity. 
It ought to be noticed that Christians are said to be set apart in Christ 
Jesus, and are called by the name of saints. Paul's thanksgiving indicates 
that these people were somewhat notorious for their powers of expression 
and their comprehension of the real character of Christianity. He adds 
to his thanksgiving an assurance to them that God will keep faithfully his 
part in preserving to the end such as are faithful. 

10-4-21. — Paul's first purpose in view in this writing was to reprove 
factions. He desires harmony. Their dividing into parties under the 
names of their various pastors was shown to be most absurd. Incidentally 



I CORINTHIANS. 921 

Paul mentions here that he himself did not do the baptizing except in a 
few prominent cases, such as the ruler of the synagogue (Crispus). The 
preaching of the Gospel was his concept of the highest duty of a Christian 
minister, and it was to be done in such a way that the message would not 
be obscured by figures of rhetoric or the hearers' attention diverted from 
the truth by displays of eloquence. Paul believes these practically make 
fruitless the story of the Gospel. His reason for his method is clearly 
stated. The very subject matter of the Gospel story was to such as did 
not feel their need of and accept its provisions, an idle story, but to the 
consciously needy it was the way of salvation. Verse 19 is another way of 
saying, that even the men who have an established reputation for sagacity 
had accomplished nothing in the way of saving humanity from ruin, 
hence their help counted for nothing in this plan. As proof of that 
statement Paul cites them to the fact that among these early Christians 
those who were noted for their wisdom did not abound, and that more- 
over God had been obliged to frame a plan of his own for salvation, 
seeing that nothing of the wisdom of the world even tended in that 
direction. The Jew, from the beginning of his national history, had 
been accustomed to miraculous manifestations. The Greek, noted for 
his philosophy, wanted something profoundly philosophical, but faith 
in a crucified Christ stumbled the Jews and seemed nonsensical to 
Gentiles. But while there was nothing of a show of reason in the simple 
idea of salvation by faith, those who accepted it found it to be a philosophy 
above philosophies, and a plan by which God wisely put all humanity on 
a common level so as to prevent any part boasting against another. 
Thus God has become the source of the plan (wisdom) ; he has become 
the justifier, the consecrator and the purchaser, that all redeemed 
humanity might thoroughly understand to whom it belongs. Paul 
reminds them that in his work he studiously abstained from any show 
of oratory in their midst. Thus discarding the equipment which ordi- 
narily rendered him most effective, the apostle was often shown up to 
disadvantage, and so was racked by fear and trembling as he worked, and 
all to the end that he might not attract about him the proud devotees 
of display, but the sturdy children of faith. But, he continues, I would 
not have you suppose that the philosophy of this plan will not commend 
itself. To such as are able to appreciate it, we can show in this plan 
a wisdom not like the human, which shows its insufficiency, but a divine 
wisdom which man has not been able to discover by his study, and even 
the leaders of society were not able to promptly comprehend it when 
revealed, as evidenced by the fact that they crucified the Christ. But 



922 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that wisdom is revealed to the man of faith by the spirit of God. Just 
as a man has intuitive knowledge concerning the ways of a man, just so 
God's spirit communicates intelligently with the spirit of a man. This 
freedom of access to the spirit of God is an experience known only to the 
Christian, and the logic and comprehensiveness of the salvation plan 
becomes apparent when the mind comes into harmony with the thoughts 
of God toward the human family. I gave to you, Paul says to the 
Corinthians, only the first principles of this salvation plan, because you 
were not prepared for anything beyond that. And you are not yet able, 
as evidenced by the fact that you are jealous and quarrelsome. Who 
are these ministers about whom you are quarreling but servants whom 
God has sent you, and through whom he accomplishes his work? Here 
Paul speaks of the church under the figure of a planted field, and then 
in verse 9 changes the figure to that of a building. Under the second 
figure he shows the test of a servant's worth. He reminds these Corinth- 
ians that he laid the foundation at their place and that others have 
been adding to it as they were able. But he warns them against attempt- 
ing to substitute any other foundation than Jesus Christ, and names 
three qualities both of imperishable and perishable kind which may be 
employed in the building process. Only those of the first class, however, 
shall stand the test of judgment and command a reward; so that if a 
man's work be of the latter class it will be as though his salvation itself 
depended upon the destruction of his ill-advised work. He completes 
that figure by styling the church as a building of God, and warns that 
anyone destroying it will receive destruction from God. And so he 
emphasizes the unreasonableness of quarreling over God's servants, who 
are sent simply to build up the institution of the Lord's founding. 
Following the course of advice he has been pursuing, he adds, If there 
are any among you believing himself in possession of superior knowledge 
he may demonstrate that knowledge by falling into line with God's plan 
and being willing to be termed a fool that he may co-operate with the 
divine arrangement. And so regard these servants as belonging to you, 
and yourselves as belonging to Christ, and Christ as belonging to God. 
As to myself, Paul says, you ought to think of me as a minister of Christ 
and a steward of God's mysteries. Such a position presupposes faithful- 
ness, and as to my merits in this respect the judgment of any man counts 
nothing — I do not even pass judgment on myself, for although I have a 
clear conscience, yet I depend simply upon God for justification, and so 
I counsel you to let God do the judging, seeing he knows the secrets of 
the life and heart. Now he tells them plainly that he had said these 



I CORINTHIANS. 923 

things regarding himself and Apollos in order that they might not be 
sources of contention among these Corinthian Christians. In whatever 
respect one differs from another he simply displays the characteristics 
with which God has endowed him, and has no reason to be boasting of it. 
Your attitude indicates kingly independence, and I wish you possessed it 
that we might share it with you, for we apostles are certainly doomed to 
frightful experience. Here he specifies some of these experiences. 
Finally he declares, I say these things in kindness to admonish you. You 
will remember that you are my spiritual children, and therefore it is 
fitting that I beseech you to imitate me. I have sent you Timothy to 
teach you according to my direction. Verse 18 indicates that there were 
those who were defying Paul and his authority, and these he threatens 
with discipline. 

Ch. 5:1-6-20. — In chapter 5 he takes up the case of one who was 
breaking the commandment of God with his stepmother. He chides the 
church for allowing such a state of things to exist within the church, and 
especially for their pride in the midst of such conditions. He charges 
them strictly to expel such a one from the church to the end that his evil 
might be corrected and so his spirit saved. He contends that the evil of 
the one man makes evil the whole society when his deeds are done with 
the knowledge and consent of the societ} r . Keferring to past advice he 
here states that he had before written to them. The explanation in this 
bit of advice is clear. He had not enjoined them to have no contact with 
evil people, but not to fellowship with them as Christians; he had not 
meant that they should pass judgment on those without the church, but 
that the}' should diligently judge those within the church. 

Ch. 6. — Chapter 6 begins Paul's condemnation of the practice of 
Christians taking their disputes to heathen courts for settlement. His 
declarations in verses 2 and 3 note a fact which few realize. Again verse 
4 gives abundant food for reflection. Matters of importance are to be 
judged by such as have creditable moral judgment. Why then, he asks, 
should your matters be judged by those who have no standing whatever 
with God? Hence the pertinence of this question in verse 5 and 
the rebuke in verses 6-8. On the strength of his latter statement 
in verse 8 he passes to a statement of what they may reasonably 
expect as the result of such character culture. He emphasizes the 
fact that Christianity supposes and demands a positive change in 
their manner of life. The language of verse 12 refers to anything which 
as a Christian Paul might desire to do, but he here declares himself 
greater than his bodily desires. Food and the bodily organs made to 



924 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

receive and assimilate it shall both perish, but the body itself shall be 
considered the vessel of the Lord, and will ultimately be raised by his 
power, as was that of Jesus. Hence by virtue of the Christian's relation 
to Jesus he is properly accounted a member of Christ's body, and there- 
fore his declaration that all things are not expedient. For to join 
himself to sin would be to separate himself from Christ and become a 
part of that to which he allies himself. Verse 18 is a way of saying, 
other sins are without the body, but fornication is within and against 
the body. And finally the body is to be kept as is worthy of the temple 
of the Holy Ghost. 

Ch. 7 :l-40. — Here follows a discourse on marriage, a subject closely 
allied to the preceding one, as verses 2-5 of chapter 7 confirm. The 
apostle here specifies this advice in verses 1-5 as an individual opinion of 
his own, though it is very apparent that, while it is not claimed to be 
inspired, most every right thinking man will agree with it in the main. 
In this as in the preceding topic the writer contends that it is lawful 
for one to remain unmarried if he choose, but recognizes the fact that 
it is not always expedient. To the married the command of God is 
emphatic. The union is not to be lightly regarded nor lightly cast aside. 
Then Paul continues his personal advice concerning what must have been 
at the time a most vexed question. The Christian who was joined to a 
non-Christian was to be peaceful and forbearing, and if there must be 
rupture of family relations put the responsibility of it upon the non- 
Christian. The whole spirit of this theme and also of the one which 
follows is this: Be content. Do not let the profession of Christianity 
make you restless or ungovernable. Be ye Jew or Gentile, your require- 
ments are to keep God's commandments. Though you are a bond servant, 
if a Christian you are the Lord's freeman, and though you are a freeman, 
if a Christian, you are Christ's bond ; servant. Finally, regarding the 
virgin, Paul states at length his individual opinion on the subject of 
marriage. The language is self-explanatory, and lays stress upon the 
fact that the first concern of the Christian is his duty to God, and that 
every other relation in life should be subordinate to this. 

Ch. 8 :1-11-1. — The apostle now passes to another matter which greatly 
exercised the infant Christian church. Idolatry was everywhere, and 
contact with these idolaters and its effect upon their Christian profession 
was a question most gravely exercising the mind of these followers of 
Christ. Paul in the first place carefully distinguishes between knowledge 
and love. The first, if it be the predominating principle, is wont to say, 
haughtily, "I know." On the other hand, the second regards the welfare 



I CORINTHIANS. 925 

of the other individual, and says, "But I love," and so acts with due 
regard to the consequences of the act upon others. While it is a fact 
which we know that all these idols are no gods, yet there are some among 
us not so wise, and your taking part in heathen feasts and eating things 
which they know have been offered to idols may be the means of their 
stumbling to their ultimate destruction. In such an assertion of your 
independence you would most grievously sin against Christ. Hence 
Paul's conclusion (verse 13). To illustrate the foregoing principle he 
cites his individual example. He is their apostle. He has the same 
individual right as others to eat and drink to his content, and to marry 
at his pleasure, or to forbear working if he choose. This inalienable 
right is warranted by the changeless law which accords even to beasts 
a right to the reward of their toil. But Paul shows that he denied himself 
his rights which all must concede belonged to him, and proposes to 
continue to do so — deny them willingly and gladly for the sake of 
influencing and winning the greater number. So, as in verse 20, he 
comes to the Jews from a Jewish standpoint, being himself a Jew. To 
the Gentiles (verse 21) he comes simply as a man, without reference to 
his Jewish extraction. To all such as displayed a lack of instruction in 
any particular line Paul showed a special sympathy that he might win 
them to the Gospel. And all these things, he says, he did for the sake 
of furthering the Gospel. The advice of verse 24 is in substance this: 
In order that you may accomplish that for which you run the Christian 
race, run just as if you were obliged to excel all others in order to win, 
which implies also the advice of verse 25. Here the writer refers to the 
fall of the chosen people to show how that, following the conclusion of 
verses 26 and 27 of the preceding chapter, people may be in possession of 
God's favor and afterward forfeit that approval by their selfish deeds. 
He names a list of the things for which they were at different times 
visited with severe wrath, and declares that these things were written that 
we might profit by them and escape similar experiences. And so, he 
continues, take heed to yourselves, and look to God, who knows you and 
is able to help you. And now as to the essence of the question regarding 
heathen feasts, your participation in the Lord's Supper in an outward 
show of your union with Christ. The eating of the Jewish sacrifices was 
the outward show of their communion with the altar. And so the eating 
with these who sacrifice to idols, of their sacrifices, is an outward show of 
communion with devils, and that is incompatible with communion with 
God. Hence such things are not expedient in a Christian; they do not 
edify, they do not show regard for another's good. What is sold in the 



926 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

market you may eat and ask no questions about whether or not it has been 
offered to idols. Or if one asks you to dine, you may eat what he 
provides, without asking any questions involving conscientious scruples. 
But if he makes a case of pointing out that his food is idol offerings, then 
refuse to eat such for his good, not your own. And so do whatever you 
do for the glory of God, and avoid anything over which another may 
stumble. Thus, he concludes, imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. 

2-14-40. — With verse 2 of chapter 11 Paul begins a discourse on public 
worship in the which he first calls attention to gradations of authority: 
God first ; Christ subordinate to God ; man subordinate to Christ ; woman 
subordinate to man. Such gradation of authority is indispensable to all 
organization. Hence both were obligated to observe the proper rank •/ 
whatever sign the custom of their day made proper. The man, standing 
as he did for God's image and glory, was to have his head uncovered. 11 
is the head of the human f amity, and the woman is a member of the man, 
and that there be no repudiation of authority in the sight of God's created 
intelligences the woman also should honor her head, the man, just as the 
man was to honor his head, the Christ. In verses 11-15 he makes plain 
the fact that this theory does not teach or imply any independence oi 
either sex as regards the other, since they are made mutually dependent, 
but that the order ordained of God is to be religiously regarded in the 
church. Relating to the observance of the Lord's Supper, he rebukes 
them for being divided into factions and each eating or drinking In 
quantity that which they had provided for the occasion, so that the rich. 
would eat to the full or drink to drunkenness, and the poor be hungry. 
Home, he contends, is the place to eat and drink to satisfy hunger, while 
the sacrament is simply to keep in mind the Lord's death; and if this 
death be constantly reaffirmed in blameworthy actions, that very fact 
should rise to condemn them as guilty of doing despite to the Savior 
whose death they commemorated. Their laxity in regard to these things 
was the occasion of much lifeless formality in the church. In verse oi 
he reminds them that if they took more pains to sift out their own faults 
the world would not have so much opportunity to magnify the faults of 
the church. Self- judgment is God's way of chastening his children that 
they may escape final condemnation in the last day. God's gifts are 
diverse, but like the diverse parts of the human body, they are unified. 
The ministrations and the workings are also diverse, but through them all 
God seeks the profit of the individuals exercised. Some of the desirable 
acquirements which God's spirit fosters in his children are wisdom (tact 
to discern), knowledge f mental comprehension), faith (disposition to 



I CORINTHIANS. 927 

trust), gifts of healing, working of miracles, testimony, skill to discover 
characteristics of spirits, linguistic ability and explanatory powers. 
Here he uses the various parts of the body to illustrate his theme. The 
human body is a compound of many members, and no one of the members 
can claim that it is not of the body, that it is the whole body, or that it 
has no need of the other members. The tempering together of the 
members of the body is such that any suffering in one produces suffering 
in all. So, he adds, is the church of God, of which each of you is a 
member, and while all do not possess any one gift, yet each should desire 
earnestly for himself the greater attainments which lie beyond him. The 
last sentence of verse 31 should be the beginning of the thirteenth 
chapter. Having established the point that there should be perfect unity 
in diversity and that each should work himself toward the higher, he 
says, "From this stage I point out to you the incomparable method/ 5 - 
namely, the way of love. The possession of all the gifts before named, 
and even to "give the life of me that I may boast" (as the second clause 
of verse 3 is better rendered), would mean nothing without the main- 
spring of love. Verse 8 declares that love is never to be superseded by 
anything higher. Testimonies and knowledge of men, because of their 
partial nature in this life, shall in time be rendered primary by the 
advance of knowledge, just as a man holds as primary the things of the 
child; but faith, hope and love will never be superseded, and of these, 
love is greater than both the former. Therefore, he concludes, "follow 
Alter love." Yet from the necessity of intelligence in public address, the 
Christian should earnestly cultivate spiritual gifts, primarily that of 
testimony, because all public speaking if it prove of account in building 
tip the church must of very necessity be understood by the church. If 
j;he language be unintelligible to the hearers, it cannot profit them, even 
if it does profit the speaker. This fact is illustrated even in inanimate 
instruments. It is further true in the various voices by which the mem- 
bers of creation communicate with one another. And so the Christian 
should lay great stress on using language by means of which he may build 
up the church. There is philosophy in this, and Paul appeals to the 
mature mind to consider it. Testimony by a foreigner of salvation 
through a Jewish Messiah did really stand as a rebuke to the unbelieving 
Jews, who let foreigners come to trust in their Messiah before themselves, 
but testimony which the church could understand appealed to the entire 
church as a stimulus, and had constant tendency to evangelize the 
unevangelized. Two other points of importance in this discourse are, 
viz: What is done in the way of public address should be done with such 



928 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

a degree of order as to avoid all confusion and give the whole church the 
benefit of all that is said, also to avoid letting anyone monopolize the 
speaking privilege. And finally he closes with an injunction which was 
rendered very necessary by the social conditions of his times, where in 
the woman's corner of the Christian assembly the crowd of heathen 
women construing the "liberty of the Gospel" into license, visited and 
gossiped until they made the Christian service in their quarter a time of 
ceaseless and uproarious confusion — let the women keep silent in the 
churches. The fact that he says, "Let them be in subjection/' proves that 
they were failing to regard law, and their abandonment of the vail, which 
the custom of that day required, was a public thrust at modesty and a 
reproach upon the Christian profession. 

Ch. 15:1-58. — Paul now takes up the subject of resurrection. He 
declares first that he and his co-workers had publicly taught that doctrine 
and that the whole of the Christian faith was based upon it, since if the 
dead were not raised, Christ was not resurrected, the hope of his disciples 
was in vain, the apostles were false witnesses, all men were yet in their 
sins, and the dead in Christ had perished. Here he reaffirms and argues 
the doctrine showing that Jesus is the one commissioned of God to bring 
all things into subjection to the Father, and to finally destroy death. If 
these things are not true, he questions, why are men baptized looking to 
another life, and why do we risk our lives for this faith, as I do daily ? 
But some think they ask an unanswerable question when they inquire, 
"With what body do the resurrected come ?" As the old grain dies and 
the Lord forms a new one out of earth matter in each case corresponding 
to the body sown (verses 39-41), so it is in the resurrection. The natural 
body is put into the earth and God raises in its likeness, and having its 
identity, a spiritual body. It is evident, he concludes, that flesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and so of the saints, all those 
who do not die shall at the proper time be instantly transformed from 
corruption to incorruption, and death shall be swallowed up in victory.' 

Ch. 16:1-24. — In conclusion he gives some instruction regarding the 
laying by each week of what they could afford to give to the poor at 
Jerusalem, so that it would be collected when he came, then it should be 
sent to Jerusalem by someone whom they should name. Special reference 
is made to the possible coming of Timothy and Apollos to Corinth. The 
Christians are exhorted to be strong in the faith and keep uppermost 
the spirit of love. He mentions certain workers who have special claim 
to their regard, and sends the salutation of the Asiatic churches. 



II CORINTHIANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

In this second letter, written probably in the fall of 57 A. D. from some 
point in Macedonia, Paul explains why he had not sooner come to Corinth, 
as he had purposed. From Ephesus, the place where he had written the 
other letter, he went to Troas, where he expected to meet Titus, but 
was disappointed, and passed into Macedonia, where he met him,' and 
learned that the Corinthians had taken the advice given them in his first 
letter. Although the majority of the church had taken his advice and 
repented and expelled the outrageous fleshly sinners, yet there was a small 
element made more defiant and bitter against Paul, and accused him 
of craft and selfish interest in what he attempted. They accused him of 
cowardice and of threatening without daring to execute, also of varying 
his teaching to please the crowd in which he moved. So in this letter he 
warmly commends the better class and severely condemns the other. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 
1-14 Introduction. 

1, 2 Greeting. 

3-11 Thanksgiving for Christian comfort. 
3-7 Its purpose. 
8-11 An example. 
12-14 Source of PauPs gratulation. 
15-2-4 Paul's reason for delay in visiting Corinth. 
15, 16 His previous plan. 
17-22 Its operation suspended. 
23-2-4 Why suspended. 
5-11 Advice concerning a case of discipline. 
12-17 Paul's former anxiety about it. 

Chapter 3. 

1-6-13 The source, difficulties and motives of Paul's apostolic mission. 
1-6 Proof of Paul's divine commission. 
7-11 Comparison of the covenants. 
12-18 Method of preaching the new covenant. 



930 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 4. 

1-6 Ministerial behavior. 
7-12 Difficulties of the earthly life. 
13-5-1 How overcome. 
2-10 Mental balance of the Christian. 
2-4 Desire. 
5-8 Content. 
9, 10 Aim. 
11-19 Paul's motive for his work. 
20-6-13 His daily bearing. 
14-7-1 Intercourse with heathen. 

2-4 Paul's plea for their love. 
5-16 Basis of the claim. 

Chapter 8. 
1-24 Collection for fellow Christians. 
1-4 An example. 
5-8 The inspiring motive. 
9 The great precedent. 
10-15 Paul exhorts a collection. 
16-24 His caution to prevent suspicion. 

Chapter 9. 

1-5 Exhortation to promptness in benevolence. 

6-9 Exhortation to liberality in benevolence. 
10-15 Eesult. 

Chapter 10. 

1-6 Paul's plea for their due reverence. 
7-12 Statement of their blunder. 
13-18 His (correct) policy. 

Chapter 11. 

1-3 Paul's jealousy of the Corinthians.. 
4-15 Paul's retort to his false accusers. 
4 Their failure. 
5-12 His record at Corinth versus theirs. 
13-15 Their character. 
16-33 Paul's glory in his labors at large. 
16-19 Apology. 

20 Insolence of false teachers endured by the Corinthians. 
21-33 Paul's real boldness argued/ 



II CORINTHIANS. 931 



Chapter 12, 

1-5 Paul glories in his weakness. 
6-10 His reason. 

6 Negative. 
7-10 Positive. 
11-13 Corinthians responsible for this glorying, 
14-18 Paul's love for the Corinthians. 
19-21 Why he delayed coming to them. 

Chapter 13. 
1-10 Final warning to inconsistent Christians. 
1-6 Self-examination. 
7-10 Self-restraint. 
11-13 Benediction. 



LESSON NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :1-14. — It is apparent from this greeting that at this writing Paul 
had Timothy with him. In the thanksgiving which he here voices he 
recognizes the fact that the comfort which comes to a Christian amid 
affliction is an experience which God gives to his saints in order that they 
may be able in turn to strengthen the hands of others in like need. The 
strength of such comfort, and the consequent power to comfort others, is 
proportioned to the depth of the affliction. We are left to guess to some 
extent as to what was the example to which he refers. One authority 
(Dean Alford) thinks it was a sickness nigh unto death. Others think it 
likely that he refers to the uproar mentioned in Acts 19 beginning with 
verse 23. As verse 12 indicates, Paul was exceedingly glad that he had so 
behaved himself in times of his former ministry as to now be able to look 
back and say, "All was well/' He was confident that his enemies in their 
fight against him could find nothing in his behavior to fault. 

15-2-4. — He now takes up his reason for delay in visiting them. His 
plan originally was to go from Ephesus across to Corinth, thence through 
Macedonia and back to Corinth before going to Jerusalem with the 
missionary collection. In this way he would give them a double visit. In 
suspending this plan he strongly asserts that he was not simply acting 
according to a fickle feeling. He contends that he never displayed that 
spirit toward them, and that the whole spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ 
was that of affirmation and no repudiation. Verse 23 explains why he 
changed his plan. Seeing that they were his joy, he did not want to 
distress them and himself, and so he stays away and sends them this 



932 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

letter instead, knowing no doubt that if he personally appeared among 
them a conflict would be precipitated in which he would have to use 
harsh measures. Hence the language he uses in the verse to which 
reference is made. This is a clear case where tact in avoiding a conflict 
reached the desired end in a less disastrous way. The context shows also 
that this necessary letter, good as it seems to us, was a source of great 
grief to the apostle, which only goes to show that the execution of 
righteous principles are sometimes a source of dread. 

5-11. — In his advice concerning the discipline which he had ordered, 
he now strongly pleads for the restoration of the penitent. He tells them 
that the punishment inflicted had accomplished its end, and that while 
the carrying out of it was a proof of the church's love toward Paul, that 
now their forgiveness of the penitent would also be a proof of their love. 
He tells them also that when the righteous majority forgives the penitent 
he also forgives, noting that the original offense had been not against 
him only, but against the whole church ; and further, that his forgiveness 
stood for Christ's forgiveness, seeing that he acted upon righteous 
principles. 

12-17. — Paul gives his testimony that he had been under great anxiety 
concerning this case ; he had gone to Troas and found great opportunity 
for effective service, but was so worried at the non-arrival of Titus, who 
was to meet him there, that he left Troas with all its possibilities and 
went into Macedonia. Having found Titus there, he breaks out in this 
note of triumph (verses 14-17). Incidentally he notes in these verses 
that the preaching of the truth, always an acceptable offering to God, 
while it is a glorious refreshment to the one who accepts it, is a most 
nauseous dose to the impenitent. 

Ch. 3 : 1-6-1 3. — In discussing the source and difficulties and motives 
of his apostolic mission, Paul first cites the best proof of his divine 
commission. The lives of his converts furnished all necessary evidence. 
He breathes a spirit of confidence in their lives, and calls attention to the 
glory of this covenant of grace by comparing it with the covenant of 
Sinai. He calls the latter the ministry of condemnation, because the 
office of the law was to condemn, but the office of the covenant of grace 
is to free from condemnation. "That which passeth away" (verse 11) 
refers to the Mosaic covenant; "That which remaineth" refers to the 
covenant of grace. He also calls attention to the difference in presenting 
these two covenants. Moses veiled his face, although that covenant was 
transient. And Paul in this argument presents the concept that the veil 
stood for a temporary covenant (the Mosaic covenant), and that it hid 



II CORINTHIANS. 933 

the true covenant, of which it was a shadow. Hence the acceptance of the 
covenant of grace was the tearing away of the veil from the heart. The 
office of the ministry of this covenant made the apostle feel conscious of 
his responsibility. Hence his remark about his ordering of his life in 
verse 2. And he contends that there is a sufficiency of light in the plan 
to all those who desire light. It is further noted here that the pattern 
which is held up to the Christian is not the preacher, but the Christ. 
Pursuant to this thought he mentions the weakness of the human servant, 
with the dependent conclusion that the work accomplished by such would 
be known to be of higher power. With this consciousness the apostle 
boldly endured the experiences of verses 8-10. The thought of verses 
11 and 12 is that if we endure such in the discharge of God's plans, our 
continued vitality and renewal of youth is the proof positive of the 
existence of Christ's life within us. He also declares that faith is the 
means by which he overcomes. As he declares in verse 16, though the 
fleshly body has been worn out, the inward man draws constant supplies 
from its great source — the God-head. The force of the word "light" in 
verse 17 is fleeting. And his thought is, that the afflictions of earth (be 
they ever so heavy) produce results of infinite value to the Christian who 
is looking constantly towards the establishment of a changeless character. 
For, he concludes (verse 1), if this clay house be dissolved, we have an 
eternal abode in the heavens. At this point he voices the mental balance 
of the Christian by speaking of his constant desire for a release from the 
transient that he might assume the permanent. And it is further noticed 
that the human being, because of his partial knowledge, does not seek 
immortality through the gateway of death, but desires that mortality may 
be clothed upon with immortality. However, the Christian shows a 
willingness to subject his desires to that of higher wisdom, and so to wait 
the time of the Almighty. But such a one makes it his aim whether in 
mortality or immortality to be well pleasing to the Lord, seeing that the 
life must be made manifest by and by, that the Christian may receive 
reward according to his doings. Knowing all these things, the apostle 
makes it his duty to diligently warn and persuade men. Paul tells the 
Corinthians that he mentions his course of conduct to them, not to boast 
of it, but to give them opportunity to answer those who croak against 
him. It would seem from the language of verse 13 that there were those 
who, like Festus, had accused Paul of being beside himself, and doubtless 
Paul's enemies at Jerusalem had put that very language into the mouth 
of his enemies at Corinth. He shows, verse 14, that his earnestness in 
this theme was the true explanation. The language of verse 16 refers to 



934 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

Paul's purpose to regard men only from the standpoint of their Christian 
character, and to give God the due credit for all transformation of the 
character. Finally he adds, We as ambassadors stand in Christ's stead, 
and entreat you to be reconciled. He refers to the fact that Christ was 
condemned and punished in behalf of sinners, and God uses him as the 
means of human justification. Conscious that the present is the time to 
push the work of preaching to a successful issue, he makes mention of 
his daily bearing for the Gospel's sake (verses 3-10). And so, he 
concludes, the matter is not a lack of affection on my part towards you, 
but your lack of affection toward me. 

14-7-1. — Here he gives instructions about their attitude toward non- 
Christians. The matter is put into a word: Seeing that there is an 
irreconcilable difference between God and his enemies, it is inconsistent 
that there should be any attempted union between believers and unbe- 
lievers. Lack of distinct separation simply has the effect (verse 17) of 
involving the Christian in unholy contact. 

2-4. — In his plea for the love of the Corinthians the apostle contends 
that his conduct before them and toward them had been unquestionably 
good. The first clause of verse 3 leads us to infer that there were those 
in the church at Corinth who were guilty of these things of which Paul 
asserts himself clear, and so his claim in verse 2 would b}^ contrast 
condemn them. But as he here says, he was not speaking to condemn 
them, but to strengthen his claim to their confidence and love. When he 
contemplated the work he had accomplished among them, he rejoiced in 
spite of all his troubles. • 

5-16. — As a basis of his claim on their affections, he cites the mental 
suspense he had lately gone through on their account, and how that the 
news he had received from them through Titus had relieved him. Verse 
8 indicates that Paul had entertained fears that this letter had been too 
severe, but now he sees that it was all right, and rejoices that he had 
produced in them a sorrow that had wrought out repentance and reform. 
In verse 10 he discriminates between legitimate sorrow which brings 
reform and the worry and harrassment which grow out of this life. The 
apostle's object in this work was not the settlement of disputes between 
individuals, but the clearing of the church of its wrongs, as he declares.. 
These verses show that Paul had commissioned Titus to go to Corinth in 
his stead and learn whether or not the church there would willingly be 
governed b}^ his advice, or whether he must wage open warfare against 
them and expel a number from the church. He had expressed himself to 
Titus as to what the church would do, and here he joyfully declares that 



II CORINTHIANS. 935 

his estimate of them had been correct. It seems that Titus, too, had 
become much attached to the Corinthians by their manner of accepting 
and obeying him as Paul's deputy. 

Ch. 8 :l-24. — Now the apostle comes to the great subject of collections. 
He cites as- an example of Christian liberality the church of Macedonia, 
where he was at the time of writing this letter. He declares that they 
had given beyond their ability, and had done so willingly. Seeing this, 
Paul had exhorted Titus to stir up the Corinthians also in this regard, 
and so to perfect what he had begun there on a former occasion. Now 
Paul urges them to abound in the grace of giving just as they had done 
in the matter of obedience to Paul. He does not send this as a command, 
but simply to stir them up and test their grace of kindliness. Here he 
points them to the great example, who being rich, became poor for 
humanity's sake. He tells them that as they were first to make a begin- 
ning a year before that they now ought to carry out what they there 
began; and that if they showed a readiness, that readiness was put to 
their credit as indicative not so much of what they could do as what they 
were willing to do. And he does not mean for them to distress themselves 
for others, but to supply some of the deficiency of others out of their 
fullness. The apostle had also taken earnest care to prevent suspicion by 
sending along a man duly accredited by their church to see after the 
matter of collection. And he here expressly reiterates his approval to 
Titus as eminently fitted and duly credited of Paul to represent him 
among the people of the Corinthian church. 

Ch. 9 :l-5. — The exhortation to promptness in their benevolence is 
eminently fitting on the ground of the truth of the proverb that he gives 
twice who gives quickly. He reminds them that he has been boasting 
of them to the Macedonians, and that by this means many Macedonians 
had been stirred up to benevolence. And now, he adds, I have sent these 
brethren that I may not come and find you unprepared, and so put both 
myself and you in an awkward light, for there may come with me some 
of the Macedonians. By having it made up and ready when I come, it 
will be clearly a willing gift and not a matter of extortion by me. 

6-9.- — Then he continues, Remember that he who sows sparingly shall 
reap sparingly. I would not have you give grudgingly nor give simply 
because stress is upon you, but willingly and cheerfully, and God is 
able to make you abundant returns for all you do. 

10-15. — The result of your promptness and liberality will be that God 
will give you increase not only of food, but seed for sowing and multi- 
plication of fruits, that you may thus come to possess riches of liberality 



936 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

which produce thanksgiving to God and also glorify him in that the gifts 
exemplify your faith, call out thankfulness from the recipients, and 
stimulate their prayers in your behalf. 

Ch. 10:1-6. — Having completed the subject of collections, Paul now 
devotes the remainder of this letter to the vindication of himself. He 
pleads for their reverence, and in the latter part of verse 1 is probably 
twitting his enemies in their own language. He wants to escape the 
necessity of using the courage against the incorrigible ones which he 
expects to be obliged to use. He reminds them that Christians are not 
supposed to be noted for their power to fight one another, but that their 
weapons are forged for the destruction of sin. 

7-12. — He charges this anti-Paul faction with the blunder of being 
governed by outward appearances and their likes and dislikes rather than 
by good judgment and sound philosophy, and in the latter part of verse 
7 Paul contends that if he desired to glory in his work he has abundant 
ground to do so. Verse 10 expresses the contempt which his enemies 
hurled against him. He replies that just what his letters indicate is 
precisely what he will be when he comes, and then shows the folly oi 
those people commending themselves by their own standards. 

13-18. — In contrast to their method he sets his own— that of simply 
glorying in the work which God had given him to do, and that work, he 
adds, embraces your evangelization. And further, he tells them that as 
their faith develops he hopes to receive of them due credit for his labors 
for them. He calls attention to the emptiness of one magnifying his own 
importance through occupying some station in work which he had no 
part in accomplishing. 

Ch. 11 :l-3. — The jealousy of the apostle toward the Corinthians con- 
sisted in the fact that he feared they were being led away from their faith 
in Christ by some deceitful agency. 

4-15. — In his retort to his false accusers Paul shows in verse 4 that 
they had utterly failed to bring to the Corinthians anything in addition 
to what Paul had brought to them in the beginning. He further shows 
that he had a record at Corinth which none of them could parallel, and 
that even none of the apostles could excel. Verses 7-9 express a condition 
which ought to have humbled the opponents of Paul at Corinth. In 
verses 13-15 he boldly characterizes these fighters as the children of Satan 
that they were. 

16-33. — Here the apostle gives some account of his past labors, and 
apologizes for doing so by stating that he is in a manner obliged to 
measure himself with his accusers. He first states what manner of 



\I CORINTHIANS. 937 

insolence the church had endured at the hands of these self-constituted 
leaders, and then argues his own real boldness by showing what he had 
endured for the sake of the church (verses 23-33). 

Ch. 12:1-5. — It is generally supposed that in the first part of chapter 
12 Paul is speaking of himself. If so, the reference here is to some of the 
experiences about the time of his conversion. "Whether in the body or 
out" refers to the condition of the individual at the time. "Third heaven" 
and "paradise" is expressive of the exalted privilege enjoyed. The word 
lawful has the force of "impossible." The meaning of verse 5 is, Paul 
could glory in such experience as that, but of his ordinary experience 
in preaching the Gospel he gloried only in the presentation of the plain 
truth in a plain way. 

6-10. — His reason for that was that while he might truthfully speak 
wonderful things of himself, he would not, because it might lead others 
to think of him beyond that which his ordinary manner of life would 
naturally lead them to think. Then, too, that "thorn in the flesh" 
(probably his weak eyes, which came of the great light he saw on the way 
to Damascus) admonished him of his human weakness and forbade his 
boasting in the revelation which brought that experience. 

11-13. — Then he reminds them that wherein he has shown weakness in 
boasting they are responsible, for their attitude had called out these 
expressions. Had you done your duty, he says, I would have been com- 
mended by you, and would not have been compelled to have contended 
for myself. 

Verses 14-18 express the warm love which Paul felt for them, and 
tell plainly why he had not received of them pay for his preaching 
among them. They are also reminded that the conduct of himself and 
fellow workers among them was irreproachable. 

19-21. — Again he reiterates that he had delayed his coming to avoid 
precipitating a conflict in which he would be obliged to use severe dis- 
cipline. 

Ch. 13:1-10. — Finally he warns them that he will certainly come, 
nevertheless. He asks them to examine themselves and find out whether 
they are indeed Christians or not, and secondly to restrain themselves, 
and by just conduct to show themselves approved, in order to avoid any 
necessity or trouble in discipline. 

11-14. — In his benediction to them he exhorts perfection, comfort and 
unity. The "holy kiss" was a form of greeting of that time. 



GALATIANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Galatia is a district of Asia Minor. The inhabitants were Gauls in 
origin, and became mixed with Greeks. The fickleness of the Gallic 
character is proverbial among all writers. Thierry says, "Frank, impetu- 
ous, impressible, eminently intelligent, but at the same time extremely 
changeable, inconsistent, fond of show, perpetually quarreling, the fruit 
of excessive vanity." J. F. B. says, "They received St. Paul at first with 
all joy and kindness; but soon wavered in their allegiance to the Gospel 
and to him, and harkened as eagerly now to Judaizing teachers as they 
had before to him." His first visit was about A. D. 51 in his second 
missionary journey. Many Jews were among these people, and it is 
probable that Paul began his work as usual first among the Jews. The 
Jew's subsequently stirred up the question of circumcision and unsettled 
the Gentile converts. They insinuated that Paul himself kept the law, 
and that his motive for persuading the Gentiles to renounce it was that 
he might keep them out of the full privileges of the Gospel, and so in 
subordinate condition. They declared that his "becoming all things to 
all men" was an acknowledgment that he was an interested flatterer, was 
forming a party for himself, and was not an acknowledged apostle, being 
merely a messenger of the twelve, whose teaching was at variance with 
St. Peter and James, who were "pillars" of the church. 

His purpose then was to defend his apostolic authority, and also to 
offset the evil teaching of the Judaizers, as well as to strengthen these 
believers in the faith. Alford thinks the time of writing was between 
54 and 57 A. D. Conybeare and Howson think it was written during the 
winter of 57-8 A. D. There is good evidence that Paul wrote this with 
his own hand, though he usually employed a secretary. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-5 Introduction. 

1, 2 Paul and co-workers to the Gauls. 
3-5 Greeting. 
6-10 Instability of the Gauls-. 
6, 7 Wonder. 
8-10 Anathema. 



GALATIANS. 

11-24 Paul's apostolic authorit}'. 
11, 12 Asserted. 
13-24 Proved. 

Chapter 2. 
1-10 Recognition of it by the other apostles. 
1-5 Circumcision decision. 
6-10 Hand of fellowship. 
11-13 Peter's inconsistency. 
14-21 Paul rebukes Peter. 

Chapter 3. 
1-14 Justification by faith argued. 

1-5 From the conversion of the Galatians. 
6-9 From the history of Abraham. 
10-12 From the law's testimony. 
13, 14 Method. 

13 Philosophy. 

14 Universality. 
15-24 Rationality of this view. 

15-18 The promise preceded the law. 
19-24 Real intent of the law. 
25-29 Effect of faith's exercise. 
25-27 Adoption. 
28, 29 Legal distinctions obliterated. 

Chapter 4. 

1-7 Intent of the law illustrated. 
8-11 Exhortation against backsliding. 
12-20 Paul's plea for their loyalty. 

12-16 Their former love of Paul. 
17-20 Selfishness of the Judaizers. 
21-5-1 Folly of Galatians observing Jewish law. 

2-12 Effect of their admitting the claims of the Judaizers. 
13-15 Restoration of God's image. 
16-26 Superiority of spirituality to law. 

Chapter 6. 
1-10 Exhortation to helpfulness. 
1-5 In right doing. 
6-10 In temporal things. 
11-17 Judaizers and Paul contrasted. 
18 Benediction. 



940 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 



LESSOR NOTES. 



Ch. 1 :l-5. — In his introduction Paul here speaks of himself as an 
apostle, though in his earlier letter (to the Thessalonians) he does not 
so style himself. The reason will be discovered in this letter. , Verse 4 
suggests that the Christian is to differ from those of his time in that his 
life is to be free from evil. 

6-10. — The apostle is called upon to marvel at the instability of thase 
professing Christians. He charges the opposition with wilfully perverting 
the truth. He makes an anathema as strong as language will bear against 
the one who perverts the truth in that or any other age. The language of 
verse 10 means that the apostle's business was to change the opinions of 
men by the use of the Gospel, not to attempt to change the opinion of 
God by finding fault with the Gospel. Verse 10 is a strong plea against 
man-pleasing. 

11-24. — Here the apostle begins a discourse on his apostolic authority. 
He vigorously asserts it and then enters an argument to prove his state- 
ment. It is suggestive that in verse 17 Paul mentions an interval of three 
years after his conversion in which he was probably at Mount Sinai 
studying the law in the light of the new revelation which he had received 
on the way to Damascus. Scholar though he was, he found it necessary 
to make special preparation for his special work. Why the change 
recorded in verse 23 ? 

Ch. 2 :1-10. — Paul next makes the point that the other apostles recog- 
nized his apostolic authorfty. The trip to Jerusalem fourteen years later 
vvas that made to the great council recorded in Acts 15. Titus was taken 
along as a test case. Paul's statement that he went up by revelation, 
when he was sent as a delegate, probably means that this plan of settling 
the question by a council was revealed to him, and that at his suggestion 
the church acted upon it. Verses 4 and 5 suggest that if Satan cannot 
control the individual, he will at least put in his way all the hindrances 
possible. Paul here mentions the specific — that of prompt dismissal or 
refusal to allow Satan on your ground. Paul says they gave to him the 
hand of fellowship, and declares that those that were reputed to be pillars, 
at least did not impart to Paul any new ideas. The suggestion which 
grows out of this theme is, Think through a subject and have your own 
ideas. Here are James, Peter, Paul, Jerusalem, scattered Jews, Gentiles, 
all stones of different hues, joined to the corner-stone, making a unity in 
diversity, and harmony in variety. Verse 10 suggests that while Paul 
was very zealous, he did not depend upon works for justification. 



GALATIANS. 941 

11-13. — The paragraph about Peter's inconsistency was a conclusive 
answer to those who held Peter as a pillar, and Paul as of no repute. It 
was manly in Paul to attack this inconsistency openly. Suppose he had 
said nothing regarding Peter here, and afterwards talked about him? 
The word dissimulate here means to act the hypocrite, and even faithful 
Barnabas had become tainted by the bad example. No man can say what 
might have happened had not faithful, strong Paul been present to stem 
the tide. 

14-21. — Peter stood self-condemned. (Acts 15:7-11.) This language 
from Paul to him must have been paralyzing, but it vindicated the 
doctrine that faith is the way to come. Yerses 17 and 18 suggest that 
both God and men dislike unstable souls, because they put both God and 
themselves in a bad light. Terse 19 suggests that the "old Paul had paid 
the penalty in Jesus, a fact that grace allowed and faith operated. Yerse 
21 is a stunning answer to the claim of a man who thinks himself good 
enough without a Christ. 

Ch. 3 :1-14. — Here the apostle begins an argument of justification by 
faith. He points to the Christianizing of these same Galatians through 
this doctrine. The language suggests that Christians may lose their 
senses and mistake flesh for spirit. He quotes Abraham also to prove 
justification by faith, and the quotation "In thee" means, followers in thy 
faith, and the blessings promised are both temporal and spiritual. The 
law's testimony is to the same effect. And as to the method, its philosophy 
is that Jesus by his voluntary death, purchase of the human family, and 
joining men to himself by faith, thus became the substitute for all who 
would accept the plan which, as verse 14 declares, was for both Jews and 
Gentiles. 

15-24. — The view is a rational one. The promise came four hundred 
years before the law. He did not say to Abraham one seed before and 
another after the law on different conditions, but Jews and Gentiles fellow 
heirs on the same terms of acceptability — viz., faith in Christ (by grace). 
Verse 19 shows why the law was given, and verse 20 declares that God 
will bring men into an immediate communion with himself, not separate 
them from him by a mediator. The animal sacrifices of the ceremonial 
law were all reminders that the soul needed a cleansing which these 
sacrifices could not give. 

25-29. — The effect of faith's exercise is the adoption into sonship. The 
secondary result of this exercise is that all distinctions are erased, and all 
members of the human family put on a common footing. Thus all men 
are reckoned as Abraham's seed. 



942 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Oh. 4:1-7. — As the heir is put under proper tutors until he comes to 
the age at which he may be entrusted with his belongings, so the human 
family while it was learning the need of a great substitute was taught 
to offer substitutes on their altars. Once, however, the great substitute 
being offered, there was no longer the need of the types, just as when the 
house is once built the scaffolding is of no further use. 

8-11.— But to these Gauls he says, You at that time were idolaters, but 
now having come to know God, why do you desire to turn back to the 
beggarly principles of Judaism. Your observances of sacred periods and 
Jewish festivals make me fear that you have missed the entire spirit 
of Christianity. 

12-20. — In his plea for their loyalty he refers to the fact that they had 
treated him with great reverence. The language of verse 15 indicates that 
Paul had suffered from his eyes while he was with them. Now he desires 
to know if they have turned against him because he has told them the 
truth. He also points out the selfishness of these Judaizers in desiring 
to monopolize the Christian religion, and shut out others save as they 
may seek to these Jews for their recognition. "Change my voice" in verse 
20 means to exercise authority. 

21-5-1. — The folly of Galatians observing Jewish law is shown in the 
fact that of the two dispensations the desirable one was Christianity, the 
other was a mere type or slave of the Christian dispensation, and just 
as Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, persecuted Isaac, the heir of the 
promise, so now the Jew attempts to persecute the Christian. But Paul 
says, We Christians are free ; let us remain so. 

2-12. — To admit the claims of these Judaizers would be to abandon 
the doctrine of justification by faith and leave Christ out of the salvation 
plan. He also refers to the fact that he has been charged with preaching 
the necessity of circumcision. This he answers with no uncertain sound. 

13-15. — He reiterates that the spirit of the Gospel is freedom, but 
cautions that this does not mean license to serve their lusts, but means 
to do as they would be done by. Thus is God's image restored. 

16-26. — Finally he argues how superior to law is spirituality. To be 
led by the spirit is to be above law, because the spirit prompts to do things 
against which there is no law. 

Ch. 6 :1-10. — In conclusion he exhorts them to help one another in 
right doing. Verse 2 says, "Bear ye one another's weights." A double 
meaning attaches to verse 3: If a man think himself to be exempted 
from frailty he deceives himself. Therefore he should bear another's 
weights, for he may some day want another to bear his weights. Again, 



EPHESIANS. 943 

if a man think himself to be strong and will not bear another's weights, 
he belies his pretensions. Verse 5 declares every man shall bear infirmity. 
No one is exempted. They are exhorted also to help by their means those 
who help them spiritually. The language of verse 8 simply means that 
to use one's riches for self -gratifications shall prove a nauseating failure, 
but to use it for spiritual purposes shall prove of inestimable profit. 

11-17. — Verse 11 says, "With how large letters," meaning that when 
Paul wrote with his own hand he used large letters because of his eyesight. 
He contrasted the self-denial he had shown among them with the selfish- 
ness of these Judaizers, and says they desire only to glory over you, and 
escape the petty persecution of God's enemies. For himself he declares 
that he will glory only in the salvation of Christ. In verse 17 he says, 
My apostolic authority need not further be questioned, for I bear on my 
fleshly body the earmarks of my Lord Jesus, meaning that what he had 
suffered for religion proved to whom he belonged. 



EPHESIANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

In his second misisonary tour Paul visited Ephesus, bringing with him 
Aquila and Priscilla from Corinth. He stayed but a short time, and left 
Aquila and his wife there, promising to return if possible, and sailed to 
Cassarea, going up to Jerusalem and from there to Antioch. In his third 
tour Paul came again to Ephesus, and as one of his first acts christens 
Apollos' Ephesian converts, after which he stayed for two years, preaching 
in the place, sending the fame of the Gospel to all Asia from that center. 
Here occurred the incident of the sons of Sceva, and the great riot 
stirred up by Demetrius, the silversmith, and quieted by the town clerk. 
As he returned from this tour he sent for the elders of the church at 
Ephesus to meet him at Miletus, where he made to them that memorable 
speech reciting his past record, his future prospects, giving counsel to the 
elders, calling to their minds his example before them, and making that 
prayerful, touching, sorrowful adieu. 

This letter is supposed to have been written about four years after this, 
or about 62 A. D., from Eome, in the early part of Paul's imprisonment 
there (which began in February, 61). 

The church at Ephesus was made up of both Jews and Gentiles. The 
beautiful idol temple of Ephesus was one of the wonders of the world 
(temple of Diana). 



944 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK, 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 
1, 2 Introduction. 

3-14 Paul's praise for the salvation plan. 
15-23 His prayer for their spiritual- growth. 
Chapter 2. 

1-10 Their past and present contrasted. 
11-22 Incorporation of the Gentiles into the family of God. 
Chapter 3. 

1-13 Paul's apostleship to the Gentiles. 
14-21 His prayer for them. 
Chapter 4. 

1-16 Exhortation to unity. 
17-6-20 Christian conduct. 

17-24 Duty of seeking enlightenment. 
25-32 General bearing of a Christian. 
Chapter 5. 

1-21 Imitation of Christ enjoined. 
22-24 Directions to wives. 
25-33 Directions to husbands. 
Chapter 6. 

1-3 Directions to children. 

4 Directions to fathers. 
5-8 Directions to servants. 
9 Directions to masters. 
10-20 Necessity of the Christian armor. 
21-22 Tychicus introduced. 
23, 24 Benediction. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1, 2. — Paul here names himself an apostle, and writes this letter 
to the Christians in Ephesus, a city which had been the place of some of 
the most stirring scenes in the labors of this apostle. Verse 2 gives the 
usual Christian salutation. 

3-14. — He begins this letter by giving praise for the salvation plan. It 
is not unlikely that the word "places" should be rendered matters rather, 
the word not occurring in the original. The thought is, that every 
necessary spiritual thing is amply provided in the salvation plan. "Foun- 
dation of the world" were better rendered "constitution of the ages" — 
the thought being that from the time man sinned in Eden the salvation 



EPHESIANS. 945 

plan was set in operation. Paul has already shown in his letter to the 
Komans that God ordained beforehand that all who accepted this plan 
should be adopted as sons. Thus he shows that the Ephesians became the 
sons of God according to the plan regularly established, and that adopting 
this plan they came into possession of riches of grace, grasped the mystery 
of God's will, and became the heritage of Christ, sealed with the Holy 
Spirit of promise, a possession of God, and the embodiment of his glory. 

15-23. — Now he prays for their spiritual growth. He makes known 
that he is praying for them to that end. He desires an increase of wisdom 
that they may receive increased revelation of God, and so may know 
more of what is embraced in their Christian profession, more of the 
character of the saints' inheritance, and experience more of the power 
which God has in reserve for believers similar to that which he wrought 
out in Christ in his resurrection. The ultimatum to which this will lead 
is pictured by showing to what heights Jesus arose by his perfect con- 
formity to his Father's will. The last clause indicates that the church, 
which is the body of Christ, is intended to partake of the honor which 
attaches itself to him. 

Ch. 2 :1-10. — In following out this thought he contrasts their past and 
present by showing how they had been taken out of sin, out of a diso- 
bedient life, out of enmity to God, out of the wrath of their Creator, and 
by his grace had been raised up to share a throne with Jesus and to be 
the recipient of such favor as that in them God's kindness would be 
magnified through eternity to come. Then he adds, grace allowed the 
plan, and faith operated it, and the whole plan was the gift of God. 
Hence no man could boast of having helped to frame the plan. It was 
God's workmanship, and the anointed Jesus was its embodiment. 

11-22. — At this point he mentions what is very important to a part of 
his converts. A large per cent of the church was of Gentile extraction, 
and he specially notes the fact that they who had no part in the covenant 
of promise now have a part in the salvation plan by their faith in Jesus. 
Thus he shows that Jews and Gentiles have become one, and so the cross 
of Jesus has made peace between the two great factions of the human 
family. As verse 17 indicates, peace had been preached to the Gentiles 
who were far off, and to the Jews, who by means of their familiarity with 
the covenant were, or ought to have been, in readiness for the salvation 
plan. Xow, he adds, you are not strangers any longer, but fellow saints, 
belonging to God's household, and part of the building of which Jesus 
is the corner-stone. 

In chapter 3 the first verses seem to be a suspended parenthesis. I 



946 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

think he begins to say in verse 1 what he continues to say in verse 14, 
but he here breaks off and speaks parenthetically of his Gentile apostle- 
ship. He declares how Christ has brought to light the salvation plan 
which before his coming was a mystery, and that this salvation embraced 
the hitherto unaccepted fact that the Gentiles were to be associated with 
the Jews in Christian fellowship, and that Paul had become a chief 
member of the apostolic college. To make that fact plain to the world, 
he makes in verse 10 the most interesting statement, that heavenly 
intelligences were first made acquainted with God's plans by seeing those 
plans worked out by the church, and so he probably encourages them not 
to faint under the pressure of the afflictions which encompass Paul. 

14-21. — Now he resumes, I made you a subject of prayer that God will 
grant you strength through his spirit, that Christ may dwell in your 
hearts, that you may be so strong in love as to be able to comprehend the 
scope and extent of the salvation plan, and have an experimental con- 
sciousness of Christ's indescribable love, and so have all you can contain 
of God's fullness. 

Ch. 4:1-16. — Here he exhorts them to unity. He speaks of himself as 
the prisoner of the Lord, for he is at this very time bound with chains at 
Eome. Verse 2 discusses some of the fruits of the spirit which he would 
have them display. His declaration regarding one body, one spirit, one 
hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, is simply an emphatic way of 
declaring that the salvation plan was meant for all kindreds, tribes, 
peoples and tongues, but he declares, verses 7 and 8, that God had 
distributed gifts to men according to his own wisdom, and that, therefore, 
they would be able to work variously according to their several abilities. 
And he declares that he who humbled himself came up with power to fill 
the entire scope of human effort, and thus he has the list of human helpers 
named in verse 11 to build up the church until the human family shall 
be able to measure up to the stature that God intends, and going beyond 
the. primary characteristics of childhood, grow up into Christ, thus 
perfecting his body (the church) into a fitly proportioned mansion of 
love. 

17-6-20. — Pursuant to this advice, he here discourses on Christian 
conduct. As a prerequisite to Christian growth he mentions especially 
the duty of seeking enlightenment. He declares that vanity, lack of 
understanding and alienation from the life of God was the result of 
ignorance. He exhorts them to continue what they had learned of Christ, 
and so forsake their ancient manner of life and put on a new life, 
patterned after Christ. As to the general bearing of a Christian, he 



EPHESIANS. 947 

speaks of the necessity of truthfulness, of self-restraint, of honesty, of 
industry, of purity in speech, of the cultivation of intimacy with God's 
spirit, and of freedom from those characteristics that make one repulsive 
to others. Here he specially enjoins the positive Christian characteristics, 
and he cautions them particularly that as children of this faith, they are 
to manifest by their walk and conversation the purity of the life which 
they have received by coming in contact with the Son of God. Such a 
life will be a standing reproof to the ways of evil. The more especially 
so because the life which they live is that which by comparison with the 
ways of evil shall bring all wrong doing into manifest condemnation. 
Hence he exhorts them to fill in the time with that which in future will 
commend them, and so the advice of verses 18-21. Here he introduces 
a series of directions to the various members of the family. To wives he 
exhorts a just recognition of the legally constituted authority or headship 
of the human family as God has seen fit to constitute it. To husbands as 
heads of families he enjoins that love for the wife, likened to that of 
Christ for the church or represented by the love of one's self for his own 
body. He throws in, in verses 26 and 27, a picture of how Christ loved 
the church, and then continues, just so ought a husband to love his wife. 
In using the figure of the individual's love for his own body he draws a 
vivid picture of the strength and sacredness of the institution of marriage 
— stronger than the love of parents, the incomprehensible uniting of two 
distinct personages into one. The first clause of verse 32 confirms the 
testimony that marriage has ever been an unfathomable mystery. To 
the children he gives the fifth commandment in the Mosaic decalogue, 
and to fathers he enjoins caution not to use their authority to embitter 
the child's spirit, but to train and nurture them in the way they ought 
to go. To servants he enjoins obedience such as becometh their station, 
not simply for the master's sake, but for righteousness' sake, that they 
may thus have a place in the kingdom of the Christ. To masters he 
enjoins that gentleness which grows out of remembering that the master 
is himself a servant of Christ, and that with Christ there is no favoritism. 
As a summary of all and to all, he suggests the putting on the Christian 
armor. This comprehends the double idea of strength and power; 
strength within, power without. There is no promise to any Christian 
that he shall stand if he neglects this precaution. The wrestling with the 
"principalities and powers" which refers to the various orders of the black 
angels, suggests that by the limitation of human strength humanity is 
wholly inadequate to fight such opponents without the armor of God. It 
is suggestive that the armor here mentioned protects head, heart, body, 



948 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

girds the loins, shoes the feet and puts into the hand an irresistible sword 
of conquest. Nowhere in sacred literature is the Christian panoply more 
graphically described than here. 

21, 22. — Paul here describes the messenger by whom he sends this letter, 
and who comes to bring them a detail of Paul's condition and doings as 
a prisoner at Rome. 

23, 24. — Finally he breathes upon them peace and the benediction of 
God the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



PHILIPPIANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In his second missionary journey, when he crossed over into Macedonia, 
Paul came first to Philippi. It was under Roman rule, its inhabitants 
Roman citizens with the right of voting and having their own local senate 
and magistrates. Their law was Roman, and their language the Latin. 
Timothy and Silas were with Paul on this journey, and they planted the 
Gospel for the first time among this people on this occasion. It -will be 
seen by the history of this book that Paul had trials here, which no doubt 
in after years caused him to have warm interest in the place and people. 
Since the almost continued battle which Paul had waged with Judaism, 
he had come to make prominent in all his letters not only advice relating 
to their Christian lives, but special warning against the Judaizers. This 
letter was written from Rome, where Paul was a prisoner, and probably 
written about A. D. 63. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Introduction. 

3-11 Prayer for the advancement of the Philippians. 
12-18 Effect of Paul's imprisonment. 
19-26 His future prospects. 
27-2-18 Exhortation to follow Christ's example. 
27-30 In steadfastness. 

Chapter 2. 

1-11 In Christian service. 
12-18 In character building. 
19-30 Personal matters. 



PHILIPPIANS. 949 



Chapter 3. 
1-4-1 Warning against Judaizers. 
1-3 Their character. 
4-16 Paul's personal example. 
17-4-1 His exhortation to them to follow him. 
2, 3 Personal appeals. 
4-23 Final exhortation and commendation. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1, 2. — This introduction to Philippians shows that Timothy was 
with Paul at Eome at this time. The greeting is to the Christians, special 
mention being made of the authorities. 

3-11. — The writer gives fervent thanks for the evidence of steadfastness 
and activity which he found in this church. He breathes confidence that 
what God has' begun with them he will complete, seeing that they will to 
be teachable and obedient. Verse 7 declares that he carries them on his 
heart, and the succeeding verses express his strong desire that they make 
conscious growth in knowledge and power of discrimination. 

In verses 12-18 Paul speaks of his imprisonment, which refers to that 
which he was then enduring at Rome. It will be remembered that when 
he founded the church at Philippi, Paul had been thrown with Silas into 
prison, and that on that occasion had occurred the conversion of the 
Philippian jailer. Accordingly his reference to imprisonment would 
have the more weight with these Christians. What they knew to have 
been true at Philippi, Paul here declares was true at Rome. He declares 
that some of the brethren were by his imprisonment made bolder to 
preach, and that some preached Christ in order to stir up more strife, and 
some because of good will toward the persecuted Christians, yet Paul 
says he rejoices in the agitation of the question whether from good will or 
malice. Hence the putting of Paul in prison was after all the multiplying 
of tongues in his behalf and for his cause. 

19-26. — Out of the darkness of his dungeon this martyr to the truth, 
raising his voice in notes of triumphant faith that whether he lived on or 
suffered the death with which he here stood face to face, it should 
turn out for the spread of the Gospel truth. He says, "To live is Christ, 
but to die will be my gain/' And in the mention of this dilemma he 
declares that he scarcely has any choice, though he realizes that his living 
would be of untold benefit to the church; and that confidence led him 
to Mieve that after all he would escape the immediate execution of the 
Roman emperor which was then threatening him ; and the history of the 



950 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

case shows that he actually did escape and made another voyage before he 
returned to Eome and was finally executed. 

27-2-18. — Here he strongly exhorts them to follow the example of 
Christ, first, in standing fast in faith and contending for the purity of 
the Gospel, and keeping free from panic on account of the seeming 
success of the adversary. It is worthy of notice here that the apostle 
contends that the opposition stirred up by Satan was proof positive of 
the success of the Gospel, and so an indication of progress. He puts suffer- 
ing in behalf of the truth as one of the strongest possible evidences of a 
normal Christian condition. Xot only are they to follow Christ in 
steadfastness, but to imitate his aptitude for service. The apostle would 
have them to banish all tendency to show, and to contention, and humbly 
serve each other out of pure Christian love. He cites them to the example 
of Christ, who, being originally in the condition of God, counted it his 
highest desire to assume the form of human nature, and even submit 
himself to the most humiliating death, that he might thus reach and 
influence the human family. Hence the exaltation which God gave him. 
Jesus rose highest because he sank lowest. Hence the whole human family 
and all its enemies are subordinated to him. In view of this he continues 
in verse 12 that their character building should be done with that earnest- 
ness which brings trembling. The advice of these following verses is, 
in a word, do your Christian duty in such a way as that even your enemies 
can have nothing in truth against you. Thus the Christian becomes a 
light in the world and a living embodiment of the truth. Incidentally, 
the apostle declares that his future glorying shall be in such converts. 

19-30. — At this point he refers to some personal matters. He promises 
to send them Timothy, his trusted convert and co-worker, to learn their 
real state, and bring him word again. Yerse 20 is the strongest com- 
pliment to Timothy's character. Yerse 24 voices the hope of Paul that he 
himself will be set at liberty. He mentions also Epaphroditus, who had 
been sick to the point of death, but had been graciously spared — a matter 
which was a source of thanksgiving to Paul as well as to Epaphroditus. 
He was Paul's co-worker, and verse 30 shows that he had hazarded his life 
to aid Paul in that which these Philippians might have supplied had they 
been watchful and thoughtful. 

Ch. 3 : 1-4-1. — Xow he warns them against Judaizers. It is evident 
from verse 1 he had given them this advice before, and it is further 
evident that the church was troubled by formalists, who had nothing of 
the spirit of Christ. Paul refers to himself to argue that, if anyone could 
rest in form and ceremonv he would be the one. In verses 4-6 he 



PHILIPPIANS. 951 

enumerates the matters of which he might be proud as keeper of the law, 
but he declares, "I count these things as utterly useless compared with 
justification by faith through Christ. By this means only do I know him 
in the power of his resurrection." He declares himself as not yet per- 
fected, but pressing towards the prize of his high calling. And he 
exhorts them to be like minded, and look to God for any wisdom which 
they consciously lack. Thus Paul exhorts to follow him as he follows 
Christ. He reiterates what he has told them before that there is an 
element who are enemies to the cross of Christ, creatures of their appetites 
and fitting themselves for ultimate destruction. On the other hand, he 
says to the faithful that they are consciously citizens of a better country, 
and that they simply wait for the manifestation of Christ, who shall 
change this earthly body into the likeness of his own glorified body in 
line with the plan whereby he is making the kingdoms of this world his 
own kingdom. 

2, 3. — Paul here makes a personal plea to two members of the church 
to be at peace. Coupled with this plea he calls special attention to those 
women who were prominent co-workers with Paul in his labors there, 
and whose names he declares are recorded in the book of life. 

4-23. — Finally, he exhorts and commends, saying, Be cheerful, be 
forbearing, do not be crushed by anxious care, make your requests known 
to God, mixed with thankfulness, and his peace shall guard you. The 
thought of verse 8 may be summed up thus: Whatever contributes to 
your growth Godward, take special pains to incorporate and assimilate. 
It is worthy of note here that Paul is able to say to his spiritual children, 
Imitate me, and the God of peace shall be with you. He makes a touching 
reference to their affectionate aid of him, and declares that what they did 
not do was probably from lack of opportunity. He declares that he was 
content to suffer inconvenience, even want, for the GospePs sake, but is 
touched by their personal regard for him. He reminds them that in his 
second missionary tour they alone set the example of aiding Paul in his 
ministry, having several times sent gifts to him at Thessalonica. In 
verse 17 he declares that it was not so much the gift he valued, as the love 
for which it stood. In verse 18 he refers to the gifts which this church 
had sent to him by Epaphroditus, and he declares that they are abundant 
to supply his need, voicing back to them this grateful promise, "My God 
shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ 
Jesus." In conclusion he sends salutation to all the Christians and from 
all the brethren who are with him, making special mention of saints 
which were of the royal household. 



COLOSSIANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Colosse was in Phrygia, and the Christian church was composed mainly 
of Gentiles. It is thought it was founded by some one after Paul had 
made his missionary tour. It seems that in this instance the church was 
beset by Judaizers, as was usual in case of Gentile Christians, and the 
struggle was to keep the Gentile converts from having fastened upon 
them the ceremonies of Judaism. It is not impossible that Philemon, a 
native of Colosse, with some others who were possibly converted under 
Paul's preaching at Ephesus, carried the Gospel to their home, and 
founded the church there. If so, this will account for Paul's attachment. 
Brown says, "These Christians mixed up with pure Christianity Oriental 
theosophy and angel worship, and the asceticism of certain sections of the 
Jews, especially the Essenes. These theosophists promised to their 
followers a deeper insight into the world of spirits and a nearer approach 
to heaventy purity and intelligence than the simple Gospel afforded.' 5 
It was written also from Eome while Paul was a prisoner there, about the 
date of 63 A. D. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Introduction. 

3-8 Thanksgiving for the grace of the Colossians. 
9-15 Prayer for their spiritual progress. 
16-20 The supremacy and eternal pre-eminence of Christ. 
21-23 Eeconciliation of man to God. 
24-2-19 An example of advancement in knowledge of Christ. 

24-29 Suffering. 
Chapter 2. 

1-5 Supplication. 
6-19 Admonition. 

6, 7 Daily walk. 
8-15 The mental guard. 
16-19 Observance of ceremonies. 
20-3-17 Moral and spiritual effect of their interest in Christ's resurrec- 
tion. 
18-4-6 Direction to the whole church. 
7-18 Salutation and individual messages. 



COLOSSIANS. 953 

LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1, 2. — This introduction of Colossians shows that Timothy was 
at this time with Paul. The absence of any reference to former work 
among them by Paul is collateral evidence that Paul had not founded 
the church at that place. 

3-8. — Paul indulges in a characteristic thanksgiving for their faith, 
their love, their hope, all of which apparently had become somewhat 
notorious. It is evidenced here that Epaphras, who was one of that 
company who probably had heard Paul at Ephesus, had become a leader 
in the establishment of the church at Colosse, and also that he had carried 
to Paul news of the condition of the newly established church. 

9-15. — Hence follows logically Paul's prayer for their spiritual prog- 
ress, asking that they may be filled with knowledge and understanding 
to walk worthily, pleasing the Lord, fruitful in good work, increasing in 
knowledge, that by it the}- may have might for patience and for joy in 
suffering, that they may give thanks to the Father who makes human 
beings fit for the inheritance of the saints in light, delivering them from 
the power of darkness and making them subjects in the kingdom of his 
Son, their Kedeemer; the image of God invisible, and the legally con- 
stituted head of creation. 

16-20. — The supremacy and eternal pre-eminence of Christ are indi- 
cated in verses 16-20. The idea of "first born" was not with reference to 
time, but with reference to pre-eminence. It is clear in these verses that 
the "all things created in him" refer to powers delegated of God, and so 
whether the powers be combinations of men or angels (i. e., on the earth 
or in the heavens), Jesus is the one whose power is over all, and in whom 
all things hold together. The church is called his body, and he himself 
the first born from the dead, not so much in point of time as because of 
the pre-eminence by which he becomes the elder brother in the family of 
God, and the one by whom all other resurrections become possible. Hence 
the pertinence of verses 19 and 20. The whole drift of the argument in 
these verses indicates that after the appearance of sin the entire fabric of 
God's government of the human family, and the social government of 
good and bad angels, so far as they had to do with humanity, were 
reconstructed on the basis of a Redeemer. 

21-23. — Then the apostle refers to the fact that these Colossians being 
in the past enemies of God, had by the life of this Savior become recon- 
ciled to God, that he might now present them holy, perfect, unreprovable 
before his Father; all of which, he continues, depended upon their con- 



954 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

tinuing in the faith and refusing to be turned aside from their Christian 
status. 

24-2-19. — Here Paul gives to them an example of advancement in the 
knowledge of Christ. He glories in the privilege of suffering for the 
church's sake. This was true especially because he recognized that the 
church was the embodiment of the revelation of God's purpose, and so 
by it the plan of salvation which had been a mystery to the preceding 
ages and generation had been brought to light, and rendered plain to the 
world. He calls special attention to the fact that this salvation embraced 
as well the Gentiles, so that all classes of men became partakers of Christ's 
perfection. Continuing this thought, he tells them how he had prayed 
for them, for the church at Laodicea, and for others who' had not seen 
his face. The end of his prayer was the compacting of their love, the 
increase of their understanding, that they might appreciate the salvation 
plan, in so much as its embodiment, Jesus, introduced the life that 
expanded into all knowledge and wisdom. Paul was trying to fortify 
them against being misled, and so he concludes by admonishing them, 
first that their daily walk may be such as to build them up in the faith in 
which they had received Christ. This amounted simply to expanding 
into greater activity that which they had already accepted as their 
Christian duty. Then again he exhorts them to exercise a strong mental 
guard. There was danger that they might be despoiled of their faith by 
false philosophy and vain conceit. They were to carefully remember that 
Christ was the entire embodiment of that which was to supply all of their 
needs. Steadfast faith was the circumcision — not made with hands; 
having been accounted buried with Jesus, a fact to which their baptism 
bore testimony, and so accounted resurrected with him, all by means 
of their faith in the working of God. Thus the Christians were made to 
live with Christ, being forgiven, having blotted out from against them 
the condemnation of a violated law, thus nailing it to the cross, and openly 
triumphing over human enemies. Finally he admonishes them not to 
be drawn into undue and slavish observance of ceremonies. He lays 
special stress upon the fact that Jesus is the head of the salvation plan, 
and warns them to recognize only in him that which gives co-hesiveness 
to the whole plan. 

20-3-17. — The moral and spiritual effect of their interest in Christ's 
resurrection logically follows. If, he continues, Christ was the prototype 
of these forms, why should you now revert to them, seeing that they are 
perishable forms which in their place had a show of wisdom in will 
worship, but are absolutely valueless in character structure ? Seeing that 



I THESSALONIANS. 955 

you are resurrected with Jesus, characterize your life by those things 
which belong to the better condition. Put your mind on the place of 
your possessions, for your life is accounted as a part of the life of Christ, 
and you shall appear as belonging to him in the life to come. Kepudiate, 
therefore (verses 5-11), those things which characterize the children of 
darkness, and assimilate (verses 12-17) those manners and characteristics 
which mark the believer as Christlike. It means forgiveness, peace, wide 
and increasing knowledge of the word, and constant helpfulness one 
toward another, all done in the name of the Son with thankfulness to 
the Father. 

18-4-6. — Here follow some directions to the whole church; the direc- 
tions already given in Corinthians and Ephesus to wives, to husbands, 
children, to fathers, to servants and to masters are reiterated here, coupled 
to which is an injunction to steadfast prayer, Paul specially mentioning 
his inabilit}', being a prisoner, to herald the word as he desires. 

7-18. — In his salutations and individual messages he refers to Tychicus 
and Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon, who under Paul had been 
converted and sent back. He requests that this letter be read at Laodicea, 
and that in turn a letter that he wrote to Laodicea should be obtained 
from them and read to the church at Colosse. 



I THESSALONIANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Thessalonica was at that time the capital of the district of Macedonia. 
After being released from Philippi, Paul and Silas and Timothy came to 
Thessalonica on Paul's second tour, and founded the church there. By 
reference to the book of Acts it will be found that most of the Jews here 
rejected Paul's preaching, and savagely antagonized him. As to the 
result of the false accusation that they brought against Paul, such an 
uproar was made that Paul and Silas were obliged to nee by night to 
Berea. His enemies from this city all followed him there, and he was 
obliged to flee again. In this same journey when he reached Corinth 
about A. D. 52 this first letter was dispatched back to the Thessalonians. 
So this is the first letter of Paul in point of time, and if the letters were 
chronologically arranged it would stand first of his fourteen letters. 
Some claim that there is an evidence in this letter of a large Gentile 
element in the church from the fact that in it he makes no quotations 



956 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

from the Old Testament. It has no censure, because evils had not yet 
appeared in the church. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1 Introduction. 

2-10 Manner of their receiving the Gospel. 
Chapter 2. 

1-12 Behavior of the apostles at Thessalonica. 
13-16 Fidelity of the Thessalonians in holding fast the Gospel. 
17-20 Paul's desire to visit them. 
Chapter 3. 

1-13 His plan to hear from them. 
Chapter 4. 

1-8 Warning against fleshly sin. 

9-12 Exhortation to growth in Christian character. 
13-18 Consolation of the resurrection. 
Chapter 5. 

1-11 Exhortation to readiness to meet the Lord. 
12-28 Injunction of various Christian duties. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1. — In the introduction Paul's two fellow travelers are named. 
Silvanus was the expanded name for Silas. He greets them with the 
salutation of peace. 

2-10. — He calls to their mind their manner of receiving the Gospel. 
Great commendation was given to those that had received the Gospel 
through Paul, and to their bravery amid their persecution, indicating 
that as Paul had been found faithful under persecution, his converts had 
shown like bravery in maintaining their faith. This Paul declares had 
made their faith an object of remark, and he notes with satisfaction that 
even their enemies had declared how that by his preaching these hearers' 
had turned from idolatry to serve the living God. 

Ch. 2 :1-12. — At this point he refers to the behavior of the apostles at 
Thessalonica. He recalls the fact of his shameful persecution at Philippi, 
and how they had boldly preached the truth to the Thessalonians without 
deceit, flattery or covetousness ; not claiming support from his people, but 
laboring to support themselves while they preached, and tenderly cher- 
ishing converts as a father his children. 

13-16. — Then he refers to the fidelity of the Thessalonians in holding 
fast to the Gospel. He declares that they accepted the preaching as a 



I THESSALONIANS. 957 

message of God, became typical Christians and suffered for the sake of 
the Lord Jesus. Incidentally he refers to the fact that his own country- 
men had been his chief persecutors, and that they had thus brought upon 
themselves the indescribable wrath of God. 

Yerses 17-20 indicate that at this writing Paul had been separated 
from them but a short time. He declares that he desired exceedingly to 
see them, and tried repeatedly to visit them, but Satan had hindered him. 
And he speaks of these Thessalonian converts as his hope, his joy, and 
crown of rejoicing in the presence of the Lord. He evidently expected to 
meet and identify, after the resurrection, those with whom he there 
labored. 

Ch. 3 :1-13. — When he could no longer endure the separation, he sent 
Timothy to them from Athens. His primary purpose was to encourage 
them in their difficulties and to remind them that he had foretold to them 
that these things would come to pass. He was anxious lest they might be 
tempted beyond that which they were able to bear. And when Timothy 
returned reporting this faithfulness, he immediately wrote this letter, 
and declares that their faith had stimulated him in his distress, and 
made him all the more anxious to see and labor with them. And then 
he prays that he may return to them, and that they may increase and 
abound in love to the point of blamelessness, even unto the reappearing 
of the Lord Jesus. 

Ch. 4:1-8. — He warns them against fleshly sin, exhorting that as they 
had learned to walk and please the Lord, that they might abound more 
and more in grace. He reminds them of the charge he had given, and 
that it was the will of God that they should keep themselves in purity 
and self-restraint, thus making a difference between the Christian and 
the unsaved, by showing due regards to their fellow men. He declares 
also that God takes note of all wrong doing, and holds the doer respon- 
sible, and that he who rejects such admonition rejects the voice of God. 

9-12. — Here follows an exhortation to the growth of Christian charac- 
ter. He tells them that they are already prominent in their love one for 
another, and exhorts that they increase in this grace, and study quiet, 
diligent industry and honesty towards non-Christians. 

13-18. — Now he speaks to them of the consolation of the resurrection. 
He declares that Christians should not sorrow at the death of their 
friends as those that had no hope, for their faith in the resurrection of 
Jesus embraced as well those who belonged to Jesus. Here he declares 
that those who are alive at the appearing of Jesus shall have no advantage 
over those who are in their graves, because the trumpet that shall herald 



958 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the return of Christ to earth shall awaken the dead in Christ, who shall 
arise, and that those, together with those that shall remain, shall be 
forever with the Lord. Paul at this point does not discuss a few inter- 
vening points that are brought in the connected study of this subject in 
the book of Eevelation, because they are not pertinent to this argument 
here. 

Ch. 5 :1-11. — But he exhorts them, "Be in readiness to meet the Lord," 
declaring that since they know the Christian teaching as to the suddenness 
of judgment, they ought not to be unprepared. The figure of their name 
as sons of light indicates that their eyes were opened to the possibilities 
and duties of a Christian life, and that as soldiers of light they should be 
equipped with the Christian panoply, and so be qualified to live and 
co-labor with the Captain of their salvation. 

12-28. — Finally, he enjoins upon them various Christian duties, such 
as a proper recognition of their authorities and a display of due reverence 
towards them ; also that they should givethe weight of their discountenance 
to the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, and be 
patient towards all, and instead of returning evil for evil they were to 
overcome evil with good. They were to constantly rejoice, be always in 
an attitude of prayer and thanksgiving, give free play to the spirit within 
them, have due regard for testimony, prove by testing what is the more 
excellent, and shun every form of evil. Thus, he adds, the God of peace 
will set you aside for his purposes, and so preserve you that you will be 
accounted as blameless at the reappearing of our Lord. Lastly, he 
enjoins them to greet one another with the kiss of salutation, and to be 
very sure to read this letter to the church. 



II THESSALONIANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

This second letter was written by Paul from Corinth possibly a few 
months after the first letter to the Thessalonians, and so is the second in 
point of time of Paul's fourteen letters. In the meantime he had received 
word that since the receipt of his former letter the church had greatly 
grown in the graces which that letter had commanded, so he gives thanks 
for that, but notes that his reference to the speedy reappearance of Jesus 
had been misunderstood and misapplied. They regarded it as a warrant 
for lack of activity on their part, and many were using this as a pretext 



II THESSALONIANS. 959 

for doing nothing and living upon the charity of their fellows. This 
was bringing reproach upon the church, so Paul writes to correct the evil. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Introduction. 

3-5 Commendation of their Christian character. 

6-12 God's judgment against their persecutors. 
Chapter 2. 

1-12 Correction of false notions about the second coming. 
13-17 Exhortation to steadfastness. 
Chapter 3. 

1-5 Appeal for their prayers. 

6-18 Practical precepts. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1, 2. — The introduction shows that Silas and Timothy were with 
Paul when he writes this second letter to the Thessalonians. This is 
sufficient warrant for the conclusion that it was written very shortly 
after the first. The salutation here is an expanded form of that which 
he used in the first letter. 

3-5. — Here he commends them for the Christian character which they 
had displayed. Their faith and their love had flourished abundantly even 
amid persecutions, which trials Paul declares were an evidence of the 
judgment which God displayed towards the human family. 

6-12. — The next theme makes this thought clear. He declares that 
God will judge the persecutors. It is worthy of note that God often 
judges his own in this life by their enemies, and that very fact shall be a 
resistless sword in the hands of the righteous in that great day when they 
'come to sit with Christ as associate justices in the final judgment of evil. 
TlpLe expression in verse 10 of his being glorified in his saints refers, I 
think, to this fact of the future. And Paul well says in verse 11, that we 
pray that God may count you worthy of your calling. Thus it is that 
the Christian glorifies his Master in two worlds. 

Ch. 2 :1-12. — The one false notion which they had taken from' his 
former letter he here corrects. He says, Be not shaken in mind or 
troubled on the question. Verse 2 indicates that a letter had been read 
to the church purporting to have come from Paul. The drift of the 
following verses is this: Proper signs, and unmistakable ones, will 
precede the coming of the Savior, and it is to those conditions that the 



960 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

apostle calls special attention. Paul's thought here is very plain in the 
light of subsequent history. The work of Satan has been marvelously 
revealed in human history, and his influence and assumption has been 
phenomenal. This picture has been made very plain in the book of 
Revelation. The thought introduced in verse 7 has been the subject of 
much speculative comment. It is thought by some authorities that the 
teaching is, that iniquity working under certain deceptive conditions will 
by and by be manifested under conditions more clearly, expressing its 
true nature. That is, that the personal or guiding spirit of evil shall 
from time to time change its methods according to outward conditions. 
It is not impossible on the other hand that the "one that restraineth" 
refers to Paul himself, and he is simply saying, I already see signs of 
appearing evil among you which after my removal shall boldly manifest 
itself, and grow more and more until the time when evil shall be destroyed 
at the appearing of Christ. Then he adds, The explanation of all this is 
that some are enemies of the truth and so prefer error, because they have 
pleasure in unrighteousness. 

13-17. — But, says Paul, we are bound to give thanks. God gave such 
an opportunity to the faithful, and so we exhort you to stand fast and 
hold closely to our teaching. 

Ch. 3 :l-5. — Here he appeals for their prayers in his work of spreading 
the truth that it may be as successful as it has been with them, and that 
he may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men. He declares faith 
not only in God's help towards them, but in their obedience to God. 

6-18. — Finally under the practical precepts he commands them to 
withdraw from such as will not be governed by the directions given for 
Christians. He refers to his presence among them to illustrate how he 
had been quiet and industrious. He declares that this was especially that 
they might have him for an example. He refers to his declaration among 
them that every Christian should either work or cease to eat. And in 
verse 11 refers to some who are mere busy-bodies in other men's matters. 
To these he sends a positive command to work, and to all an injunction 
to be not weary in well doing, and finally from such as will not be obedient 
he commands them to withdraw. 



I TIMOTHY. 



INTRODUCTION, 



I Timothy is supposed to have been written by Paul to Timothy about 
65 A. D., from some point in Macedonia where he had gone (possibly 
Philippi), leaving Timothy at Ephesus to check the growth of error in 
the church there. This was just after Paul had been released from his 
first imprisonment at Rome. 

In his first missionary tour with Barnabas, Paul had found Timothy 
at Lystra, and had made of him a disciple of the Christian faith. His 
mother was a Jewess named Eunice, and his father was a Gentile. His 
grandmother was Lois. It is probable that both these women were 
converted from Judaism to Christ at this same time. 

In his second misionary tour Paul circumcised Timothy at Lystra, and 
took him along with himself and Silas. He was a companion of Paul 
from that time to Paul's death, being when not with Paul somewhere in 
pastoral work under Paul's direction. 

It would seem that, whether intentionally or not, Paul was here giving 
the very instruction which was calculated to fit Timothy for the office of 
overseer of the church. He warns him against the creeping in of error 
in doctrine, and gives direction as to how public worship should be 
conducted, together with instructions about church government. 

Church historians say that Timothy after Paul's death became a bishop, 
the first bishop of Ephesus, and finally died a martyr. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Introduction. 
3-20 The truth contrasted with the false teachings of the Judaizers. 

Chapter 2. 
1-15 Instructions regarding public worship. 

Chapter 3. 

1-13 Qualifications of ministers and behavior of their families. 
14-5-2 Special message to Timothy. 
14-16 Why the message. 



962 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK. 

Chapter 4. 

1-5 A warning. 
6-5-2 Timothy's personal duty. 
3-16 Directions about widows. 
17-25 Directions about elders. 

Chapter 6. 

1, 2 Direction about servants. 
3-10 Character of Paul's opposers. 
11-21 Special charge to Timothy. 

11-16 As to his personal character. 
17-19 Duty toward the rich. 
20, 21 Duty toward the Gospel. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1, 2. — Paul opens this letter with the usual written salutation. 
He declares that his apostolic office was legally and duly conferred upon 
him by Christ, a declaration of much importance since there were those 
who were constantly calling in question Paul's apostolic authority. The 
first part of verse 2 shows in what high estimation Paul held faithful 
Timothy. 

3-20. — Verse 3 shows that the false teachers were at work. The for- 
malism to which Judaism had dropped inclined to substitute for the pure 
word of God such nonsensical fiction as that of which the Jewish Talmud 
is mostly made up. The apostle here declares that the end of repudiating 
these fables would bring the results named in verse 5, seeing that these 
grow out of contact with the word of God. It is a matter of history that 
persons who are willing to substitute fiction for the plain truth of God's 
word are always self-confident, and persist in making themselves the chief 
personages of the flock. Such ar^ unable to comprehend their own 
ignorance. The apostle would not have them think that he repudiates the 
law, but that he simply recognizes its proper place as a mere convicter of 
sin, and so a leader up to the salvation plan which Paul preached. Here 
he contrasts his own violent life as a Jew to the kind of life he had been 
living under Christianity, and says that the mercv which God showed 
to him was due to the fact that his former course was prompted by blind 
ignorance and prejudice. The last clause of verse 15 declares that in the 
ligtfit of his later and better knowledge, Paul was a leader ampnq- sinners, 
which was certainlv true, just as he afterward became a leadpr in the 
church of Jesus Christ. It is equally true that the long-suffering of 



I TIMOTHY. 963 

God as shown in Paul's case has been in all ages since a source of encour- 
agement and hope to other sinners in turning from the error of their 
ways. It is noteworthy that Paul charges Timothy here to fight, as well 
as to keep faith and watch. Truth must be opposed to error, and displace 
it in the conflict. The two mentioned in verse 20 were expelled from the 
church as a discipline for profanity. 

Ch. 2:1-15. — Under the head of instructions regarding public worship 
Paul charges that first of all the church pray for those set to administer 
government that the machinery of government may not go counter to the 
principles of Christianity. God so wills it, because he wills that by this 
plan of salvation the entire human family may become possessed of the 
truth. This is evidenced by the fact that the only mediator between God 
and man (Jesus) gave himself a ransom for all men; and therefore he 
commands that men everywhere betake themselves to prayer, trusting 
to that rather than to angry disputation to accomplish the desired result. 
Women are charged to both dress and act in a comely manner, in quiet 
contrast to that glitter and show which was characteristic of the heathen 
woman of that day. And further, he gives special charge against the 
permission, which certain women of that time sought, for a woman to 
disregard the modest retirement which the custom of the age demanded 
of her, and thrust herself forward as a teacher and as having authority 
over the church. He reminds such that the fatal leap of the human 
family into sin was precipitated through a woman's act in following her 
impulse without consulting her husband. 

Ch. 3 :1-13. — Here he passes to the subject of qualifications of ministers 
and the behavior of their families. As to a bishop, stress is laid not only 
on personal virtues, but on power to govern properly those committed to 
his care, on the ground that if he cannot govern his family he cannot 
govern the church. He must be of sufficient age to guard him against 
egotism, and have a good reputation. Deacons also must be of reputable 
habits and faithful, and must be put on probation before being accepted 
for the office. It was specially noted in both these offices that the can- 
didates must be monogamists, as opposed to the common practice of 
polygamy among the heathen. 

14-5-2. — Now he directs a special message to Timothy. First he 
declares why he had sent this message. It was possible that he might not 
reach Ephesus for a great while, and so he desired that Timothy might 
know how to conduct the affairs of the church. It is believed by 
authorities that verse 16 is a part of a Christian hymn of Paul's day. 
Having made the declaration which closes verse 15, he quotes the stanza 



964 BIBLE SCHOOL, BOOK. 

to corroborate the assertion that all confess that the salvation plan as 
embodied in Jesus was a most remarkable affair in the eyes both of men 
and of angels. But he warns Timothy that there will arise persons in the 
church who shall give themselves up to lying doctrines and perversions of 
the church's doctrines. He brands them as conscienceless and senseless 
in their disposition to deny men the gift of God. Paul made it the 
personal duty of Timothy to keep the church in mind of these things, and 
to refuse countenance to these fables. He urges exercise of godliness, 
for, he adds, physical exercise is of some profit, yet how much greater is 
the exercise of godliness, embracing as it does this life and the next. All 
Christian activity is built on that faith in a living God which looks to a 
life to come. Timothy was to press these things upon the church and to 
make himself an example to the flock in his manner of life, and also to be 
studious while he did the work of a pastor. Verse 14 shows that Timothy 
has been duly ordained to the ministry, and so he is exhorted to diligent 
continuance in these things that he may make conscious and noticeable 
progress. 

3-16. — Special directions are given about widows. That was a vexed 
question in the early church. The descendants of such, if living, were 
first commanded to care for them. Such as would not thus provide for 
their own households were declared to be worse than the unbelievers who 
left the widows to perish, especially because Christianity taught better 
things. They were to note carefully who were indeed worthy of the 
church's aid as widows — not the pleasure seekers, but the ones whose hope 
was set on God. Such as were enrolled should be at least sixty years of 
age, with but a single husband, a record for good works and womanly, 
Christian qualities. The younger widows he counsels to marry, and 
assigns as his reasons the fact that otherwise they are likely to reproach 
the faith by profitless and silly employment. Verse 16 refers to a 
Christian woman who has widowed daughters. 

17-25. — As to elders who prove themselves worthy, he enjoins special- 
honor. They were to receive proper support. They were not to be lightly 
or insufficiently accused. Wrong doers were to be publicly reproved as a 
warning to others. Strict impartiality was to be observed. Deliberate 
judgment was to be used in selecting any man for office, otherwise the 
wrongs he did would attach in part to the one who approved him. Verse 
23 indicates that Timothy was in poor health, so Paul advised him to use 
a medicine. It is likely that the two following verses are a comment 
on verse 23. Just as there are sins that show their results before they 
come to pass, while others require time to show their true nature, so some 



II TIMOTHY. 965 

good works leave no question of their results, while others (such as the 
matter of his taking a medicine for his health) would show their good 
results in due time. 

Ch. 6:1, 2. — He counsels the Christian servants to honor their masters 
in order that the Christian profession may not be reproached, and such 
as have Christian masters are to hold them as brethren. This was not an 
approval of slavery, but the Christian way of avoiding reproach while 
dealing with a system of evil. 

3-10. — At this point Paul described the character of his opposers in 
words which have been characteristic of false teachers since the world 
began — not teachable, unreasoning, opposed to godliness, egotistical, 
ignorant, a quarrelsome fool, whose conduct furnishes basis for that 
corrupt and truthless supposition that the Christian profession is used 
only as a means of gaining advantage over another. By a play upon 
words the apostle shows that godliness with contentment is the real gain 
of which any worldly gain is but the faintest picture, and that the attempt 
to accumulate great riches is a source of temptation and a snare which 
destroys countless souls. The rendering of verse 10 in the revised version 
is the proper one to convey the thought of the Greek passage. 

11-21. — The special charge to Timothy was that he should keep himself 
from these evils and distinguish himself as a man of God. Fight on, keep 
hold of life, keep the commandment inviolate, unto the reappearance of 
Jesus Christ, the great head of humanity, the giver of immortality and 
dispenser of indescribable light. The rich were to be warned against 
haughtiness and trust in riches rather than God. They were to be rich 
rather in good works, so that by their distribution they might lay the 
foundation of riches in the life to come. And thus having discharged his 
duty toward the rich, his final duty (toward himself) was to guard his 
heritage by turning away from the babbling oppositions of falsely called 
knowledge, and so secure himself against missing the mark concerning 
his faith. 



II TIMOTHY. 

INTRODUCTION". 

The date of this letter is about 66 A. D., written by Paul from prison 
at Rome in the interval between one trial of Paul before Nero's officers 
and the one in which he was condemned to death. Just where Timothy 
was at this time is not known. Some think he was at Ephesus, and others 



966 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that he was superintending the churches of Asia Minor, with headquar- 
ters at Ephesus. At this time Paul knew that the end of life was near at 
hand for him. Many of his so-called friends had forsaken him in the 
hour of his great trial, but in spite of all that he had so conducted his own 
defense that he had escaped being condemned to death by his enemies. 
But he knows that they will now redouble their efforts and conspire with 
the infamous Emperor Nero to put him to death, and views his case 
hopeless for acquittal. Luke only remains with him, and as he shivers in 
that Eoman dungeon he writes to his beloved son in the Gospel, Timothy, 
to come to him before severe weather and bring the cloak which Paul had 
left at Troas, probably on that very trip on which he had left Timothy 
at Ephesus, and a little later had written to him the first letter. Knowing 
as Paul does that he has done well what God had given him to do, he 
turns his eyes and thoughts to the future world, not forgetting to breathe 
encouragement and direction for his beloved workers in Zion, and begging 
their presence to comfort him in his final affliction. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Introduction. 

3-5 Thanksgiving for Timothy's faith. 
6-14 Exhortation to boldness. 
15-18 Commendation of Onesiphorus. 
Chapter 2. 
1-26 Encouragement and direction to Timothy. 
1, 2 Pastoral charge. 
3-7 Endurance exhorted. 
8-13 The great example cited. 
14-18 Guard against errors. 
19 Stability of the truth. 
20-26 The spirit of Christ's servants. 
Chapter 3. 

1-17 Paul's picture to Timothy of latter-day evils. 
Chapter 4. 

1-5 His exhortation to faithful preaching. 
6-8 Paul's future prospects. 
9-22 Timothy exhorted to come to Paul. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1, 2. — With sure martyrdom for Christ's sake staring him in the 
face, Paul writes to Timothy his last greeting, and, as ever, declares himself 



II TIMOTHY. 967 

a God-chosen apostle to declare the salvation of Jesus Christ. He never 
for a moment allowed his enemies to shake his confidence in his claim to 
apostleship. The kingly grace of a Christian life is here shown in that 
one who is a prisoner and within hailing distance of a violent death should 
be able to breathe so calmly the blessing of a spiritual king upon his 
followers. 

3-5. — It is a matter of no small importance that the great Apostle 
Paul was stayed up in his distress and peril by the remembrance of 
Timothy's faith. The tears mentioned were probably brought to the eyes 
of Timothy on parting from Paul, and the latter clause of verse 4 means 
no doubt that to be able to see Timothy would fill Paul with joy. The 
faith of the grandmother and the mother were no doubt most important 
factors in the character of Timothy. 

6-14. — The nearness of the end of his earthly career did not keep Paul 
from giving his attention to the interests of the church. On the other 
hand it disposes him to more earnestly encourage Timothy, knowing as 
he did how much he would need such courage in his future fight against 
evil. Hence the language of verse 7, and the caution in verse 8 against 
turning back from adversity. God uses adversity as a means of displaying 
his power. Incidentally he notes that the plan of salvation and the 
grace which it displays comes from God and was manifested to humanity 
at the proper time, in the person of Jesus Christ, who was promised to our 
parents in Eden (before times eternal), and who at his appearing van- 
quished death and brought life within reach of humanity. While the 
apostle suffers for his connection with that blessed cause, yet he is not 
confused because he has a personal acquaintance with his Savior and 
knows his power to care for the interest of his people. Hence, prisoner 
though he was, and prisoner though the advice was likely to make 
Timothy, Paul charges Timothy to imitate him, and so guard his most 
sacred of all heritages, the work wrought through him by the Holy Ghost. 

15-18. — Onesiphorus was specially commended for the friendship which 
sought out and stood by Paul in his obscure and humiliating imprison- 
ment, so humiliating indeed that it drove away those who had formerly 
been Paul's friends. It seems that the man here commended had 
distinguished himself before this by administering to Paul at Ephesus. 

Oh. 2 :l-26.— Out of his own troubled and burdened heart the apostle 
finds encouragement and direction for Timothy. As a pastor he is 
charged to find faithful men who shall be able to transmit these religious 
doctrines and usages to the generation to come. Then he exhorts Timothy 
to endurance. "Take thy part in suffering hardship like a good soldier." 



968 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Then to make the thought more impressive, he shows how the common 
soldier devotes his entire time and attention to the soldier's duties, and 
how that all contests must be conducted according to rule. And just as 
the farmer gets the first right to his produce, so in following these 
directions you will get the first right to the great results which under 
God you will accomplish. As a climax to this argument he cites the 
example of the Christ, dead for the truth's sake, risen again, whose 
followers are suffering similar hardship, hut whose word is conquering 
the world. He reminds Timothy that partaking of Christ's death (by 
faith in him) means life with Jesus, while endurance of Christ's sufferings 
means partaking in future of his kingly glory. Faithlessness reacts solely 
upon its author, whom it will belittle by contrast with the constancy of 
Christ. He is charged to guard the church against errors by cutting off 
profitless debate. For himself he must be able to properly handle the 
word so as to avoid being put to confusion, and to shun the babblers 
whose ungodly lives and erroneous declarations bring disaster to the faith 
of the uninformed. Nevertheless, the truth is indestructible, and God 
will make no mistake as to who belong to it ; and we ma}' assure ourselves 
of its approval by observing the injunction to keep free from iniquity. 
Just as in a well regulated house there are a variety of vessels to supply 
the diverse needs of a family, so if a man makes himself free from those 
things which God opposes, he shall be like a vessel set apart for the highest 
and most desirable station in the household, that is, fitted for anything 
for which Christ would use him. This is the positive side. The proper 
negative follows — shun the one class, follow the other (verse 22) ; refuse 
one line of conduct (profitless, verse 23), follow its opposite (verses 
24-26), and by this means best turn back the deluded to a knowledge 
of the truth. 

Ch. 3:1-17. — His picture to Timothy of evils which should arise was 
as black as his picture in Eomans of the Christless world. In this case it 
is worse because they make a profession of godliness while their conduct 
goes counter to every principle of it. The two proper names in verse 8 
are said to be the names of the two magicians in Egypt who with their 
false miracles rivaled Moses and Aaron. But Paul declares there shall 
come a time in their work when they can carry their deceptions no further, 
and shall be known as the deceivers they are. Here he reminds Timothy 
of his imitation of Paul and of his personal knowledge of Paul's perse- 
cutions and deliverance, and further that every godly person must expect 
persecution for the truth's sake. While evil men shall increase in the 
art of evil doing, this child of faith was to remember the Scriptures he 



II TIMOTHY. 969 

had known from childhood and use them as directed for his everlasting 
profit. The best rendering of verse 16 is, "Every Scripture inspired of 
God is also profitable/' etc. It ought to be noticed that in it only is the 
furnishing for all duty. 

Ch. 4 :l-5. — As a climax to this advice he exhorts Timothy to faithful 
preaching of the word. Therein lies the only hope of the world's salva- 
tion. Its reproof and rebuke are as necessary as its comfort and its 
exhortation. He lays stress upon both long suffering and teaching. The 
declarations of both verses 3 and 4 have been amply verified and are being 
verified by those who try to find substitutes for the word of God and its 
doctrines of sin and salvation. 

6-8. — Of himself, Paul says, I have clone my best, and am ready to go. 
Fighting, completing, keeping, are the three notes in his blast of triumph, 
and henceforth he looks forward to the crown to be presented him by the 
Great Judge himself. 

9-22. — Personally he begs Timothy to come to him. His mind must 
needs travel back from that transcendant flight and view of the future to 
the cold dungeon in which he shivered. Demas had gone. Crescens and 
Titus have gone. Luke only remains by me. Come, and bring Mark. 
(See Acts 15:36-39.) And do not forget the cloak I left at Troas, and 
the books. Whether or not the Alexander here mentioned is the one 
whose name appears in connection with the riot at Ephesus is a matter 
of conjecture, but I should take him to be a different person. The fact 
mentioned in verse 16 is a most pitiable one. Like his Master in his hour 
of deepest need of sympathy, he was left solitary and alone. And yet 
with the truth on his side he was able to fight successfully against the 
entire force of conspirators, and could have continued so to do had they 
not simply brought the power of the state to crush him regardless of 
evidence. Verse 19 would indicate that Timothy was at this time either 
at Ephesus or likely to be there. Incidentally, it is made clear that the 
apostle lacked the common necessities, for he charges Timothy to be sure 
and come before winter, evidently meaning that he needed the cloak. His 
final sentence suggests divine wisdom and courage possessing the spirit 
of Timothy with meekness and sweetness, so adorning his personality as 
to make him an attraction to all about him. 



TITUS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Titus was a Gentile convert of Paul. Just when and where this letter 
was written is not known, but probably about 65 A. D., from some point 
on Paul's journey after he had been released from his first imprisonment 
at Eome, and so, about the same time as I Timothy. On this journey Paul 
seems to have left Titus in Crete to establish church government. Prob- 
ably Paul had introduced the Gospel there while a prisoner on his way to 
Eome in the sailing vessel, as recorded in Acts. Titus was with Paul 
at the council at Jerusalem, also in Paul's pastorate at Ephesus, was sent 
by him from there as bearer of I Corinthians, whence he went to 
Macedonia and rejoined Paul (who had expected to find him at Troas). 
He was a companion of Paul on this third missionary tour, and, as II 
Timothy shows, was with Paul on his second imprisonment at Eome. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-4 Introduction. 
5-9 Qualification of elders. 
10-16 Suppression of false teachers. 
Chapter 2. 

1-3-11 Directions as to Christian behavior. 
1-2 Aged men. 
3-5 Women. 
6-8 Young men. 
9, 10 Servants. 

11-15 Source of the directions. 
Chapter 3. 

1-2 Christian character. 

3 Its opposite. 
4-7 Means of its attainment. 
8-11 Need of right teaching. 
12-15 Paul's charge to Titus. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1, 2. — The introduction here is unusual as to length in a short 
letter. He declares his service and apostleship both based upon his faith 
in God's salvation plan. T?he plan om braces : 1. Knowledge of the truth. 



TITUS. 971 

2. Godliness. 3. Hope of eternal life. These were promised back in 
Eden, and later manifested in the salvation plan of which Paid was a 
preacher. 

5-9. — Verse 5 tells why Titus was left in Crete. Not only was he to 
organize and set in order the church work there, but specific directions 
are given him about the qualification of elders (verse 6). A bishop was 
an elder who, as the margin says, was an overseer. These qualities of 
verses 7-9 would be needful and expected in a leader of the church, and 
therefore ought to inhere in elders, any one of whom, other things being 
equal, might be called to the office of overseer. 

10-16. — A most important part of the mission of the church in Crete 
was to stop the mouths of the lying teachers, especially the Judaizers, 
who were wholly reckless of the result of their work if only they might 
establish themselves as leaders and make gain out of their profession. 
Verse 12 shows the estimation in which Paul held such, and verse 13 
displays his manner of dealing with them. Verses 15 and 16 show how 
they use the truth itself to forward their personal schemes of selfishness, 
while by their actions they belie their profession and publish their abom- 
inable and reprobate character. 

Ch. 2:1-3-11. — Under directions as to Christian behavior Paul shows 
what ought to be expected of the various classes of people. Old men and 
women, young men and servants are mentioned, and opposite each are 
recorded those virtues which are becoming in Christians of their class. 
He sets as the source of these directions the grace of God as manifested in 
the salvation plan, teaching the way of a right life, and giving the hope 
of the reappearance of Jesus, who shall come to claim those whom he has 
redeemed out of evil. Christian character implies subordination to 
authority and readiness to go good, as well as unwillingness to speak evil 
or to be contentious. Here he sets over against that the kind of life they 
lived before their conversion, and shows how the salvation of God washed 
and renewed their natures and made them heirs of eternal life. The need 
of right teaching was to the end that they might know these facts and be 
active -in good works. Their common matters of dispute were wholly 
profitless, and such as persisted in such a course after due warning were 
to be ignored. 

12-15. — Whether or not Titus met Paul at Mcopolis we do not know. 
It is probable, however, that he did, and went with Paul to Rome in his 
second imprisonment. 



PHILEMON. 



INTRODUCTION. 

This letter was written by Paul at Rome, A. D. 61 or 62, in his first 
imprisonment, and is addressed to Philemon, a resident of Colosse. It 
seems that Onesimus, a slave of Philemon, had run away from his master 
and gone to Eome, and it is thought had also defrauded his master. 
At Eome he fell in with Paul, and was by him converted to Christianity 
and sent back to his master with this letter. 

It is said by some of the Christian writers that Onesimus was later set 
free by his master, and that he was consecrated by Paul bishop of Berea, 
in Macedonia, was afterward bishop of the Ephesians, and finally was 
martyred at Rome. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-3 Introduction. 

4-7 Thanksgiving for Philemon's love and faith. 
8-22 Paul's plea for the slave Onesimus. 
23-25 Salutation and benediction. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1-3. — It is worthy of notice that in this letter Paul does not 
speak of himself as an apostle, suggesting his authority, but writing a 
friendly and intercessory letter, names himself a prisoner, suggesting 
right in the beginning the reality and worth of the religion for which he 
is willing to suffer, and for the sake of which he is now to plead with this 
friend to show Christian mercy. Timothy was with Paul at Rome at 
this time, and it seems evident from this writing that Philemon was an 
active Christian worker. Apphia is thought to have been the wife of 
Philemon. Col. 4:17 indicates that Archippus was pastor of the church 
at Colosse. 

4-7. — Paul first of all gives thanks for Philemon's love and faith, which 
is the strongest argument that he was an active Christian, so much so 
that his Christian graces were remarked on by his fellow believers. It is 
supposed by some that the term "hearing" which he uses in verse 5 
indicates that Paul had never been to the home of Philemon. But if (as 
will be noticed in verse 19) it be true that Philemon was a convert of 
Paul, he probably came in contact with him at Ephesus at some time in 



HEBREWS. 973 

Paul's ministry there. The end of Paul's prayer for Philemon was that 
the liberality Philemon was showing towards the Christians might become 
operative in every good quality which might be lying dormant within him, 
and which the touch of knowledge and grace would bring to light. 

8-22. — Now he begins to touch on the subject for which he specially 
writes this letter. He says, Though I might command you, being your 
spiritual father, an old man, and now a prisoner for Christ's sake, yet I 
prefer for love's sake to beseech you for another spiritual child of mine, 
begotten in my bonds. Here he mentions the runaway slave, whose 
name means "helpful," saying that though a little while before he was 
unprofitable to you, now by his change of character he is profitable to 
both you and me. Paul further declares that he would gladly have kept 
Onesimus to minister to him to the credit of Philemon, but would not 
do so without Philemon's consent, for he desired Philemon's service 
toward Paul to be a free will service. Here he suggests that possibly 
the runaway occurred that Onesimus might return to Philemon per- 
manently as more than a servant, a brother, beloved by both Philemon 
and Paul. And now Paul says, Eeceive him as you would receive me. If 
he has wronged you or owes you, put it to my account and I will repay 
you. That was an offer that Philemon could not well refuse, and 
especially when Paul reminds him how Philemon owed even his own 
Christian self to Paul. He expresses confidence that Philemon will do 
even more than Paul asks with reference to this case, and finally asks 
of him to prepare a lodging for Paul, who hopes soon to be free and to 
see him. 

23-25. — In the final salutation he mentions five others besides Timothy 
who were with him at that time. "Fellow prisoner" does not prove that 
the person mentioned was in chains, for some of them were only com- 
panions to Paul in his imprisonment, and probably this was true of 
Epaphras, though there is nothing to prove it. 



HEBREWS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

About sixteen hundred years ago Origen said, "Who wrote the epistle 
God alone knows." After these centuries of searching we have to admit 
that we cannot improve on the statement. Neither do we know when or 
where it was written. The argument is addressed to Hebrew Christians, 
evidently by someone thoroughly familiar with the Jewish system of 



974 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

religion, and who had, as well, logically thought through and applied the 
Christian system in his argument. The logic is conclusive and irresistible 
that Christianity is the realization and ultimatum of the highest religious 
types and prophecies which the world had ever known. The letter has no 
introduction. It jumps at once into the great argument and carries it 
to a finish. 

The world lapsed from the religion of Eden to the condition of wicked- 
ness which called for the flood to destroy the human family. About 
three hundred years after the flood, when the human family had again 
begun to grow large, God chose, called and trained Terah, Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's descendants, a selected people, through whom 
by Moses he gave a revelation of religion to men. Here begins an edu- 
cational process to bring humanity back to that from which it had fallen. 
But this chosen family, the Hebrews, came to think of these "means" 
which God employed with them as an "end," and so they rejected as a 
nation the Christ and his religion, for which Judaism was a preparation, 
and even the Hebrew Christians clung to their old forms. To such a 
company as that the writer directs this letter. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-8-13 Superiority of the Christian dispensation to the Jewish one. 
1-2-18 Superiority of Jesus to angels. 
1-12 In his nature. 
13-2-18 In his office. 
Chapter 3. 

1-4-13 Superiority of Jesus to Moses. 
1-6 His sonship. 
7-4-13 His promised inheritance. 
14-8-13 Superiority of Jesus to the Aaronic high priest. 
Chapter 5. 

14-5-10 His station, credential and qualification. 

11-6-12 Statement of lack and exhortation to Christian 

growth. 
13-8-13 Superiority of his dispensation. 
13-20 Its oath of establishment. 
Chapter 7. 

1-10 Tribute of the Jewish to the Christian priest- 
hood. 
11-28 Perfection of the Christian priesthood. 



HEBREWS. 975 

Chapter 8. 

1-13 Jesus the Christian high priest. 
Chapter 9. 
1-10-18 The sacrificial antitype. 

1-5 Jewish sanctuary described. 
6-10 Its service. 
11-28 The Christian service. 

11-14 Superiority of the priest. 
15-28 A new covenant demanded. 

15-23 Christ's death involved. 

24 A better place. r 

25-28 A sufficient sacrifice. 
Chapter 10. 

1-9 Insufficiency of the old will. 
10-18 Sufficiency of the new will. 
19-12-29 Warning against relapse into Judaism. 
19-25 Steadfast faith exhorted. 
26-31 Why the exhortation. 
32-39 Encouragement of their past faith. 

Chapter 11. 

1-40 Mature and service of faith. 

Chapter 12. 

1-29 Endurance exhorted. 

1-4 Influence of example. 
5-11 Result of discipline. 
12-17 A statement of Christian duties. 
18-29 The two covenants contrasted. 
Chapter 13. 
1-17 Practical duties. 
1-3 Love. 

4 Marriage. 
5, 6 Contentment. 

7-17 Regard of spiritual authorities. 
18-25 Conclusion. 

18, 19 Appeal for prayer. 
20, 21 Apostolic blessing. 
22-24 Exhortation. 
25 Benediction. 



976 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1:1-12. — The superiority of the Christian dispensation to the 
Jewish one is argued with these points of evidence, viz., that Jesus, who 
embodies that plan, is superior to angels, to Moses and to the Aaronic 
high priest. These three points take eight chapters of the book. The 
Jewish dispensation was given through the ministration of angels, but 
God, who spoke to the fathers by many messages and in many manners, 
at the time of this Christian dispensation spoke to the human family by 
his son, the appointed first born, or head (and so heir) in the human 
family, and for whose sake, that he might operate the salvation plan, 
God set up the ages. Such is the substance of verses 1 and 2. Verse 3 
states that Jesus was that which men could comprehend of God's glory, 
and was the image of God's character, and upheld all things by the word 
of God's power ; that he made a ritual purgation of our sins according to 
the demand of justice, foreshadowed by Jewish rites, and then was set on 
the right hand of God, meaning that to him was delegated God's power. 
His superiority to angels is first manifested in the fact that he is a son, 
and the angels were commanded to worship him. And again "angelos" 
or angel means a messenger, and verse 7 rightly translated says, Who 
(God) maketh "winds" his "messengers" (angels), the "lightnings" 
(flames of fire) his "ministers;" so that it is greater to be a "Son" than 
an "angel." But to Jesus, God said verses 8 and 9. In verses 10-12 the 
writer ascribes to God the Father, who said the above of Jesus, the right 
to speak authoritatively, since, as in Gen. 1 :1, God is the creator of heaven 
and earth and the unchangeable God. 

13-2-18. — Jesus is greater in his office than angels, since he has been 
given authority over all things, and angels are set to do service for such 
as shall be partakers of the salvation which Jesus brings. And for this 
reason the writer exhorts special attention to these spiritual matters 
because of the danger of drifting away from them. The word (dispensa- 
tion) spoken by angels was the Old Testament (Hebrew) dispensation, 
and rewards and punishments were connected with the keeping or the 
violation of that ; then how much more shall they be connected with the 
dispensation which was introduced by Jesus and confirmed by his disciples 
and followers, God stamping approval on it by miracles and gifts. 'God 
did not put the key to the future life under the hands of angels, but he 
did put it under the hand of Jesus. Although things are not yet actually 
subjected to him, yet we see this same Jesus (who was put beneath angels 
that he might endure suffering) crowned with glory and honor as the 



HEBREWS. 977 

Savior of all men. For God, the Creator of all, in the act of bringing 
back believers to himself, found it fitting to first perfect, by suffering, 
the Captain of the salvation plan, that he might be in perfect touch with 
those whom he would help. For this reason he became man, and by 
submitting to death, which had no just claim upon him, nullified the 
power of the devil, who had the power of death, and delivered all believing 
mankind from a slavish sense of fear concerning death. Christ did not 
appear as an angel (as the Jews expected), but in a greater office, that of 
a Son of God, having the nature of a man, son of Abraham, and thus, 
having traveled the ways beset by sin, he knows how to aid those similarly 
tempted. 

Ch. 3 :l-6. — Now he argues the superiority of Jesus to Moses in that 
the builder of a house always has more honor than the house, and God, 
who built all things, had Moses for a servant, but Jesus as a Son, and so 
the one in authority over the religious house of which Moses was a 
servant. And it ought to be carefully noted that the real house is the 
Christian dispensation, of which the ceremonial law and services of 
Moses were mere pictures, object lessons or preparatory instruction. 

7-4-13.: — He is also superior to Moses in the respect that he brings his 
believers into an inheritance of which* the temporal Canaan to which 
Moses led Israel was a mere picture. This theme is closely linked with 
the closing statement of the preceding one. The Christian church is the 
house of God if it keeps faith and obedience toward him and does not 
repudiate and stand aloof from him, as did Israel in the wilderness. The 
Ghristian enters into an inheritance (rest) of which the rest of Canaan 
was but a type. The proof of this is furnished in the fact that after Israel 
had come into Canaan under the leadership of Joshua (verse 8, instead 
of Jesus), God still said through David, "Do not harden your hearts/' 
etc., that you may go into the rest promised to the people of God. Hence 
(verse 11) the writer enjoins diligence that we may not fail, as did Israel 
of old. For the word of God, which we have, will properly instruct and 
finally be the standard of our judgment before the face of God. 

14-5-10.. — Jesus is superior also to the Aaronic high priest in that he 
has passed into the heavens, our holy of holies, and that he is the Son of 
God. He is fully able to sympathize with men in their weakness because 
having passed through this life he has been tempted similarly to us. The 
last clause of verse 15 were better rendered "apart from sin," the thought 
being that sin spent its force against him as against us, the only difference 
being that sin, never having had a hold on him, did not affect him 
as it does the one who has been implicated. To such a priest therefore 



978 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

we may come with boldness for any help we need. His credential is 
shown in the fact that God set him in this place, and his qualification 
is apparent in that though he was the Son of God, yet by submission to 
the sufferings of this life he learned what it is to obey as one under 
the orders of a superior, and thus was perfected for the office of Savior 
of the world, and so was called of God an eternal high priest, not after 
the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. 

11-6-12. — Here he pauses in the argument to interject an exhortation 
to Christian growth. Of this priest and priesthood many things might 
be said, but because while you ought to be full grown in knowledge, and 
teachers, you are mere babes and have to be taught first principles, it is 
clearly useless to speak of the logic which is difficult of comprehension. 
Hence, he exhorts, let us get beyond first principles (such as are men- 
tioned in verses 1 and 2), and press on toward that development which 
belongs to mature age. This is the more especially necessary because of 
the extreme difficulty of renewing those who fall away (the argument 
therefore being that they should be guarded against falling away by 
religious education). To illustrate, land which receives God's rains to 
bring forth useful products is valuable, while that which brings forth 
only a useless growth is valueless and fit only for the flames. The writer 
breathes confidence that they will add the graces of advancement to their 
profession of salvation, and reminds them that God will remember and 
reward them for every kind act whi-ch they do for his children, and so 
desires that they may continue such activity to the end of their probation. 

13-8-13. — The other point arguing the superiority of Jesus to the 
Aaronic high priest deals first with its oath jof establishment. God 
"sware by himself" to Abraham so that the "promise" and the "oath" 
gives the strongest possible encouragement to those who would make this 
the basis of their hope. And the writer declares that this hope is an 
anchor to the soul, securely mooring it to the life to come into which life 
Jesus, our forerunner, has gone to become our Melchizedek high priest. 
And a further point in the argument is that the Aaronic priesthood 
owned the superiority of this Melchizedek order. In this argument the 
word "Melchizedek" is here used as an "office," as is "Levi," same as we 
use the words "Pharaoh" and "president." What person filled this office 
when Abraham met him, we do not know; it may have been Noah or 
Shem, as both were at that time alive. But whoever he was, his office 
(described in verse 3) stood for the true worship of the true God as 
revealed in Eden, of which there have been here and there outcroppings 
throughout the entire human history. Of this priesthood the priesthood 



HEBREWS. 979 

involved in the promise made to Abraham (the Levitical) was a tem- 
porary part, for temporary purposes, and, as Jesus showed in his 
declaration about other sheep, there were many others in all ages beside 
the Hebrews who belonged to Christ's priesthood. The fact of Abraham, 
and so Levi, paying tithes to this priesthood was an open acknowledgment 
of its superiority. Closely connected with this is a third point, viz., the 
perfection of this priesthood. It recognized the universal Fatherhood of 
God, the universal brotherhood of man, the sin of the human race, and 
provided for its reconciliation to God by a perfect sacrifice and atone- 
ment. The Levitical priesthood was restricted in its views of Fatherhood 
and brotherhood, and provided only beasts for sacrifices, which could 
only picture a sacrifice which must come in the Melchizedek order, so as 
to be universal and effective. It is evident that verse 12 and its following 
was addressed to the Hebrew, for to no one else was the law changed. 
The Levitical law allowed only Levites at the altar, but this priest of the 
Melchizedek order was not a Levite. The requirements of this law (Num. 
8:7) Jesus as a Hebrew observed by way of initiation, that the official 
sanction of the Levitical priesthood might thus be given to the transfer 
of authority from Levi to Judah, and so John baptized Jesus, and Jesus 
used it as an argument against those who questioned his legal authority. 
Thus he is called a priest after the Melchizedek order, which embraces 
all the true* worship of the true God in all ages. The Levitical system is 
set aside (having accomplished its purpose) because of its inability to 
do more, and there is substituted its antitype, out of which springs that 
by which men come to God. And this priest was constituted with an 
oath of God, lives forever, has an unchangeable priesthood, and so is 
able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. The closing 
verses of chapter 7 speak of the eternal fitness of human beings having 
such a priest as that, and by contrast shows the superiority of the Mel- 
chizedek priesthood, in that whereas the incumbent of the Levitical office 
must constantly repeat the rite of atonement and reckon with his own 
infirmities, this one made one perfect sacrifice and goes on record as a 
son perfected forever. Finally he sums up the argument in this wise: 
We have such a priest at the right hand of God in heaven, a minister of 
the sanctuary of which that of Moses was but a picture. To complete 
his initiation into the priesthood he must make an offering, pictured by 
that which followed the baptism of the priest under the Levitical law. 
This offering has already been referred to in verse 27 of the seventh 
chapter, and will be explained at length under "the Christian service" in 
chapter 9. His ministry pertains not to this life, as did the Levitical 



980 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

priesthood, which was given as a sort of illustration of things in the 
heavens, and so the Mosaic pattern was specially directed of God in the 
mount. Thus the ministry of our priest is as much more excellent as his 
covenant and promises are better, and for that reason the Levitical 
covenant was displaced for the better one described in verses 10-12. 

Ch. 9:1-28. — By way of introducing the sacrificial antitype, he first 
describes the Jewish sanctuary. The tent was about forty-five feet long, 
fifteen feet wide and fifteen feet high. Two-thirds of the distance from 
the front to the rear hung a curtain — the temple veil. The tent fronted 
toward the east. As you entered the holy place, thirty feet long, on your 
right, at the north side, stood the table of shew bread. On the left, 
south side, stood the golden lamp stand. Directly in front, back by the 
temple veil, stood the altar of incense. Back of the veil was the holy of 
holies, fifteen feet cube. In it was the ark of the covenant, the lid of 
which was the mercy seat, over which two cherubs spread their wings. 
In the ark were the two tables of the law, brought from the mount by 
Moses, Aaron's almond rod, which budded, and a pot of manna. It is 
probable, however, that the two latter articles were kept in a chest beside 
the ark. The censer mentioned was probably kept in that room to burn 
incense on the day of atonement. 

Ch. 10:1-9. — Into the holy place the priest went every day. Into the 
holy of holies only the high priest could go, and he only once in the jear y 
on the day of atonement, three times ; once to sprinkle blood for himself, 
once to sprinkle blood for the people, and once to burn incense. This 
restriction signfied that the plan of redemption, or the way back to God, 
was not perfected in the days of the tabernacle, and that these things 
were only pointing to a better day to come. 

10-18. — Here he names out him who was the person filling the office 
of Melchizedek high priest. He- was the promised Christ of prophecy. 
His offering was not a beast, but his human self, undefiled by sin. By 
this offering (made on the cross) he perfected the ceremony by which 
he was consecrated a high priest forevermore. Seeing then that a new 
covenant was demanded, the death of the testator was involved. Verse 
15 indicates that the redemption of Jesus reached backward and embraced 
air those of the first (Hebrew) covenant, so that the Levitical priesthood 
was embraced in this Melchizedek priesthood. The plan embraced a 
better holy of holies (heaven itself), and a sacrifice, as already stated, 
that need not be repeated, made once, at the proper time, by the priest 
himself "of himself," so that his second appearance shall be to gather out 
of all nations his own. So he sums up the argument in the two themes by 



HEBREWS. 981 

which he closes this topic : 1. That the old will was insufficient, merely 
shadowing the good things to come, and unable to bring perfect salvation 
to its devotees. The fact that it was abandoned proves that. Its office 
was to constantly remind of sin, hence the utterance of Christ in verses 
5-9. And the line of argument would presuppose the final theme: 
2. The will or covenant of the Melchizedek high priest was "sufficient," 
and under it we are set apart by the offering of Christ's body, who has 
now gone to the right hand of God, waiting until God shall put every 
enemy under his feet. To this historic fact is added the testimony of 
the Holy Ghost regarding the complete pardon of all the believers' sins. 

19-25. — The line of argument which the writer now takes up furnishes 
its own proof that this was written to an aggressive body of Hebrew 
Christians, perhaps to the mother church at Jerusalem. They are 
warned against relpase into Judaism, and the entire letter from the 
beginning up to this point seems to have been written simply to pave the 
way for this most necessary exhortation. Steadfast faith is the one thing 
which he would now set clearly before their minds. They had entered the 
holiest of all relations by the atonement of Jesus, who had become the 
great high priest over the house of God. The closing statement of the 
preceding argument is that sin, having been forgiven, needed no further 
offering. Therefore he charges them to have perfect confidence in this 
provision and trust all their future to it. Under the old dispensation the 
priest sprinkled the blood and washed with water; in this argument he 
uses that figure to declare that the inner nature is to be purged by Christ's 
sacrifice, as well as the outer kept clean. They are to keep hope burning 
within them, not to waver in their faith, but to stimulate one another 
to good works, and so were to be faithful to the regular services of the 
church. Evidently some were not. 

26-31. — The matter of sinning (missing the mark) wilfully refers 
without doubt to turning the back upon the knowledge of the true way 
and going again into Judaism, which was only a picture of the Christ 
atonement.' To those who turn away from Christ of course there is no 
hope of pardon. They have nothing to look forward to but the penalty 
of broken law. The one who treated with contempt even the law of Moses 
must die without mercy; to treat with contempt the Son of God and his 
salvation would merit as much greater punishment as the substance is 
greater than the shadow. Verses 30 and 31 confirm the theory that God 
must be just, and will therefore call human beings to account for the 
way they use their light and privileges. 



982 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

32-39. — Here he very fittingly reminds them of their former attach- 
ment to this faith which was so great as to lead them to endure the 
severest persecutions for its sake, being willing even to give up their 
earthly possessions for the sake of their hope of the future in Christ. 
Hold on to such confidence, he exhorts, for the trial of your faith works 
patience, of which you have need. He gives the utmost assurance that 
God will very soon manifest himself in their behalf. 

Ch. 11:1-40. — To properly emphasize this idea of holding on by faith 
he defines the term, and draws upon past Hebrew history by way of 
illustration. Faith is the assurance in the believer's mind that what he 
hopes for has been granted him of God. That is equivalent to an evidence 
(proof or test) beforehand to the mind that what has not yet been 
manifested has real existence. This principle furnished the motive force 
in the life of the Old Testament worthies. It is by the same faith that 
we believe God to be the author and ruler of the ages, and the element of 
faith within the supreme being himself is marked by the fact that he 
commands before a condition exists, that by his command it may become 
existent. Abel displayed that faith by the character of his offering, 
Enoch by his life ending in his translation, Xoah in his work of building 
the ark, Abraham in his obedience to God's call to a strange land, and 
Sarah in her power to bring forth a son in her old age. Thus it was that 
Abraham became the father of a chosen nation from whom came the 
Christ, and so is called the father of all the faithful. These died, though 
not seeing, yet believing that their hopes were incorporated into God's 
plans and would yet come to be manifested. They sought a heavenly life, 
as evidenced by the fact that for their faith they voluntarily went out 
from and refused to return to their own country, and thus God owns them 
as his people and has prepared for them a heavenly city. The offering of 
Isaac, the blessing of the sons of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob 
by their fathers, the foretelling of the exodus by Joseph, the hiding 'of 
Moses by his mother, and the later refusal of Moses to be called the son 
of Pharaoh's daughter, his flight from Egypt, his observance of the 
Passover, the passage of the Red Sea, the destruction of Jericho and the 
salvation of Eahab the harlot — were all evidences of great faith in the 
living God. The judges, the kings and prophets were added to this list, 
who not only turned the whole channel of history, but made the most 
miraculous personal records. Verses 35-39 refer to believers under the 
Old Testament dispensation, and the "something better" provided for us 
refers to the revelation of the Christ, faith in whose coming was the 
inspiring motive of the gallant acts of the galaxy of worthies just men- 



HEBBEWS. 983 

tioned. Hence the Christ revealed to us is the ultimatum and perfection 
of their faith. 

Ch. 12:1-4. — The writer exhorts endurance by citing these examples 
and saying that under the inspiration of such a company of sympathetic 
onlookers we ought to show the necessary determination and patience to 
run the Christian race, and expect of Jesus all necessary help. Especial 
attention is called to the fact that Jesus denied himself everything 
precious for the consummation of this plan, and resisted iniquity even to 
the point of giving up his life. 

5-11. — Closely following that thought in the logic is this: If you are 
sons of God, his chastening is a proof of his love. He deals with you as 
a son, and for your profit, and the exercise of it will yield blessed fruit 
to the person for whose sake it is given. Do not therefore become panic- 
stricken or discourged over such experience, but since we submit to an 
earthly parent, let us submit the more gladly to a heavenly one. 

12-17. — Therefore help the discouraged and make the way easy for 
those feeble in faith. Be peace-makers, and set yourselves apart for 
God's service — otherwise he can neither use nor keep you. Beware of 
falling away from God's grace, or of letting difficulties among yourselves 
drive 3'ou into condemnation, or temporal matters induce you to acts 
which will rob you of your standing in God's sight. The thought of the 
term repentance in verse 1 7 is, "change the conditions." Esau had made 
his choice and had to abide by it. 

18-29. — Finally, to contrast the Christian with the Hebrew covenant, 
he speaks of Sinai, where the law was given, comparing it with Mount 
Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem, such as John saw in Eevelation. They 
are charged not to ignore God, seeing they know how certain was the 
penalty for ignoring even Moses. In the giving of the law, the basis of 
the old dispensation, the mountain trembled, but God has declared that 
by this second dispensation heaven should be shaken ; that is, the political 
constitution upon which earth governments are built shall be overturned, 
and renovated and reconstructed, until the kingdoms of this world shall 
have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. And so he says 
(verse 28), We receive a kingdom which cannot be moved, and therefore 
ought to render service with proper spirit and reverence. 

Ch. 13 :l-6. — At this point the writer adds a statement of a few 
practical duties. Love is the basis of fellowship in both this world and 
the next. The thought of verse 2 is the recognition of that broad fellow- 
ship which reaches out beyond one's connections and immediate circle, 
and recognizes worth wherever it exists. This spirit of brotherly love 



984 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

recognizes the reproach of any member as being a reproach of the whole 
body of which the member is a part. The revised rendering of verse 4 is 
much clearer. It is an injunction to recognize the honorable relation of 
marriage as the foundation of home, state and church, and the safeguard 
against that condition of society which would destroy all three. As to 
contentment, we are elsewhere told that the love of money is a root of 
various kinds of evils, hence contentment is a safeguard against that 
love which proves so fruitful of evil. The best insurance in the world 
is faith in God's promises. 

7-17. — Warning is given against that presumption which disregards all 
spiritual authority. They were to revere and imitate their spiritual 
leaders. They were charged to be stable and so proof against vagaries. 
The altar of the Christian is that on which was offered Christ, the 
Christian's spiritual food. Of this food, the one who rests in the 
ceremonies of Judaism has no right to partake. The thought of verses 
11 and 12 is, that Jesus was made a curse for us, and therefore (verse 13) 
let us be willing to bear his reproach. This advice was very pertinent to 
those who were becoming ashamed of Jesus because he was in bad repute 
among the Jews, especially in view of the fact that being mere sojourners 
here, we seek our permanent dwelling place through him. Verse 15 
names the sacrifice more pleasing to God than all those' of Jewish altars. 

18, 19. — In conclusion the writer appeals for their prayers. There 
is a suspicion in these words that the writer, whoever he was, was then 
in prison. 

Verses 20 and 21 are worthy to be committed to memory as an apostolic 
blessing. 

22-24. — Finally he exhorts them to surely heed these admonitions, and 
refers to the fact that Timothy had somewhere been in prison. 



JAMES. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The writer of this book was the brother of Jesus, and was called 
"James the less," to distinguish him from James, brother of John (sons 
of Zebedee) . He was also called "the just," and was bishop at Jerusalem. 
In this letter he writes to the Hebrew Christians of the twelve tribes of 
Israel who were scattered abroad. Jamieson says, "It needed particular 
wisdom to so preach the Gospel as not to disparage the law. As bishop 



JAMES. 985 

of Jerusalem, writing to the twelve tribes, he sets forth the Gospel in 
its aspect of relation to the law which the Jews so reverenced. He 
presided over a church still zealous for the law, and if any could win 
the Jews to the Gospel, he was most likely who presented a pattern of 
Old Testament righteousness combined with evangelical faith." 

James was martyred at the Passover, 68 A. D. Jerusalem was destroyed 
the next year. It is thought that this letter was written just before his 
death, and the reference in chapter 5 :1 is supposed to be a foretelling of 
the coming destruction of the city. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-20 Treatise on sincerity and patience. 
21-27 Talk against hypocrisy. 
Chapter 2. 

1-13 Warning against flattering the rich and showing contempt for the 
poor. 
14-26 K elation between faith and works. 
Chapter 3. 

1-12 Duty of ruling the tongue. 
13-4-6 Duty of cultivating peace. 

7-17 Warning against the corruption of this world. 
Chapter 5. 

1-6 Warning against covetousness. 

7-11 Patience exhorted. 
12 Oaths repudiated. 
13-20 Intercession, confession and consecration. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1-21. — To count trials a joy is no easy advice to follow. But the 
following of such advice even through the greatest difficulties is the true 
test of the ideal man. True confidence in God believes that the man of 
faith is prospering in the school of God, even though he outwardly seems 
to be suffering defeat, and so that testing of faith develops the patience 
which is indispensable to a Christian character. Perfection being a 
relative thing, and inseparably connected with growth in knowledge, he 
suggests prayer concerning every conscious lack of wisdom. The entire 
drift of the book with its coupling of faith and works will be an explana- 
tion of verses 6 and 7. The petitioner must ask with the kind of faith 
that works on without wavering, not work today and wail in despair and 



986 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

cast reflection on the Christian faith tomorrow. Such a one is of no use 
to God or man. It usually happens that the going ahead of the man of 
faith to do the best he knows is God's plan of giving him increased 
wisdom. Yerse 9 shows how the one who has nothing in which to glory 
in the affairs of this life yet has in Christianity a treasure beyond 
estimate, while the rich may well rejoice in the fact that Christianity 
teaches him better than to trust in his riches, but puts him on a level with 
the humblest. Endurance then of those exercises by which God makes 
us to grow means final approval and God's crown of victory. However, 
he throws in a necessary guard here against inferring from this language 
that God is the author of temptations. They come from sin and its hold 
upon our natures ; nevertheless, God overrules its evil clutch to strengthen 
his believing child, so that while the evil flows from sin, the good is from 
God, who disposes all to work out his will. And so, he wisely adds, hear, 
get knowledge, learn by experience, but hold your tongue, for fits of 
temper do not help on the work of God. 

21-27. — The talk against hypocrisy and self-deceit fit most closely the 
nation he was especially addressing, for not only did he speak to the 
Christian Jew, but through him to the unbelieving Jew also, and so he 
deals with the argument calculated to make him think. The Jew was 
proverbial for his malice toward Gentiles, and was accursed by all the 
world because his life did not correspond to his profession. Hence James 
says, Putting away malice, receive meekly the word (on possession of 
which you so pride yourselves) . But if you do not "obey" as well as hear, 
you delude yourself. Here he illustrates by the figure of a mirror, noting 
the well known fact that, often as a person sees his own image in a mirror, 
he knows less of his own features than those of any of his neighbors. So 
is one who merely cons over the law mechanically, and does not imbibe 
it in his nature. Hence, he declares, it is not how you think and profess, 
but how you act which gives evidence of religious standing. And so he 
sums up all by enjoining good works, or helpfulness to others, and purity 
of life. 

Ch. 2 :1-13. — The numerous references in the law given by Moses to 
this people as to how to treat the poor, and the references in their history 
as to their oppression of the poor, shows why even the Christian Jews 
had to be specially warned against flattering the rich and showing con- 
tempt for the poor. James reminds them that those who have been 
richest in. faith were poor men, and also that the rich have been the 
greatest persecutors of the Christians, and the blasphemers of Christ. 
So he declares, You break the law by not treating the poor as you would 



JAMES. 987 

yourself be treated, and to break the law in one point is as surely fatal 
as if it were broken in many. And so to clinch the point he charges them 
to be liberal toward others, else, being themselves law breakers, they 
might expect judgment without mercy in their own shortcomings. 

14-26. — Here he discusses the burning question among Jewish Chris- 
tians. There were those who had gone to the extreme of saying that 
"faith" being present there was no need of "works" by the Christian. So 
he proceeds to show that faith (so-called) which does not produce good 
works, is no faith at all, being mere presumption. The common illus- 
tration of verses 15 and 16 makes clear this conclusion. He contends 
what every thinker must concede, viz., that faith is known only by works. 
Mere intellectual belief is held by devils as well as by saints. Both 
Abraham and Eahab are cited to show that the faith by which they were 
justified was shown by their works. 

Ch. 3 :1-12. — Xo more important duty comes to the Christian than 
that of ruling the tongue. No doubt there were many who desired to 
become teachers. He gives them to understand that the responsibility is 
a grave one, especially because, as the bit turns the horse and the rudder 
turns the ship, so the tongue may so kindle in the nature the fires of hell 
as to defile the whole being. Hence the necessity of governing the tongue. 
The facts which he states in verses 7-10 are well known and sufficiently 
striking to concentrate attention on the tongue. "Wheel of nature" might 
be translated "the orb (cycle) of creation." 

13-4-6. — ?7ow he sets forth by contrast the wise course of declaring 
one's faith by his manner of life. The thought of verse 14 is, repudiate 
jealousy and faction in order that you may not lie against truth by 
professing it while holding to its opposite. Such a course would be 
animal and demoniacal. The virtues named in verse 17 are the char- 
acteristics which belong to the Christian, and are supposed to differentiate 
him from the class mentioned in chapter 4:1. Xo doubt many such were 
nominally members of the Christian company over which James was 
overseer. Hence his use of the second person of the pronoun. The fact 
stated in verse 4 is a most important one. God and the unregenerate 
nature of men are at variance, and every human being must choose his 
side. He cannot be neutral. The spirit of the whole Scripture confirms 
this view, as the language of verse 5 indicates. The spirit which God 
gives his children is far above the disposition to envy, but lifts the 
humblest into that self-respect which makes a man among men. 

7-17. — Therefore he exhorts that they submit to God, resist the devil, 
and by the constantly repeated act of cultivating affinity with the 



988 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Almighty put such a gulf between themselves and sin that by their 
humility God may exalt them. Such are his directions concerning the 
inner life. As to social relations, the law commands, "Love thy neighbor 
as thyself/' and so the judging of a brother sets the law at contempt. 
The third phase relates to the commercial methods of a Christian. It 
warns against shutting God out of the business of life and acting as if he 
had no interest in the affairs of a man's daily duties. The true spirit is 
that of verse 15. And finally, to know all these things, and fail to do 
them, is sin of the surest kind. 

Ch. 5:1-6. — The warning against covetousness, while it is pertinent 
for all ages, may have had a special significance in that day, for it is 
believed that verse 1 has special reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, 
which happened perhaps the next year after this was written. If this be 
true it would throw special light on many of these characterizations of 
that outrageous class of extortioners whose rich viands stood for the life 
blood of their less fortunate fellow beings. 

7-11. — But to the Christians he exhorts patience. Just as the farmer 
must wait for the rains to perfect the products of the earth, so the 
religious plans of God require time for their perfection. No doubt the 
fearful persecutions to which the Christians had been subjected, especially 
by the rich class of Jews, called out this exhortation and assurance, and 
the calamity which came upon the Jewish nation stood to them for the 
coming of the Lord in vindication of his own. If this be true the 
language of verse 9 is very pertinent. No doubt their patience had almost 
reached its limit, and their oppressors' cup of iniquity was nearly full. 
So he cites the desperate case of Job to comfort them. 

12. — In that day oaths were very profuse, intense and correspondingly 
worthless. This advice is, say "yes" or "no" and mean it. It is easy to 
see that if anyone thinks he must swear to every utterance that no word 
of his can be depended upon. 

13-20. — The closing theme is mostly self-explanatory. "Anointing 
with oil" in those days was the main part of the practice of medicine, 
and so the direction is, employ your medical skill not as an independent 
or sufficient action, but as a means employed in the name of the Lord, to 
whom the Christians should look for the consecration of every agency to 
its proper end. Such a spirit would bring everyone into the possession of 
pardon as well as health. The might of prayer is well illustrated in the 
case of Elijah. Lastly he reminds them that to convert a sinner from 
the error of his ways is not only to save a soul from death, but to head off 



I PETER. 989 

perhaps countless generations of criminals who might spring from one 
sinner. 



I PETER. 



INTRODUCTION". 

This letter was written by Peter, from Babylon, to the Christians, 
probably the Jewish Christians foremost, and also intended to include 
along with them the Gentiles who by their faith in Jesus had been grafted 
into this spiritual plant of which Christ is the root. The indications are 
that it was written sometime after the martyrdom of Paul at Rome. This 
is argued from the evidences of familiarity of Pauline epistles, which 
appear in this letter. The countries which he names are provinces of 
Asia Minor, and the field in which Paul had labored; so for this reason 
it is very unlikely that Peter would trench upon it while Paul lived, 
though it would be very fitting that after Paul's death he should write 
to the Hebrew Christians especially, showing that his utterances and 
exhortations were in accord with Paul's, and not at variance, as Paul's 
enemies contended. It would also be natural that he should take an 
interest in the spiritual oversight of this field made vacant by Paul's 
death. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1, 2 Introduction. 

3-12 Necessity, use and brevity of earthly trials. 
13-2-17 Exhortation to honor the Christian calling. 
13-21 The Christian attitude. 
22-25 Christian love. 
Chapter 2. 

1-17 Christian manner of life. 
18-3-17 .Christian duty in various relations of life. 

18-25 Servants. 
Chapter 3. 

1-6 Wives. 
7 Husbands. 
8-12 General directions. 
13-17 Force of these directions. 



990 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

18-5-11 Exhortation to follow Christ. 

18-22 His suffering. 
Chapter 4. 

1-6 Our fellowship with him. 
7-11 Why the exhortation. 
12-19 Forewarning about affliction. 
Chapter 5. 

1-11 The charge to pastors. 

1-3 Their requirement. 

4 Their reward. 

5 Bearing toward one another. 
6-11 Attitude toward God. 

12-14 Conclusion. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Clfi. 1 :1, 2. — As against the claims of those who contend for apostolic 
pre-eminence for Peter, it is noticeable that he claims for himself only 
that he is one of the number, and not that he has any special authority. 
The language of verse 2 has reference to the term "elect," indicating that 
according to the plan which God foreknew some would accept, these had 
become God's elect by setting themselves apart to him and becoming 
obedient to the provisions of the atonement. 

3-12. — He first gives due recognition to God for the mercy which 
kindled in Christians the living hope by the resurrection of the Savior 
to his great inheritance, which is also the inheritance of the Christian, 
who by faith becomes the joint heir of Jesus. In this life the Christian 
rejoices in that hope even amid his grief and temptations, and thus is his 
faith tested by this passage through fiery trials until it shall be found 
worthy of praise and glory and honor in that day when Jesus Christ 
shall again be manifested. As verse 8 indicates, faith in this Jesus- 
wrought out the salvation about which all the prophets had written, 
when they foretold the coming and work of the promised Messiah. All 
these prophets realized that the salvation which they foretold was to be 
wrought out not in their day, but later, in the days of the apostles, as 
announced by the disciples when they began to preach the story of the 
cross, which interested not only devout men, but even the angels of God. 

13-2-17. — Having then shown the profit that comes to the Christian 
from his trials, he exhorts them to honor their Christian profession, first 
by assuming the proper attitude for a child of faith. The "girding up of 



I PETER. 991 

the loins of the mind" was another way of saying, dispose your besetments 
so that you will not be hindered by them, and soberly fix your hope on 
what is to be revealed ultimately. Be obedient to your spiritual master 
and pattern your life after his. Seeing that you call God your father, 
remember his impartial judgments, and keep in mind a wholesome fear. 
Remember that the price of your redemption from the vain life of your 
ancestors was the life of the Christ, the spotless Lamb of God. The 
meaning of verses 20 and 21 is that while God's plan was prepared at the 
beginning of human history when its need was first shown, it was not 
manifested until enough of the ages which God there constituted had 
elapsed to make clear to men its need and efficacy. Having assumed such 
an attitude as this, which presupposes genuine love, they are to exercise 
that gift of love with diligence, conscious of the fact that they are 
regenerated through the word of God, which is incorruptible and ever- 
lasting — the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The manner of life must therefore 
correspond to this condition. Such things as mentioned in verse 1 are 
to be utterly repudiated, and that which nourishes the believer into a 
proper growth is to be sought. Here he changes the figure and represents 
each believer as a living stone in the house of God, or a holy priest to 
offer acceptable sacrifices, such for instance as obedience. The quotations 
of verses 6-8 use the figure of a great building of which Christ is the 
corner stone and his believers stones in the building. Also as in Hebrews, 
Christians are called a nation of priests, a people to set forth the excel- 
lencies of God, having before no standing, now a people called by God's 
name. To such he exhorts, Keep from that which wars against the soul 
and so behave that your accusers may ultimately be forced to glorify God 
on account of you. Be loyal and peaceable citizens, subject to law, so 
that your manner of life may silence those who accuse you of disloyalty. 
Be free, do not construe freedom as license to do wrong. It ought to be 
noticed here that true freedom consists in being a real servant of God. 
18-3-17. — Now he speaks of the Christian duty in various relations of 
life. Servants are exhorted to be subject even to harsh and ugly masters. 
Stress is laid on the point that suffering undeservedly is that which 
commends one to God, and that was exactly the case with Jesus, and that 
by this course he had brought to earth and wrought out a salvation which 
turned all believing men to the shepherd of their souls. To wives he 
exhorts the subordination which the civil law and customs of the times 
demanded. He argues that some men who may not be obedient to God's 
word may yet be won to Christ by the embodiment of that word in the 
behavior of the wife. He speaks for the adornment, not of the physical 



992 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

person, but of the spirit by meekness and quietness, citing Sarah and 
calling her the mother of such as do well and repudiate all terror by 
faith in the Lord Jesus. Husbands he charges to dwell with their wives, 
using judgment and consideration as to their situation and remembering 
them as joint heirs in the kingdom of God's grace. Under general 
directions he exhorts all to show that sweetness of disposition and tender- 
ness which insures God's blessing according to the promise of the law, as 
shown in verses 10-12. The force of these directions is shown in this 
well known fact that the man who does right is the safest man in the 
world. Suffering for the sake of right brings its own blessings and gives 
no cause for fear. It is a compliment to Christ, an enthronement of him 
in the life, and furnishes an answer for every question concerning your 
standing. 

18-5-11. — Here he exhorts imitation of Christ, first in respect to his 
sufferings. As he has just been indicating, Christ suffered for the sins 
of others, even giving up his life, but keeping that glow of spiritual life 
and fervor in which he preached to the disobedient in the days of Noah 
through that patriarch (they being now in prison), after which only 
eight of all the human family were saved. This figure of salvation by 
water in the case of these eight persons suggested that water was made 
the seal of the covenant of Christ (the antitype), and stood not for 
physical cleansing, but for the seal of the believer's faith in Christ whose 
atonement saves him, such faith of course embracing the fact of his 
resurrection and transition to the place of power and authority. Seeing 
that Christ so suffered, Christians are to be willing to share it with him. 
The last clause of verse 1 is parenthetical, and conveys the thought that 
one who is willing to suffer for truth's sake has repudiated sin. Verse 2 
is to be joined to the first part of verse 1 — "Arm yourselves that ye no 
longer," etc. The thought is that you have done enough of evil. Now do 
good, even if your former companions do say evil things because you will 
not continue in their evil ways. The language of verse 9 refers to such 
as were just spoken of belonging to the days of Noah. The Old Testa- 
ment was full of the Gospel, from its beginning to its end. Now, he 
declares, this exhortation is given because the end toward which the old 
dispensation looked is at hand, hence the exhortation to be diligent in 
improving the occasion. Love covers the shortcomings of "another," 
not of "one's self." 

Hospitality, the sharing of one's blessings with fellow Christians, 
revering the word of God and honoring the office of a Christian, is the 
true way to glorify God. Then the forewarning about afflictions was 



II PETER. 993 

pertinent for the sake of such as might be inclined to forget amid their 
troubles that God ruled. It is worthy of notice that trials are sure to 
come, and sure to be severe, and that they are used of God for the Chris- 
tian's good. Hence even amid trials the Christians may rejoice, not in 
circumstances necessarily, but at least in the Lord. The only concern is 
to be careful that evil may not be truly charged against the Christian. 
Otherwise he need not be worried when troubles overtake him, but may 
remember the process of calling to account will be sure to be started upon 
Christians, proper enough, perhaps, but what then of those who have no 
Savior, and whose sins all stand against them? The charge to pastors 
deals first with their requirements. It is the duty of the elder to tend 
the flock, not under compulsion, nor for money's sake, nor tyrannically., 
but in the spirit of an example. Verse 9 speaks of the reward given for 
duty done — a payment for services rendered. The bearing toward one 
another is that first of subordination, and then of neighborly kindness. 
The attitude toward God is that of such humility and trustfulness that 
God may use the Christian and that anxious care will be absent. Sober 
watchfulness is presupposed. The latter part of verse 7 indicates some of 
the bullying methods of Satan. He attempts to overawe those whom he 
would catch and destroy. The writer here intimates that resistance will 
cause his flight. 

12-14. — The conclusion shows this letter to have been sent by Sylvanus 
(or Silas), one of those sent by the church at Jerusalem to Antioch to 
carry the church's decision concerning the circumcision of the Gentiles. 
He was Paul's companion in his second missionary journey. Mark was 
with Peter and Silas at Babylon at this time. 



II PETER. 



INTRODUCTION. 

It is thought that this letter was written by Peter near 68 or 69 A. D., 
about a year after I Peter, and shortly before the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, after the death of Paul, and not long before his own death. He 
makes a strong plea that his readers grow in grace and knowledge, and 
specially warns them against the error afloat which would destroy a 
Christian's usefulness. It was directed especially to those who had 
received the first letter, and included as well all Christians to whom it 



994 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

might come. Where he was when this letter was written is not known, 
but it is not unlikely that he was at Babylon. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-15 Exhortation to keep faith in Jesus and imitate his life. 
16-21 Jesus is the Christ. Proofs. 
16, 17 Baptism. 

18 Transfiguration. 
19-21 Word of prophecy. 
Chapter 2. 

1-22 False teachers described. Their nature and end. 
Chapter 3. 

1-7 Warning against scoffers. 
8-10 Suddenness of judgment. 
11-18 Exhortation to holiness and watchfulness. 



LESSON NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :1-15. — Verse 1 tells who writes, and to whom. Note that grace 
and peace become abundant to the Christian by knowledge. In exhorting 
them to keep faith in Jesus and imitate him, the writer calls attention to 
the fact that by the knowledge spoken of, the Christian is possessed of 
great and precious promises, and so becomes like God and escapes worldly 
corruption. In verses 5-7 the number of additions are seven, signifying 
completeness, and end in love, which is God. Faith comes first, and is 
the way by which we come. The Greek word rendered virtue means 
valor, or bravery. The other additions mentioned follow naturally and 
are progressive in their nature. The addition of these partial products 
result in fruit. To lack these things is blind and short sighted. Diligence 
is a necessity to the Christian in order that he gain the end of his 
Christian probation, and adherence to these rules will prevent any stum- 
bling and insure an abundant entrance into citizenship in Christ's 
kingdom. Verses 12-16 indicate that Peter was expecting soon an end 
of life, and wanted that the Christians should keep these things in mind. 

16-21. — Now he gives the arguments that Jesus is the Christ. He 
refers to what he saw at the baptism of Jesus, what he saw on the Mount 
of Transfiguration, and to the best of all proofs, the word of God, the 
knowledge of which is shining the darkness out of the human heart and 
out of the world. He lays stress upon the point that this word did not 



II PETER. 995 

cater to the whims of human beings, but God's prophets thundered his 
will regardless of who was reproved by it. 

Ch. 2:1-22. — Looking back through sacred history, he reminds them 
of the false prophets who had risen in the past, and assures them that 
false teachers will likewise rise among Christians, teaching foolish 
vagaries and denying the necessity of Christ's atonement. And they will 
have a following whose conduct will bring reproach on the truth. The 
mainspring of their actions is covetousness, and from verse 3 onward the 
writer describes the just judgment in store for them — citing the cases of 
fallen angels, of men in the days of Xoah and of Lot, and assuring 
Christians that amid the judgments which will come upon the wicked 
God knows how to deliver his own. From verse 10 all the remainder of 
the chapter is occupied in describing the characteristics of this class. 
Verse 21 shows how that their having known the way enables them to 
lead others from it, and verse 22 compares them to two well known brutes 
in following their brutal instincts. 

Ch. 3 :l-7. — In chapter 3 he warns them against scoffers, the character- 
istics of whom are (1) lustful, (2) taunting, (3) ignorant minds. These 
are always the characteristics of the scoffer. 

8-10. — But to the Christian he says, God is omniscient. He sees over 
the events of a thousand years as you see the events of a day. And he 
sees the events of a day in their relation to your life as you see the 
prominent event of a thousand years of history. God is not slack, but he 
is long-suffering, which accounts for his patient endurance of evil, but 
he is coming, coming suddenly to the heedless soul in some sad day of 
final and awful reckoning. In this sentence he sweeps forward to the 
end of time, because death, when it comes, will put the sinner in prison 
against that day. 

11-18. — To the Christian he exhorts a holy and watchful life. Verse 
12 indicates that by activity the Christian may hasten the coming of the 
day of God. The preposition "unto" is not in the original. He declares 
that only diligence will leave the Christian spotless and blameless. Also 
he adds that long suffering is a blessing to the Christian. He speaks in 
the most respectful and loving terms of Paul, of blessed memory, and 
warns the Christians against misconstruction of his writings. Finally 
he adds, grow in grace and knowledge — and growth in the latter is 
essential to growth in the first. 



I JOHN 



INTRODUCTION. 

The writer of this letter was the beloved disciple, the same as the 
writer of the Gospel and Revelation. When and where this was written 
is not known. Some think it was written to the Christians of the 
Parthian territory, outside the Roman empire, but this is only conjecture. 
It is the first of three letters written by this apostle, besides the other 
two writings named, and even if it was addressed to some special quarter 
it is nevertheless pertinent to the whole church of all ages, and so is 
grouped as a general epistle. It contains some of the strongest denun- 
ciatory language in the Bible, though from the lips of the gentle John. 
The letter shows something of the fierceness of the contest in the early 
Christian church between truth and error. 

ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-2-29 Nature of fellowship with God. 

1-4 Declaration of the message. 
5-10 Contents of the message. 
Chapter 2. 

1-17 Aim of the message. 
18-29 Warning concerning the time. 
Chapter 3. 
1-4-6 Blessing and duties of sonship. 
1-12 Exaltation of sonship. 
13-24 Instruction in brotherly love. 

Chapter 4. 

1-6 Direction about testing spirits. 
7-5-21 Love the bond of fellowship. 
7-10 Origin of love. 
11-21 Our duty as to its exercise. 

Chapter 5. 

1-12 Means of this attainment. 
13-17 The Christian's confidence. 
18-21 The Christian's safety. 



I JOHN. 997 

LESSON NOTES. 

Gh. 1-2-29. — In discussing the nature of fellowship with God in the 
first two chapters, John opens by making a formal statement of the 
•taracter of this Gospel message. The story, he assures them, is genuine. 
We declare to you only what we saw and experienced. The life which 
this plan involved was manifested in Jesus the Messiah, with whom John 
was so familiar. Just as John learned the truth by his contact with 
Jesus, so now he was proposing to give his hearers the truth, that they 
might enjoy all which he en^ed. Whether the translation of verse 4 
reads "our" or "your" matters little since the conveyance of the truth 
brings equal joy to the giver and receiver. The burden of the message 
is the purity of God's character. The whole salvation plan is a standing 
proof of God's incompatibility with sin. He and it cannot both exist in 
the same realm. Hence the declarations of verses 6 and 7. We are either 
against him or wholly on his side. The last clause of verse 7 shows that 
the normal condition of the Christian is that of entire freedom from sin. 
Careful distinction must be made here between sin and error. All sin 
is error, but all error is not necessarily sin. Yerse 8 was spoken to a class 
who denied that they were or ever had been sinners, as verse 10 also 
shows. The aim of the message is clearly set forth in chapter 2, verse 1, 
which further confirms the theory already given. While he wanted that 
Christians should live free from sin, he desired them to remember that 
a Christian who should fall into sin might turn to the Christian's 
attorney for deliverance. The all-sufficiency of the provisions of the 
atonement are set forth in verse 2, which is another way of saying whoso- 
ever will may come. He makes very strong the point that not profession, 
but manner of life, counts for most in God's sight, and that only by the 
latter may we certainly know a man. The language of verses 7 and 8 
indicates that the idea of love which he is here expressing was embodied 
in the story of Christ, which was preached to x Christians from the begin- 
ning. Then from another standpoint it is new because the world had 
never before seen it embodied in human life as it had been in the life of 
Jesus -and in the life of his followers. Love was the underlying spirit 
of the whole Mosaic law, but it was necessarily so compassed about with 
the stern demands of justice as to be almost lost to view. That darkness 
is now passing away, says John, and the true light (love) beginning to 
shine out from God's dealing with men. Hence the Christian must 
exemplify that spirit. The term "little children" in verse 12 means "dear 
children," but in verses 13 and 18 it is a different Greek word, and means 
those young in experience and profession. So he first addresses the 



998 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

whole church as a pardoned company. Then he speaks specialty to the 
fathers, whose age and wisdom would enable them to discover the father- 
hood of God, and to the young men, whose activity in fighting evil was 
their prominent characteristic. Now he changes the tense to past 
(aorist), and speaks to those young in experience, citing to them simply 
the knowledge with which they have become possessed, and repeating the 
declaration to the adults in much the same language as before. The 
thought of verse 15 is, do not make the acquirement of this world's 
pleasures the chief object of your life. The reason is very clear — verses 
16 and 17. In his warning concerning the time the apostle calls it "the 
last time/' meaning the days of the establishment of Christianity on 
the earth. ( See Joel ; also Peter's Pentecostal sermon. ) The thought of 
verse 19 is that their dispositions were opposed to that of Christians, as 
proved by their apostasy and enmity. The last clause of verse 20 were 
better rendered, "Ye all have knowledge." He argued this from' the 
fact of their remaining in the truth, hence the language of the next verse. 
It is very evident from, this and the language of the following verses that 
there were those who denied the divinity of Christ. It was doubtless 
John's contact with this class of opposers which induced the writing of 
the Gospel by him later, the last of his writings, and having special 
reference to the proving of the divine in the life of Jesus. The remaining 
verses of chapter 2 bear such a striking similarity to the teaching of 
Jesus regarding his relation to the Father as to warrant one in believing 
it almost literally transplanted from the discourses of the Savior himself. 
Ch. 3 :l-4-6. — Having discussed the nature of fellowship with God, he 
now proceeds to speak of the blessings and duties of son ship. His first 
point is the exaltation of this relation. Our being sons of God implies 
the strongest love on the part of the Father. Standing in this relation 
it is small wonder that the world cannot comprehend us, seeing that it 
failed to comprehend the Christ. He does not attempt to grasp all that 
sonship implies, but declares that the believer shall bear a likeness to his 
Savior, and shall be with him. Such a concept, he declares, will naturally 
incline the believer to act like his Master, and by this means to prepare 
himself for his presence. In contrast with the child of God is the sinner, 
a lawless one. The object of Christ's coming is to take away sin. The 
one who is joined to him by faith can no longer be a sinner. He who is 
constantly sinning makes it evident that he is not a child of faith. The 
following verses make it evident that a man is marked according to his 
course of conduct. The object of Christ's coming was fo destroy the 
work of the devil, and so enable humanity to live a blameless life. 



I JOHN. 999 

According to verse 9, when the faculties concerned in sinning are made 
over into the keeping of God, the owner is unable to use them to do evil 
so long as the}' are left in that keeping. And so he sums up the point by 
saying that we know the children of God and the children of his enemies 
by their works. In his instructions about brotherly love, he warns them 
about being discouraged by the world's spite. The Christian may define 
his own position by his feelings toward the children of faith. Hatred is 
incompatible with that faith. The hater is a murderer because murder 
is only hate intensified. We come to comprehend love by what love does, 
hence the language of verses 16-18. The manner of life gives the 
Christian assurance to whom he belongs whatever questioning may arise 
within him. If nothing occurs in the life to call up such questionings 
the believer is to be congratulated in that he will have all the more 
confidence. Two characteristics expected in every Christian are those 
mentioned in verse 23. The result is continuous union with Christ and 
the conscious approval of his spirit. Finally he charges them to put to 
test those with whom they come in touch before submitting to their 
influence. The first six verses in chapter 4 clearly indicate the struggle 
that was being waged against those false teachers who denied the divinity 
of Christ. This writer makes that a test of the true faith, and cautions 
the Christian that the world will most readily heed those who deny that 
assumption. 

7-5-21.— Having shown what our character must be in order that we 
may fellowship with God, and argued the blessings and duties of sonship, 
the writer proceeds to show that in the divine economy love is the cement 
which binds together God and his people. What love is, might well 
engage the intellect of an angel to tell — man cannot fathom it. He does 
not attempt to discuss that, but declares that it has its origin in the life 
of God, and that every child of God will be imbued with that spirit. This 
is illustrated by the fact that through love, God incarnated his Son, Jesus, 
for our redemption even before we loved God. Seeing then the attitude 
which this spirit prompts God to take toward us, it becomes plain what 
our duty is one to another. The language of verse 12 is another way of 
sa)'ing that, seeing God is invisible, our love to him must be manifested 
toward some tangible object, namely, some child of his. This being done, 
we may expect the spirit to bear witness with ours that we are his 
children. As verse 17 indicates, mature love has such confidence in God's 
provisions as to put aside all fear of judgment, for such a one knows 
that he stands in the world on God's side and for God's cause. Hence 
the language of verse 18. Verses 20 and 21 declare, as did also verse 8, 



1000 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

that absence of this spirit is proof positive that the person in question is 
no child of God, and not only so, but his positive declaration of love while 
he carries the positive quality of hate, brands him as a willful liar. The 
order is plain that he who loves God must love his brother. The means 
of attaining this fellowship with God are within easy reach. Obedience 
stands first. Perfect obedience insures perfect victory over the world. 
It implies perfect confidence (faith). Belief in the Messiahship of Jesus 
is the basis of it, and the sacred writer here declares that Jesus is the one 
who came by water (flesh, incarnation) and blood (the expiatory sacri- 
fice), not simpl}- living the blameless life which gave him purchasing 
power, but actually giving it to redeem humanity. Hence the three 
component units of the human being, spirit, flesh and life, each stand as 
a witness for the sonship of Jesus, and added to this is the Father's 
testimony of the same. To repudiate this fact therefore is to repudiate 
not only human, but divine testimony. John says that he wrote this 
argument as an assurance to the Christian of his standing with God. 
Verse 15 shows what true faith will claim. There will be no denial of 
that which we ought to have, and that is all any right minded son can 
ask. His prayers are granted through faith in Jesus, the Son of God. 
Verse 16 indicates the degree of intimacy between the believers and God. 
Human intercession may avail to save one who has not put himself 
outside the limits of God's provisions. Finally the Christian who con- 
tinues in his relation of faith toward God will not sin, and Satan cannot 
coerce him. Christian confidence accepts Jesus as the Son of God, and 
the way which he points out as the true way to truth and life. Hence 
here is the true God and here is eternal life. The final injunction is that 
they may keep from everything which will lead them from this truth. 



II JOHN 



INTRODUCTION. 

The tone and expressions of this letter indicate that it was written by 
the same author as I John. Whether the "elect lady" mentioned was, an 
individual or a church is not known. When and where it was written is 
a matter of conjecture. It is likely that this letter was intended to convey 
what its place among the general letters would indicate — a message to 
the church universal, wherever such advice is needed. 



II JOHN, 1001 

ANALYSIS 

Chapter 1. 

1-3 Introduction. 

4-6 Exhortation to love. 

7 Warning against false teachers. 
8, 9 Steadfast faith exhorted. 
10, 11 Warning against encouraging any other teaching. 
12, 13 Conclusion. 

LESSON NOTES. 

1-3. — The introduction reads as if John were writing to the church of 
Jesus Christ, collectively and individually. There can be no doubt that 
the highest type of his earthly love "was centered in that organization. 
And he voices the fact that all real Christians have the same feeling; and 
in every case it is not because that is the popular side, but because of 
their love for the truth, even though it be unpopular. 

4-6. — In his exhortation to love, he first voices his pleasure at the 
loyalty of those who were steadfast. Then he enjoins love as the embodi- 
ment of the entire message as given to the world through Christ, and 
emphasizes the fact that this*love implies strict obedience to the com- 
mandments of God. 

7. — His reason for calling attention to this principle was that deceivers 
were at work, denying the incarnation of Christ. Against such John 
was here righting a determined battle. 

8, 9. — The exhortation to steadfast faith which follows suggests: 
1. The possibility of Christians failing to so hold up the standard *under 
which they were evangelized as that they may fail to produce in others 
the results expected of them. 2. That a Christian may backslide from the 
teachings of Christ and lose God as a result. 3. That he may stand fast 
in Christ's teaching, and by so doing insure to himself the co-opferation of 
both God and Christ. 

The language of verses 10 and 11 is a most solemn warning. While 
we may not openly teach a false doctrine, we may by the encouragement 
of those who do teach it become jointlv responsible for the spread of error. 

12, 13. — The conclusion is thought bv some to indicate that this letter 
was written to some particular church which John hoped to visit soon, 
and to which he sent greeting from the chnreh from which he wrote this 
letter. The closing expression lends color to this theory. If that be true, 
however, it does not affect the value of the advice here contained for the 
whole church. 



Ill JOHN 



INTRODUCTION. 

This letter was written to an individual. Who this Gaius was we are 
not told, nor where he lived, but he seems to have been a prominent 
layman and so noted for his good works as to call out this commendation 
from the apostle. Neither do we know where John was when he wrote 
the letter nor the date of the writing, but it is supposed to have been sent 
from the same place and about the same time as the other two. 

ANALYSIS. 

1-8 Commendation of Gaius. 
9, 10 Condemnation of Diotrephes. 

11 A rule of Christian conduct. 

12 Commendation of Demetrius to Gaius. 
13-15 Conclusion. 



LESSON NOTES. 



1-8. — The reason why John so loved this man is found in what follows. 
No greater commendation could have been given to his spiritual condition 
than John's expressed hope that he might prosper temporarily and 
physically as he was doing spiritually. Gaius lived such a life as that 
his fame spread. The apostle commends especially his hospitality toward 
strangers. 

9, 10. — It seems that Diotrephes, in his selfish egotism, had not only 
tried to make himself leader of the church in that place, but assumed 
authority over it, repudiated the authority of the apostle John, and said 
evil things against him, and probably as a matter of spite refused to 
receive such as John commended, and tried to prohibit others from 
receiving them by expelling from the church those who did so. The 
apostle promises, when he comes, to visit justice on him. 

The rule of verse 11 is a warning against allowing one's self to be 
influenced and warped by evil association and practice, and an encourage- 
ment to actively develop righteous habits ; for he declares that the habit 
of life is that which determines to whom the individual belongs. 

12. — Demetrius, it is thought, was the one by whom this letter was sent 



JUDE. 1003 

to Gaius. John here commends him strongly to Gaius, and the closing 
sentence of verse 12 indicates that Gaius had extreme confidence in John. 
13-15. — The declaration that he had many things to write to this man 
is proof of his being an important personage, and valuable to the church 
and cause of God. No higher tribute can be paid to mortal man. 



JUDE. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The writer of this letter was a brother of James, bishop of Jerusalem, 
writer of the book of James, both of whom were brothers of Jesus. 
Nothing is known of the date and place of writing of this letter. It is 
thought that he addressed himself chiefly to Jewish Christians, he 
himself being a Jew, and referring to Jewish history. The letter iniorms 
us that he was intending to write more at length, but was induced to 
write at once to warn against the crisis which had come upon the church 
by the incoming of numbers of ungodly men. He arraigns them in most 
scathing language. 

ANALYSIS. 

1, 2 Introduction. 
3-23 Appeal for steadfast faith. 

3, 4 Exhortation to contend for purity of faith. 
5-7 Example of falling from God's favor. 
8-16 Characteristics of such beings. 
17-23 Warnings to Christians. 
24, 25 Ascription of praise. 



LESSON NOTES. 

1, 2. — Modesty would naturally forbid their referring to their blood 
relationship to Jesus. Moreover, the relation of one redeemed was nearer 
than that of a natural brother. The greeting (verse 2) is a most beautiful 
and suggestive sentence. 

3-23. — He begins at once his appeal for steadfast faith. He exhorts 
them first of all to contend for its purity. The plan of salvation which 
had been preached was not to be changed. It had been foretold that evil 
men would creep into the kingdom of the Messiah when it began to 
assume greatness, and attempt to explain away the perdition of ungodly 
men and the necessity of regeneration, and construe the liberty of the 



1004 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Gospel into license to do evil. He cites them to the fact that men who 
have been in God's favor have fallen from that favor, as shown in the 
history of the exodus. The same was true of angels, who fell from 
heaven to prison and judgment. Sodom, Gomorrah and surrounding- 
cities are also cited as examples of punishment which shall follow wrong- 
doing. Here he shows that these very persons against whom he is 
warning the church are doing the very same things for which the ones 
above mentioned were called into judgment. Even the archangel Michael, 
he says, did not dare to show the contempt for authority which they 
assume to show. Nothing is so dignified or sacred as to be above their 
contemptible railery, and nothing appeals to them except brute lusts, and 
these they make a source of self -defilement. He charges them with the 
crimes of Cain, Balaam and Korah. He names them hidden rocks 
(dangerous to navigation), posing as shepherds, and feeding themselves 
shamelessly (without due fear) rather than their flocks, rainless clouds, 
trees which not only had dropped their foliage (as autumn trees), but 
which had been separated from the earth, from which they draw their 
nourishment, etc. In verses 14 and 15 he gives an extract from the book 
of Enoch. This is the only place in the Bible in which reference is made 
to the dispute about the resurrection of Moses. This warning is much 
like II Peter 3. The thought of verses 22 and 23 is, be patient with those 
who are struggling with doubts and questionings, and others hurry sum- 
marily from the scene of their danger, and in other cases deal according 
to your best judgment in the fear of God, hating and shunning the very 
appearance of evil. 

24, 25. — In the final ascription of praise he glorifies God for his 
keeping power and for his plan by which in the final reckoning he will 
account the redeemed perfect in Jesus Christ. 



REVELATION 



INTRODUCTION". 



All the evidence and authorities agree that this book was written by 
John, the beloved apostle, author of the Gospel and of the three letters 
of John. Authorities disagree somewhat as to the time of its writing, 
but the best evidence is that it was written in the time of the Emperor 
Nero, when John had much of his ministry yet before him. The book 
gives the history of the church practically from the apostle's death to the 



REVELATION. 1005 

end of time. He unrolls as a picture the conquest of the world by the 
forces of the Messiah, throwing in parenthetically an illustrative symbol, 
the story of the origin of evil in heaven and in the human family. In 
the first place important messages are sent to the church, and then there 
is shown in the prophetic vision what they must suffer before they 
triumph. Three stands for the Godhead. Four, world extension. Seven, 
perfection. Twelve, the number of the church. Fractions and multiples 
of these numbers are used in the development of the picture. Six borders 
upon, but falls short of perfection, and six hundred and sixty-six simply 
intensifies this idea in units, tens and hundreds. After the conquest of 
the world for Christ comes the era after judgment, showing what the 
condition will be after sin is forever removed. 



ANALYSIS. 

Chapter 1. 

1-3 1 Introduction. 

4-8 1 Greeting and ascription of praise. 
9-20 1 The vision of the golden lamp stand. 

Chapter 2. 

1-3-22 1 Message to the seven churches. 
1-7 1 Message to Ephesus. 
8-11 1 Message to Smyrna. 
12-17 1 Message to Pergamum. 
| 18-29 1 Message to Thyatira. 

Chapter 3. 

1-6 1 Message to Sardis. 
7-13 J Message to Philadelphia. 
14-22 1 Message to Laodicea. 

Chapter 4. 

1-22-5 1 The vision of things to come. 
1-11 1 The throne of heaven. 

Chapter 5. 

1 1-20-15 1 The book of seven seals. 

1-14! Selection of one to open the seven seals. 



1006 
Chapter 6. 



Chapter 7. 
Chapter 8. 



Chapter 9. 
Chapter 10. 
Chapter 11. 



Chapter 



12. 



1,8 

3,4 
5,6 
7,8 
9-11 
12-17 

1-8 
9-17 

1-20-15 



BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 



Opening of the first seal. 
Opening of the second seal. 
Opening of the third seal. 
Opening of the fourth seal. 
Opening of the fifth seal. 
Opening of the sixth seal. 

Sealing of the 144,000 Israelites. 
The white-robed throng. 

Opening of the seventh seal. 

1-6 1 Preparation for the seven trumpet 
sounds. 
7 1 First trumpet sound. 
8, 9 1 Second trumpet sound. 
10, 11 1 Third trumpet sound. 
12, 13 1 Fourth trumpet sound. 

1-12 1 Fifth trumpet sound. 
13-21 J Sixth trumpet sound. 

1-7 1 Proclamation about the close of time. 
8-11 1 John ordered to eat the angel's book. 

1, 2 1 Order to measure the temple. 
3-14 1 The two witnesses. 
15-20-15 1 Seventh trumpet sound. 

15-19 1 Announcement of Christ's vic- 
torious kingdom. 

| 1-15-4J A symbol (illustrative). 

1-6 1 The woman and the 
dragon. 
7-12 [ War in heaven. 
13-17! Persecution of the wom- 
an. 



Chapter 13. 



Chapter 14. 



Chapter 

I 
I 


15. 

! 
1 


1 
1 


1 1 
| 5-16-1 


Chapter 


16. 






1 

i 
i 

I 
I 


1 

1 

1 
1 

i 

i 


1 
1. 

1 
1 
1 
1 


T 8| 
3| 

4-7 

Ml 

1 10, 11| 
12-16 


i 
i 


1 
1 


1 

1 


f 17-20-151 

1 1 


Chapter 


17. 






.1 


1 


1 


I 1 


Chapter 

1 


18. 

1 


1 


1 1 



REVELATION. 100" 



1-10 1 The seven-headed beast. 
11-181 The second beast. 



1-5 1 The lamb on Mt. Zion. 
6-1 2 1 The three messengers to 
earth. 
13 1 Assurance to the faith- 
ful. 
14-16 1 The reader of the earth- 
harvest. 
17-20 J The reaper of the earth- 
vineyard. 

1-4 1 The glassy sea of fire. 
5-16-1 1 The ordering of the seven bowls 
of wrath. 



First bowl of wrath. 
Second bowl of wrath. 
Third bowl of wrath. 
Fourth bowl of wrath. 
Fifth bowl of wrath. 
Sixth bowl of wrath. 
Seventh bowl of wrath. 
17-21 1 The plague. 



1-18 1 John is shown the in- 
iquity of the earth. 



1-3 J Its fall announced. 
4-20 1 A picture of her in- 
iquity. 
21-24 1 The suddenness of her 
judgment. 



1008 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Chapter 19. 



Chapter 20. 



1-10 1 The praising multitude 
of heaven. 
| 11-16 1 The rider of the white 

horse. 
| 17, 18 1 The angels assemble the 
fowls. 
19-21 1 Battle against the beast 
and false prophet. 

1-3 1 Imprisonment of Satan. 
4-6 1 The millennium. 
j 7-10 1 The last battle. 
11-15 1 Judgment. 



Chapter 21. 

| 1-22-5 1 The era after judgment. 
| | 1-8 1 The sinless earth. 

Chapter 22. 

| 9-22-5 1 The redeemed church. 
6-11 1 The angel's assurance to John. 
12-19 1 The message of Jesus. 
20,211 Conclusion. 



LESSON" NOTES. 

Ch. 1 :l-3. — This is a revelation, not a mystery. God gave it to his 
Son, Jesus, concerning the Son, who was to declare it to his servants. 
Hence Jesus sent his messenger to declare it to John, the beloved, who in 
turn gave it to the entire church. The receiver and keeper of what is 
herein written is blessed, for the conditions described are upon us. 

4-8. — Seven was one of the numbers signifying completeness. There 
were many other churches in Asia Minor, but the selection of this number 
of representative churches where John's authority was recognized was 
simply a way of stating that the message was addressed to the entire 
church of all ages. The grace and peace mentioned in the greeting was 
to come from God the Father and Jesus the Son. The latter is set to be 
our elder brother, the ruler of the earth, and is glorified as the Lover, 
Redeemer and High Priest of the human family. In verse 7, "clouds" 
should be rendered "throngs," and "mourn over"' should be "importune 
before," the thought being that every knee shall bow to him, whether of 



REVELATION. 1009 

friend or enemy. Verse 8 refers not to the Son, but to the Father, same 
as in verse 4. 

9-20. — Patmos was in the sea west of Palestine toward Greece. It was 
a rocky, barren island, and this apostle had been banished there for being 
a Christian. This Revelation was given on the Christian Sabbath, and 
John was commanded to write it and send it to these churches. The 
candlesticks (or lamp stands) represented the churches of the Christ 
throwing light into earth's darkness, and of course the central figure of 
all was Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of Man, or incarnated Christ. His 
word was the two-edged sword, and the keys mentioned in verse 18 are 
expressive of his power, by means of his salvation, to set free those who 
are in bondage to sin. The angels or messengers of the churches were the 
presidents, or those who were at the time in authority over the organ- 
izations. 

Ch. 2 :l-3-22. — In the message to these seven churches some interesting 
figures appear. Four of them, Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira and Sar«dis, 
are "mixed," i. e., they are partly commended. Two of them, Smyrna 
and Philadelphia, are purely commended, and one, Laodicea, is utterly 
condemned. The two commended are number two and number six, or the 
even numbers next to the extremes. If seven stands for completeness, then 
we have two-sevenths purely commended, one-seventh utterly condemned, 
and the rest partly commended and partly condemned. Ephesus was the 
city where Paul had so long labored, and where was situated the great 
temple of Diana,, one of the seven wonders of the 'world. There is no 
direct testimony as to who were the Mcolaitanes, but they seemed to be 
a class who construed the liberty of the Gospel into licentious license. 
Smyrna was a little north of Ephesus, and it is thought that at this time 
Poly carp was the president or messenger (angelos) of this church. It 
is probable that the Jewish synagogue in its almost universal and 
senseless opposition to Christianity became known among Christians as 
a synagogue of Satan in contradistinction to a synagogue of right-minded 
Jews. Ten fell short of twelve by only two. Twelve also meant complete- 
ness; hence "ye shall have tribulations bordering on the success of your 
enemies," though after all their success, they shall be defeated. "Faith- 
ful unto death" means faithful to the extent of giving up your life even 
for the Master's sake. Such faithfulness would be sure to win a crown 
for services rendered. The message to Pergamum shows how that in 
the early church there were those who made such questions as idol 
offerings, discussed in Corinthians, a stumbling block to unsettled minds. 
Such are likened to Balaam, who, as is evident from this passage, had 



1010 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

instructed Balak to destroy Israel by tempting them into idolatry and 
lewdness. The reference thus to Jewish history, and manna, and white 
stone, indicates that this company were Jewish converts to Christianity. 
The Jezebel mentioned in the message to Thyatira is thought to refer 
to a company of so-called prophets within the church. Sardis was 
evidently doing some kind of work which led the unthinking and super- 
ficial observer to contend that she was very spiritual, when as a matter 
of fact she was no such thing. Philadelphia is purely commended for 
keeping and using well what little God had given into its hand. Laodicea 
was of the kind who did not know enough to know how needy she was. 
She had no graces to be commended nor diligence to be praised. The 
reproof is scathing, but not without mercy, for if the advice be received in 
the spirit in which it is given this church will come again under God's 
approval. 

Ch. 4:1-11. — Here begins the vision of things to come. After dealing 
wisth the condition of the church as it then existed, the Almighty unrolls 
a picture of the world conquest. The events of this vision extend to 
chapter 22 : 5. The first sub-topic is the throne of heaven, embracing the 
whole of chapter 4. He that sat on the throne was God the Father. In 
the old dispensation there were twelve patriarchs. In the new there 
were twelve apostles. These combined heads representing God's kingdom 
on earth amounted to twenty-four. The lamps of fire stood for God's 
complete system of espionage which he has over all things created. Sea 
stands for countless multitudes who before God were transparent and 
purified. Four characteristic phases of the Christ life are set forth in 
the Gospel writings, Matthew showing him the man, Mark the lion, Luke 
the ox (calf), John the eagle, representing humanity, power, sacrificial 
redemption and divinity. This Gospel is the "quick and powerful" word 
of God which pierces to the dividing of soul and spirit, discerning the 
thoughts and intents of the heart, and so it is said to be full of eyes before 
and behind. It investigates all humanity backward to Eden and forward 
to the end of time. Each creature had three pairs of wings (perfection 
of locomotion), and the eyes of the wings indicated perfection of vision 
and discrimination of the truth by the same power by which it flies. This 
theme confirms the first statement of the Bible that he who created the 
starry worlds and this world is God the Father Almighty. 

Ch. 5 :1-14. — The second of the three sub-topics under this vision is 
the book of seven seals. This theme reaches to chapter 20:15. Its first 
minor is the selection of one to open the seals (chapter 5). Notice that 
this book was in the hand of the Father, in whose mind the whole plan 



REVELATION 1011 

originated. The book of that age was a roll. This one was written on 
both sides, rolled one-seventh of the way and sealed, rolled and sealed 
again, and so on until it was completely sealed. No one of God's creatures 
was able to embody and reveal his will to earth until God laid the charge 
upon one begotten a Son, here set forth under the figure of a lamb offered 
in sacrifice. 

Seven horns meant perfect power of offensive and defensive warfare, 
and seven eyes perfection of sight and aptitude to take notice. When 
this person takes the roll from the hand of God, the representatives of 
the two dispensations fell before him to give him the adoration due to his 
station. The whole host of heaven joined in giving honor to the Lamb, 
and all the hosts of earth united in the ascription of praise. 

Ch. 6 :1, 2. — Now comes the opening of the seals, each of them a minor. 
The three series of sevens found in this vision, seals, trumpet sounds, 
bowls of wrath, stand for the three manifestations of deity ; Father, with 
whom the sealed plan originated, Son, who trumpeted abroad and made 
known the plan, and Spirit, under whose guidance the bowls of wrath 
were poured out. These correspond to the three departments of govern- 
ment, legislative, judicial and executive. The last seal is made up of the 
seven trumpets, and the last trumpet of the seven bowls of wrath, so that 
all three of the series end at one and the same point. Thus the providen- 
tial manifestations are divinely classified so that the functions of the 
three persons of the Godhead are made clear, the second and third series 
duplicating the first. It is suggestive that, if the order of living creatures 
is here as given in chapter 4, the one presenting Jesus Christ as the 
powerful Lion of the tribe of Judah, overcoming all opposition, was the 
one who announced the peaceful conquest of the truth, the "white horse." 
This intimates that in all this great conflict peaceful methods predomi- 
nate. 

3, 4. — The second phase of God's plan is the red horse, meaning 
bloodshed. It v/as announced by the creature, calf, who set forth in the 
life of the Messiah the idea of sacrifice — the atonement of the human 
family before God. Because truth opposes error, trouble is always to be 
expected as a result of preaching the truth. 

5, 6. — The third phase points out the helplessness and misery of 
humanity in this world of sin. The "man" announces the black horse, 
representing famine and want — food sixteen prices, only the oil and 
wine left to ease the wounds of poor humanity. Ordinarily sixteen 
measures of wheat or forty-eight measures of barley sold for a penny. 

7, 8. — The royal supremacy of the divine is pictured in the voice of 



1012 BIBLE SCHOOL. BOOK, 

the eagle which calls forth death on the pale horse, passing upon men 
according to the saying of divinity, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou 
shalt surely die." Here one-fourth of the human family are taken by 
the sword, famine and wild beasts, a frightful necessity in the subduing 
of the human family to him whose right it is to rule over them. Though 
a great part of this was persecution for the truth's sake, yet it all grew 
out of the original disobedience to God. 

9-11. — The fifth seal shows the martyrs pleading that the violent 
wrongs visited on them for the truth's sake may be avenged. Patience 
was counseled, that the great tragedy might go on to its fulfillment, and 
so open the way for the awful reckoning which was to come upon God's 
enemies. 

12-17. — Throughout this book sun, moon and stars are set to represent 
earth governments. In this sixth seal earth powers are shaken, and 
political and social conditions, seemingly as stable as the everlasting hills 
and islands, are overturned and reconstructed. The high in authority 
of yesterday become the beggars of today, and men are made to recognize 
in these overturnings the just wrath of an avenging God. 

Ch. 7 :l-8. — Before the seventh seal, which embraces all that follows 
to the end of time (judgment), come two themes (minors). An exceed- 
ingly great complete, yet definite number, are sealed from the chosen 
family as God's own. The four corners of the earth stand for world-wide 
extension, and the sea stands for the masses of the human family. Just 
why Dan is left out of this catalogue does not seem to be clear. 

9-17. — And then from the other families of the earth comes a countless 
white-robed throng singing their song of praise, redeemed from sins. 
Verses 14-17 describe their past and their future, their struggle and their 
reward. Special attention is called to the beauty of the language in verses 
15-17 — words than which nothing more beautiful has ever been penned. 
It is a foretelling of the blessedness of paradise restored. 

Ch. 8 :l-6. — Now comes the last seal, made up of the trumpet sounds. 
I do not think the seals to be the history of any particular time, place or 
people, but rather that feature of God's manifestation of himself which 
relates to the revelation of his will. Similarly the trumpets are the 
feature which relates to the aggressive publication of that revelation 
embodied in Christ, and the bowls of wrath the feature relating to the 
actual execution of God's will in the human family. All of these phases 
may be found not only in general history, but in the history of the nation 
and the individual. The silence mentioned is explained in the third and 
fourth verses. It was that prayerful calm before the mighty storm which 



REVELATION. 1013 

was to make the kingdoms of this world the kingdoms of our Lord and 
his Christ. A coal from that altar on which those prayers were offered 
set nations in commotion, arrayed for Zion's war. This last seal ends 
the series, and in it the great conquest is finished, but it is very complex, 
and yon must watch narrowly. 

7. — The first trumpet, like the first seal, stands for bloodless conquest, 
for while there was a mingling of blood with the other commotion, such 
as the martyrdom of Stephen in the introduction of the Christ story to 
the world, yet the persecution of the truth was mainly expended against 
the belongings of the adherents of the truth. 

8, 9. — The second trumpet, like the second seal, stands for bloodshed 
or the destruction of life, a further result of the preaching of the truth. 

10, 11. — The third trumpet, like the third seal, meant famine, a 
legitimate result of the desolations of strife which grow out of the conflict 
of truth against error. 

12, 13. — The fourth trumpet, like the fourth seal, meant the desolation 
of death, earth powers being shaken and destroyed. 

Ch. 9 :1-12. — The fifth trumpet sound was a divine answer to the 
pleadings of the martyred saints for God's redress of their wrongs as 
given in the fifth seal. Note how the answer came. The legions of earth's 
army, under the figure of locusts, turned their operations against the 
instigators of evil, and their torment was such as to make death to be 
preferred. 

13-21. — The sixth trumpet, like the sixth seal, meant the tearing to 
pieces of the political powers of earth. The balance of power, held by 
certain sections, being broken, earth became one vast battlefield, and one- 
third of all humanity was destroyed, and yet the enemies of God were 
aggressive and defiant and unrepentant. 

Ch. 10 :l-7. — At this point an angel proclaims aloud, and at the sound 
of his voice the seven thunders uttered their voices. John was about to 
record their words, but was forbidden, no doubt because the horrible 
meanness which they foretold would have been calamitous had it been 
foreknown by humanity. The angel now proclaims, "Time shall be no 
longer except in the days of the seventh trump," i. e., time shall end with 
the ending of the seventh trumpet, as we shall see. 

8-11. — The book which this angel held John was ordered to eat. The 
explanation of verses 9 and 10 is plain. The mouth is the organ of 
reception of food. To take in knowledge is always sweet. Everybody 
enjoys finding out. The belly, or as the modern elocutionist would say, 
the diaphragm, was the organ of throwing out the voice, and so giving 



1014 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

out again the knowledge. To give out this testimony (verse 11) with all 
its weight of woe, would be a bitter thing to the apostle, but he must do 
so. Hence the language of verse 10. Verse 11 is a proof that this was 
written years before the death of John. 

Ch. 11:1, 2. — After the order to possess himself of the knowledge in 
the angel's book and give it out again to the people, John was given a 
reed with which to measure the temple, the altar and the worshipers. 
The sacred enclosure without the temple was to be left unmeasured, 
because that as well as the holy city was to be ruthlessly trampled down 
by the rushing, careless multitudes. Seven is the number of completeness, 
and forty-two is six times seven, falling short of very completeness by 
one seven. Most of the time since the beginning of the world's history 
the multitudes have shown contempt for holy things, but a period will 
come before time shall end when all that shall be changed. 

3-14. — Meanwhile through these forty-two months (twelve hundred 
and sixty days) the two witnesses of God (civil and ecclesiastical power) 
are standing for God in the earth, ordained of God for the government of 
humanity. Their power over men is indicated in verse 5. Those who try 
to destroy them bring destruction on themselves. Their power to bring 
distress and want to such as stand against them is noted in verse 6, and 
is well known to all readers of history and observers of the affairs of 
government. When the time comes that these have fulfilled their purpose 
in the divine economy (for they act solely as restraints upon men while 
God is demonstrating their inability to remove sin from the earth), then 
the Almight}^ will begin to use his own independent power to put down 
sin. Men will no doubt become intolerant of these civil and religious 
restraints, and utterly repudiate them, preserving the dead forms that 
they may revile and ridicule them, rejoicing with one another because 
of the removal of all restraint upon their dispositions. But their glorying 
will be short, for in the space of one-half of a complete trial, three and 
one-half days, God reinstates these powers, their going up to heaven 
standing for their most thorough vindication, involving the destruction 
of their enemies — a tithe of the inhabitants — and an acknowledgment of 
God's power from the remainder. The details of this will be noticed in 
the work of the last bowl of wrath. 

15-19. — The above proclamation, together with the two orders, followed 
by this exclamation about God's two earthly witnesses, prepares the way 
for discussion of the last of the last, i. e., the seventh trumpet of the 
seventh seal. It will be seen, however, that this seal is made of seven 
bowls of wrath, and before they are shown, the voices of heaven are heard 



REVELATION. 1015 

proclaiming that now, in this last trump, the kingdom of this world is 
made the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. Hence their praise 
(verses 15-18). 

Ch. 12 :l-6. — Just here is thrown in an illustrative symbol showing the 
origin, character and end of evil, before detailing the steps of its earthly- 
downfall. The context must decide how the word "heaven" is to be 
construed, whether the immediate presence of God, or the aggregation 
of earth powers, or the place of flying birds as distinguished from the 
surface of the ground. Here was a woman arrayed with the sun (greatest 
earth power, Roman at that time), lesser power (moon) under her feet, 
and other powers adorning her head. Later developments will show that 
the red dragon was the devil — having, so far as humanity can discern, 
perfection of wisdom, and of earthly honor, and nearly perfection of 
power, and a following of one-third of the heavenly forces, showing the 
lofty station from which he fell. His supreme desire now was to destroy 
that child, who, as the context shows, was Jesus; by being caught up to 
God meant that the child was put under divine protection, hurried away 
into Egypt. From this it becomes evident that the woman was the Jewish 
church, who, as will later develop, fled away into the wilderness. It is 
noticeable that this woman is nourished by all nations during the time of 
the prophecy of the two witnesses, a hint that God changed the base of his 
earthly operations from the Jewish to the Gentile world until such time v 
as the Jewish church should receive her Lord. 

7-12. — Accordingly, this writer believes that the actual rebellion of 
Satan in heaven did not occur until Satan had failed in his purpose to 
incriminate the Christ. Prior to that he had been coming and going 
before God (see Job), and after this he was denied longer access to 
heaven (see saying of Jesus on return of the seventy) ; see also the 
testimony of verse 10. The warning of verse 12 is verified by the history 
which follows. 

13-17. — Verse 13 refers to the history foretold in verse 6. Satan has 
madly persecuted the Jewish church, who brought forth the Christ, and 
she has been scattered among all nations, who have in turn persecuted 
and protected her. The expression "time" and "times" and half a time 
is no doubt a synon} r m for forty-two months, the twelve hundred and sixty 
days, or half of seven years, the figures in the divine arithmetic during 
which the Israelite nation must suffer for its sins. The earth helping 
the woman means the nations saving her from extermination, and the 
raging dragon extends his war against the rest of the seed of the woman, 
viz., the Christians. (See argument in the book of Romans.) 



1016 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

Ch. 13:1-10. — As showing how the dragon carried on this war with 
righteousness we are introduced to a seven-headed beast, the production of 
Satanic ingenuity, perfection of earthly wisdom, but falling short of 
perfection in power. The sea stands for humanity. The three beasts 
mentioned stand for strength, attractiveness and supremacy. If this 
beast be a picture of Satanic supremacy in the earth, it is fitting that one 
of his heads, standing for one of the seven periods of earth's history, be 
wounded to death's door, for, at. the time of the flood, for instance, evil 
was well nigh extinguished. This beast, with his lion boasting, was given 
sway over the earth through the aforementioned forty-two months. And 
so great was the supremacy and the prestige of evil that all would bow to 
it except such as were true children of light, whose names were written 
in the Lamb's book of life. The logic of verse 10 is that the man who 
has an eye for taking captives is likely to become a captive, just as the 
one who kills with the sword is likely to himself meet that end. So the 
one who inclines to the popular and the questionable is sure to fall under 
Satan's power, while the patient, faithful saint will escape. 

11-18. — After the time of the nourishing of the woman is over, a 
change is made in the conditions of evil. A second beast comes up out 
of the earth. Someone has suggested that as "the sea" stands for the 
troubled agitations of various peoples out of which the world power and 
its several kingdoms have emerged, so "the earth" here stands for society 
civilized, consolidated and ordered, but still with all its culture, of earth, 
earthy. No doubt the nature of things under the seven-headed beast was 
so accurately exposed by God's people that the old brute finds it necessary 
to enthrone another minion with a new dress — hence a wolf in sheep's 
clothing, but when he opened his mouth he was at once recognized 
through his old "daddy." Of course the acts mentioned in verse 13 were 
deceptions, as verse 14 shows. The making of an image and giving life 
to it was simply the revival of old sophistry under new conditions ancl 
names. Verses 16 and 17 show a mammoth system of bo}^cotting — an 
attempt to drive out of business all who will not descend to the methods 
of the beast. And so near does he approach to a perfect counterfeit that 
not only are six parts perfect, and of the remaining one-seventh six parts 
perfect, but of the remaining one-forty-ninth six parts are perfect, almost 
near enough to deceive the very elect. 

Ch. 14 :l-5. — (Keep in mind that we are now looking at a parenthetical 
picture soon to be demonstrated in its closing acts by the bowls of God's 
wrath. Of course, it reaches back and comprehends the seals and trumpets 
already gone over.) After this triple manifestation of evil (dragon, 



REVELATION. 1017 

seven-headed beast and second beast) the lamb was seen standing with 
the first fruits of the earthly family, answering to redeemed humanity, 
or such as had escaped the plots of the trinity of evil. Of course only 
redeemed humanity could comprehend and appreciate the song of redemp- 
tion. The throne, the living creatures and the elders would be the 
dignitaries to whom that song would be addressed. The language of 
verse 4 voices the ancient idea of the first born being a sacrifice to God, 
undefiled by the conditions of later life. 

6-12. — The three messengers show how the reign of evil is to be com- 
batted and removed. The first step was by the preaching of the Gospei. 
The second proclaimed what is soon to be shown under the bowls of 
wrath, the downfall of earth's iniquity (under the name Babylon, who 
had carried sin no doubt to its highest historical development). The 
third proclaimed the punishment that should come upon those human 
beings who partook of this sin. This will be shown under "judgment," 
the last theme of this vision. Yerse 12 is a repetition of the last clause 
of verse 10 in the preceding chapter, calling attention to the value of 
patient continuance in well doing. 

13. — This assurance to the faithful was to the effect that those who 
had died without seeing the proper recognition of their faithfulness were 
now to be vindicated in the destruction that was about to fall upon evil. 

14-16. — Just here is described another important fact. The reaper of 
the earth harvest (representing the faithful) was the Lord Jesus, gather- 
ing that which is his own out of all nations, the wheat for his garnec. 
The word over-ripe, or dried up, is suggestive that God would have done 
many things more rapidly had not his plans been interfered with by sin. 

17-20. — Earth's vintage stands for the wicked. These were harvested 
not by the Savior, but by an angel. The one who calls out to the reaper 
to gather the clusters of the earth is the one who has power over fire. The 
details of the destruction of the wicked will be brought out in the last 
part of the seventh bowl of wrath. 

Ch. 15:1-4. — Here the apostle sees the beginning of the end. The 
angels of- the seven plagues which make up the last trumpet appear with 
their bowls of wrath, ready to pour them out upon sin. And John sees 
the righteous, who have long waited for the vindication, stand by the 
glassy sea (human history now perfectly transparent), mingled with fire, 
the tribulations out of which they have* come, but come conquerors, 
singing the song of Moses (law) and the Lamb (the atonement), God's 
justice and mercy. So that this symbolical picture of sin's rise, reign 
and fall now being complete, the writer goes back in his main argument 



1018 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

to show the details of its completion in human history by the work of the 
seven bowls of wrath. 

Ch. 15:5-16-1. — The angels who were to pour out the bowls of wrath 
came out of the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony. And one of 
the four living creatures already named put into their hands the bowls 
of wrath. The Gospel of Jesus, together with the testimony of God's 
people as to what they have known and suffered, is what shall fix the 
legal status of the judgment that shall fall upon iniquity. The voice 
from this temple was no doubt the united voice of God's people, who had 
in earth understood and suffered these wrongs. 

2. — The first bowl of wrath, like the first of the two preceding series, 
was bloodless conquest. It was grievous punishment, but no loss of life. 

3. — The second was bloodshed — death, as in the preceding cases. 

4-7. — The third was famine — blood to drink, reminding them of their 
crimes against God's people. And the angel of supplies shouted to the 
living God, You are just, for they deserve such drink. And the altar, 
under which were the martyrs, said, Amen. 

8, 9. — As the sun stood for the greatest earth power, the pouring out 
of the fourth bowl on the sun means that the earth government oppressed 
with frightful severity, so that men blasphemed the name of God. The 
sight of governments oppressing to death their defenseless thousands 
suggests death on the pale horse (fourth seal), but they refused to see 
God's hand in human affairs. 

10, 11. — As the fifth seal showed the martyred saints pleading for 
vengeance, and the fifth trump the tormenting of Satan's minions, so 
this fifth bowl of wrath shows direful vengeance on the throne of that 
Satanic beast (chapter 13:1-10). Notwithstanding the frightful pain, 
still there was no repentance among his subjects. 

12-16. — The sixth seal showed the shaking and removing of earth 
powers, and the sixth trump the commotion of powers on the Euphrates. 
Here the sixth bowl of wrath was poured out on the Euphrates. The 
power which sometime prevailed there, holding the balance of power of 
the nations, is gone, and the unclean spirits from that diabolical trinity 
go out to deceive the nations and gather them in array for the final and 
decisive conflict now at hand between good and evil. 

17-21. — Now comes the seventh bowl of wrath, which is the last of the 
last of the last, and ends the whole conflict. This embraces everything to 
the end of chapter 20, and it must be remembered that chapters 17, 18 
and 19 are practically simultaneous. The first and immediate result 
of this last bowl was the announcement that this will end the conflict. 



REVELATION. 1019 

The plague fell, and Babylon, the name for wickedness, began to taste 
her final woe. The most stable earthly conditions were overturned and 
destroyed, and still the plague of God drew only blasphemy from God's 
enemies. But a decisive and final reckoning is now to be had. 

Ch. 17 :1-18. — The next act in the great drama is recorded in chapter 
19, beginning with verse 11, but before that was revealed to John the 
angel shows him, chapter IT, how great was the iniquity of earth now to 
be so severely and finally punished. Hence he points out and describes 
to John the evil of the earth under the name Babylon. Since the name 
Babylon stood for the most evil power of which the world had any 
knowledge, they used the term much as we use the term Satanic, to 
embrace everything mean. A woman meant attractiveness. She was 
attractively bedecked and sat on a scarlet-colored beast having seven 
heads and ten horns, already explained. The character of the woman is 
shown in verses 5 and 6. The angel explained to John (verse 8) that this 
beast was formerly much in evidence, but was now about to come out of 
his late retirement and go into perdition, an event which should cause 
much wonder among those who did not know the mind of God. The 
seven mountains here mentioned I believe to be time (that part of it 
through which evil exists) divided into seven portions. The seven kings 
would be seven prominent powers used by the beast in furthering his 
scheme. The beast himself would have a personality distinct from the 
seven. Also the ten horns were other earthly powers beside the seven, 
used to establish the beast in his authority. The way these kings war 
against the Lamb will be illustrated shortly. How the minions of evil 
shall ultimately turn against the mistress whom they serve and make 
desolation of her is foretold in verse 16. The woman is called Babylon, 
as already noticed, alias "Sin." Here is evidence also that even the 
sinner hates the sin which is his master. 

Ch. 18 :l-3. — After that description another angel gives in a loud voice 
a description of her infamy and the extent of her evil influence. The 
riches which flowed from her coffers was an attraction which held mul- 
titudes in her employ and power. 

4-20. — A voice from heaven warns all right meaning people to dissolve 
all relation with her, lest her punishment fall also upon them. She is 
to receive of torment and mourning double that which she has put upon 
others. The great traffickers who supplied her wants shall cry in great 
astonishment at her overwhelming catastrophe, and mourn awe-stricken 
as they, by reason of their fear, view her calamity from afar.. Verse 20 
shows how that with all their lamentation over her they recognized her 



1020 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

judgment from God and therefore just, and the very vengeance for which 
just men had long been calling. 

21-24. — An angel here hurls an enormous stone into the sea to illustrate 
the suddenness and irresistibleness of her destruction, adding, "Thou 
hast deceived the nations and art responsible for all the blood shed upon 
the earth." 

Ch. 19 :1-10. — Upon the pronouncement of this sentence upon her, the 
multitudes of heaven send up a mighty chorus of praise. The represen- 
tatives of the church of earth fall before God in adoration, giving thanks 
that he resumes his power and sway over earth. They recognize that the 
next divine stroke which falls shall sweep sin from the earth and shut 
up forever the beast and false prophet, and unite Christ and his bride, 
the church. Having seen the complete picture, John was so mightily 
moved that he fell down to worship the messenger, but was restrained 
by him, and told that he also was one who worshiped Jesus. 

11-16. — Now falls the destruction already pictured upon sin. The 
rider of the white horse was the truth (Jesus its embodiment), piercing 
eye, numberless diadems, a new name. The sharp sword was God's 
word. The last clause of verse 15 is expressive of his might. 

17, 18. — An angel called together the fowls to feast upon the bodies 
of these enemies of God to be slain. Whether these be literal fowls to 
eat literal bodies, or simply means of ridding the earth of error, matters 
nothing. The point now at issue is, evil is to go down before the teuth. 

19-21. — In the battle that follows the old product of Satanic ingenuity 
is taken, and with him the second beast, a product of the same hand. 
These both were shut up in a place which will be a hell of torture to the 
multitudes confined there. Error is wiped from the earth, its followers 
are slain. Only the author of evil remains on the earth with Christ and 
his people. 

Ch. 20:1-3. — It follows as a necessity that Satan, the author of all evil; 
must be prohibited from the earth before peace can reign there. Hence 
God's servant binds him, and for a certain specific period shuts him away 
from the people of the earth. For this specified time he is no longer 
allowed to deceive the nations. 

4-6. — Now the world is ready for the peaceful reign of Christ. In this 
millennial season he will prove the falsity of that Satanic story that it 
is impossible to live this life of flesh without sin. The word judgment 
as used in verse 4 refers to the awarding of merits to the righteous, for at 
this time the dead in Christ are raised to be with him through the 
millennium. The evil dead were not raised at this time. This is called 



EEVELATION. 1021 

the first resurrection. The office of these faithful with their Lord is that 
of priests, as shown in Hebrews. Who can conceive what transformations 
and glorifications of human history will take place in that glorious 
season when Satan is bound, Christ present, and humanity going on 
under the peaceful reign of its Messiah, with all those as his assistants 
who have fought out the battle with evil, died, and live again. 

7-10. — When the season of the millennium is finished, Satan is loosed 
again for a little time, and demonstrates that even after such teaching as 
is given under the reign of the Messiah there are certain whom Satan 
can deceive into rebellion against God and his Christ. These whom he 
gathers probably know nothing of sin experimentally, and by lack of 
heed to that in which they have been instructed they find themselves 
gathered with Satan to battle against Christ and his saints. Fire from 
heaven destroys them, and Satan is now put into the lake of torment with 
his beast and false prophet, where they shall endure the anguish of God's 
wrath forever. 

11-15. — Here occurs the final theme under the seventh bowl of wrath, 
which also ends the work of the seventh trumpet, which also ends the 
seventh seal. Judgment here is for the wicked only. It is God who sits 
on the throne. The righteous have been raised at the beginning of the 
millennium and are now associate justices with Jesus in the work of the 
judgment of the wicked now before God's throne. It is presumable that 
none of the righteous have died within the millennium. The books 
(plural) stand for the records of the lives of those in question. The 
book (singular) is the book of life, in which are written the names of the 
just. Here is both the positive and negative side of the argument. The 
one side shows their evil (out of the records of these books they are 
judged) ; the other shows the absence of their names among the justified. 
Every spirit departed from among men, who has not been raised among 
the redeemed, must come up in this judgment of the unjust. The 
language of verse 15 is characteristic of this whole class. 

Ch. 21 :l-8. — The era after judgment is the third sub-topic of the vision 
of things to come. Time ends with the work of judgment. At this point 
occurs, no doubt, that of which Peter and others speak when they declare 
that in that day "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the 
elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that 
are therein shall be burned up. Nevertheless, we, according to his 
promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness." After this the apostle sees a new order of things without any 
sin in it. Sea in verse 1 refers no doubt to the literal waters. Under 



1022 BIBLE SCHOOL BOOK. 

the new condition of things the sea is no longer a necessity. The New 
Jerusalem mentioned is God's habitation for his people. Verses 3-8 is 
the language of the Father concerning the redeemed human family, and 
the conditions that shall prevail forever on the sinless earth. Think of 
a world without tears, death or pain, and where God shall dwell forever 
with his people ! The heir of all these promises will be the overcomer, 
while those who in this life ally themselves with evil have their part with 
Satan and his following in the place of torment, as already shown. 

9-22-5. — Here follows a beautiful word painting of this new head- 
quarters of redeemed humanity. The builder and maker is God. It 
comes to earth out of heaven, shining with the reflected radiance of the 
Almighty. The twelve gates are named for the twelve tribes of Israel, 
signifying that the entrance into this city is by the way which was made 
known to the world through this part of Abraham's descendants, and so 
all the redeemed are called by this name. The foundations of the city are 
called by the names of the twelve apostles, because they stood for the first 
principles of their faith in the seed of Abraham (the Christ), on whom 
the whole salvation plan was laid. The dimensions of the city as here 
given would be fifteen hundred miles cube — room enough, after making 
allowance for rivers, streets, etc., to give to each human being who shall live 
in the world from Adam to 4000 A. D., two rooms sixteen feet cube. The 
force of the Greek word translated "by day" (verse 25) is "day by day," 
i. e., continually. They shall not be shut at all. Its poulation shall be 
made up of that class of people which God delights to honor. The 
language of verse 2 would indicate that trees of life were distributed on 
either side of the river, bearing a complete variety of fruits and yielding 
continuously (monthly). As verse 4 indicates, the countenance of the 
inhabitants shall show to whom they belong. That life and that city has 
no curse because it has no sin. 

6-11. — Here ends the vision of things to come. As Genesis gives the 
account of paradise lost, John here is shown the process of paradise 
restored, and earth brought once more under the supreme sway of the 
Almighty. Having shown him the completed picture, the angel assures 
him that it is a faithful one, and urges him because of the brevity of the 
time to lay stress upon keeping the words here shown. He prohibited 
John from doing homage to him, indicating that he also, like John, 
belonged to the human family. The thought of verse 11 is, pour in the 
light, the result of which will be that the one who determines to do evil 
will pile up against himself a still greater degree of accountability 
(become unrighteous yet more), etc. 



REVELATION. 1023 

12-19. — Jesus declares to John that this message is to be given faith- 
fully to the churches, and that all who hear are to diligently publish it. 
The most fearful anathema is put upon anyone who shall either add to 
or conceal what is here revealed. 

20, 21. — Finally John concludes, "Jesus promises to come quickly. So 
let it be," and pronounces a benediction upon the saints. 



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